Category: NEWS & EVENTS

The UP System Administration and various UP units and allied organizations showcased their disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) and climate change adaptation (CCA) initiatives in a fair held in the UP Quezon Hall Amphitheater on September 10, 2018.

The Padayon Public Service Office, under the Office of the Vice President for Public Affairs, co-organized the fair with: UP System offices UPRI and UP-NOAH; the UP Diliman Office of the Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs; Office of Initiatives for Culture and the Arts; University Student Council; Emergency Response Team and National Service Training Program; and, the UP Vanguard Inc.

The University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) Faculty of Management and Development Studies (FMDS) in partnership with the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) launched the Aruga sa Batang may Cancer (ABC) Initiative: A Web-based Pediatric Palliative Care Service Provider in the Philippines on 22 March 2018. The event was held at PCMC in Quezon City with representatives from collaborating agencies such as the Ruth Foundation for Palliative Care and Education and Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD), fellows from PCMC and other guests.

Public service is one of UP’s key responsibilities as the national university. But the actual performance of public service is one thing, while the act of co­ordinating, harmonizing, and standardizing public service initiatives among eight constituent units in 21 campuses is another feat altogether. This is where the Padayon Public Service Office (Padayon) enters the scene. Padayon is a Visayan word that means “to do promptly, and unceasingly”—an apt description of how UP must tirelessly and relentlessly serve the people.

These lofty goals will not be realized without an office at the UP System level to centralize efforts to monitor programs, provide technical assistance, and recommend policies to respond to the needs of UP’s various publics when it comes to volunteerism, community engage­ment, and sustainable development.

Padayon, a Visayan word which means “to do promptly, hastily, unceasingly” as planned and as worked out (Abuyen Dictionary, 2005) describes aptly the new character of UP Padayon as an of­fice that responds quickly and proactively to the problems and challenges of a university and a society caught in the midst of climatic and radical changes in the environment and everyday life.

In Bahasa Sug (Taosug), “dayong” refers to a big paddle for rowing big boats. As a noun infinitive, “pagdayong” means a collective effort of row­ing, moving or propelling a big boat towards the same direction. Given the various volunteer groups, extension specialists, cultural workers and public servants of eight constituent universi­ties, the UP Padayon System Office shall steer all efforts, initiatives and responses across CUs toward public service for the Filipino nation. Padayon!