The UP Asian Center and the TriCollege Ph.D. Philippine Studies Program will be holding their joint Recognition Ceremonies on 28 July 2024, 2:00 pm, Philippine Standard Time (GMT+8), at the GT-Toyota Asian Cultural Center Auditorium. The on-site event is exclusive to graduates and their guests.

KEMDOL, TAGUYOD

The theme for this year’s commencement is “Kemdol, Taguyod.” Kemdol is a word from the indigenous T’boli of South Cotabato that means a continuous act of moving forward while simultaneously adapting to the changes and challenges of life, while taguyod signifies the value of learning in the process of social transformation. In combination, the two words represent the sustained commitment of the University to serve the nation and the larger community which we hope our graduates embody. The theme, therefore, aims to inspire our graduates to continue striving, flourishing, and going beyond themselves 

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Maria Cynthia Rose Banzon Bautista is a member of the Advisory Council of the Second Congressional Commission on Education or EDCOM II and the Board of Trustees of the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS). She is the immediate past Vice-President for Academic Affairs of the University of the Philippines System. She also served as the Department of Sociology Chair, Deputy Director for Research of the Third World Studies Center, long-time executive director of the University Center for Integrative and Development Studies, the UP System’s policy research unit, and dean of the UPD College of Social Sciences and Philosophy before her secondment to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) as Commissioner from March 2012 to September 2016.

In her stint as UP Diliman (UPD) sociology professor, she led various multi-disciplinary, inter-institutional, and international research teams exploring a wide range of social and political-economic concerns. Her most notable works are on poverty and agrarian issues, middle-class politics, peace and conflict, gender equality, educational reform, and the social ramifications and aspects of natural hazards. She has also written reflective essays on social and political developments in the Philippines, such as the people's power uprisings and democratic consolidation, as well as developments in the Philippine social sciences.

Dr. Bautista is also known for her contributions outside the academe. Citing those linked to ASEAN and Asia, she sat on the first Advisory Council of the National University of Singapore’s Asia Research Institute, the Management Board of the Asia Scholarship Foundation, and the  Executive Boards of the ASEAN Quality Assurance Network or AQAN and the UNESCO Regional Committee for the Recognition of Higher Education Qualifications. She chaired the Regional Task Force on the ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF), shepherding its endorsement by the ASEAN Economic, Education, and Labor Ministers. She also chaired the Expert Working Group on Qualifications Frameworks of the EU Support to Higher Education in ASEAN or EU-SHARE and the Board of Trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, which administers the Ramon Magsaysay Award, recognized as the Nobel Prize of Asia. .

For her work, Dr. Bautista has received several awards. These include the National Research Council of the Philippines’ Achievement Award for the Social Sciences; the UP Alumni Association’s Professional Achievement Award; the Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS); the National Academy of Science and Technology’s (NAST) Outstanding Young Scientist Award and the NAST Outstanding Publication Award for In the Shadow of the Lingaring Pinatubo Disaster in 1994 and, together with Emmanuel de Dios and Toby Melissa Monsod, for Institutions, Politics and Human Development in 2011.  

Dr. Bautista obtained her BA degree from the University of the Philippines in Diliman (magna cum laude) and her MS and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison

THE GRADUATES

In total, 26 graduates will march from the UP Asian Center and the TriCollege Ph.D. Philippine Studies Program for this year’s commencement exercises. Two students from the Asian Center, Fredrik Ezekiel De Jesus and Kathleen Lei Limayo, and one from the TriCollege Program, Edna Marcil Martinez, were selected to deliver their responses on behalf of the graduates.

PERFORMERS

ERL SORILLA, Company Artist, Alice Reyes Dance Philippines
Erl Sorilla is a Filipino choreographer and a longtime dancer of Ballet Philippines with a body of work influenced by top-caliber masters of Philippine dance and international choreographers; his works embody and reflect the Filipino contemporary generation. He has mentored young, aspiring dancers in the pursuit of artistic excellence. He envisions providing a platform to develop and expand Philippine dance and at the same time train and promote young Filipino dancers. He currently serves as a company artist for Alice Reyes Dance Philippines.

CONCHORDS, A cappella Group
ConChords, inspired by the word "concord" which means "harmony", is a multi-awarded acappella group from the Philippines. The group, composed of five UP Diliman College of Music alumni, has won local and international a cappella competitions and was a recipient of national awards in the performing arts category. ConChords has performed in various private and cultural events and has shown perfect harmony as a group and as singers with outstanding versatility. Their repertoire includes genres such as Classical, Jazz, Pop, and OPM.

For inquiries, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman offers M.A. degrees in Asian Studies with four fields of specialization: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. The UP Asian Center also has an M.A. program in Philippine Studies that allows students to major in Philippine society and culture, Philippine foreign relations, or Philippine development studies. It also offers a Ph.D. program in Philippine Studies in conjunction with the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. For an overview of these graduate programs, click here. As an area studies institution, the Asian Center also publishes Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia, the latest issue of which can be downloaded at the journal's website. For other news and upcoming events at the Asian Center, click here.