Robredo, Balisacan named top UP alumni

MANILA, Philippines — The University of the Philippines Alumni Association (UPAA) has recognized former vice president Leni Robredo and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan as its most distinguished alumni for 2023.

The UPAA conferred the recognition during the awards ceremony held at the UP Diliman campus on Aug. 19.

Robredo received her bachelor’s degree in economics from UP Diliman in 1986, while Balisacan – a former dean of the UP School of Economics – obtained his master’s in agricultural economics from UP Los Baños in 1982.

Several alumni were also conferred with the Distinguished Alumni Awards, which are given to those who made outstanding achievements in their respective fields.

These include Robert Alejandro (Art as Advocacy), Peter Nery (Championing Hiligaynon Literature and Regional Culture), Bryan Jayson Borja (Community Empowerment), Jose Edgardo Sunico (Corporate Social Responsibility), Supreme Court Administrator Raul Villanueva (Court Administration/Public Service), Regalado Jose Jr. (Cultural Heritage Work and Advocacy), Filomena Magno-Cantoria (Education and Societal Development), Manuel Peter Paul Jorge II (Empowerment Through Health Education) and Francisco Delfin Jr. (Energy Geosciences).

Also recognized were Manuel Logroño (Enterprise Development and Corporate Governance), Chan Huan Chyang (Entrepreneurship), Zaldy Patron (Foreign Service), Sylvia Estrada-Claudio (Gender Equality or Women Empowerment), El Cid Butuyan (Good Governance and Anti-Corruption), Lilia Catris-Guillermo (Good Governance and Public Service), Remedios Calma-Cruz (Human Resource Development and Empowerment), Giselle Lourdes Manalo (Innovation in Public Health Education) and Alex Brillantes Jr. (Innovative Public Administration Education).

The UPAA also recognized Floro Francisco (International Labor Relations) Alexis Reyes (Medicine-Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics), Imelda Degay (Nutrition Education), Celia Carlos (Public Service), Raul Pagdanganan (Public Health Promotion), Maria Asuncion Silvestre (Public Health Promotion-Newborn Care), Gerry Camer (Science and Technology), Juan Carlos Gonzalez (Science and Technology), Milagrosa Martinez-Goss (Science and Technology-Phycology), Lulu Carandang-Bravo (Science and Technology-Vaccine Research) and Victor Ella (Soil and Water Resources Management).

Meanwhile, receiving the Lifetime Distinguished Achievement Awards were Lourdes Cruz, Nathaniel Von Einsiedel, Gisela Padilla-Concepcion and Rene Santiago.

The UPAA Distinguished Service Award for an Alumni Chapter was given to the UP Epsilon Chi Fraternity Alumni Inc., while the UPAA Presidential Awards were given to Rico Domingo, Norberto Mendoza and Bienvenido Somera Jr.

The UPAA Multigenerational Alumni Family Award – given to a family with alumni in consecutive generations – were given to the Ramirez family (four generations) and the Baconguis, Castelo, Guzman, Magno, Malate, Pangalangan, Riego-Javier, Rodriguez-Martinez-Nelson and Valencia families (three generations).