THE Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) has named the 11 recipients of the Outstanding Searca Scholarship Alumni (OSSA) award. Five of whom are from the Philippines, two each from Indonesia and Thailand, and one each from Malaysia and Vietnam.
The Filipino OSSA awardees are Dr. Naomi Tangonan (teaching), Dr. Lucrecio L. Rebugio and Dr. Generoso G. Octavio (advocacy); and Dr. Delfin J. Ganapin Jr. and Dr. Segfredo R. Serrano (public policy and governance). The other awardees are Dr. Klanarong Sriroth of Thailand, Prof. Dr. Mahiran Basri of Malaysia and Dr. Phan Hieu Hien of Vietnam (research); Prof. Dr. Ir. Mochammad Maksum of Indonesia (advocacy); and Prof. Dr. Musliar Kasim of Indonesia and Dr. Chya Suthiwanith of Thailand (public policy and governance).
The awardees were honored for having personified Searca’s values and philosophy, their professional achievements and the impacts they have created in the fields of teaching, research, public policy and governance, and advocacy in agricultural and rural development in Southeast Asia.
The awardees were selected from among the 1,370 alumni of the Searca Graduate Scholarship Program in a rigorous search throughout the Southeast Asian region. This is the first time that Searca will confer such accolade on its alumni. Besides the 11 OSSA awardees, two Searca alumni will also be presented the Emerging Leaders in Transition Economies (Elite) award.
They are Dr. Seng Mom of Cambodia and Agustinho Da Costa Ximenes of Timor-Leste. With this special citation, Searca recognizes its scholarship alumni who are actively contributing to the rebuilding of their nation through their transformative leadership.
Searca Director Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit Jr. said the remarkable achievements of the Searca scholarship alumni affirm that the agency has been successful in carrying out its mandate to assist Southeast Asian countries in producing highly trained human resources in agriculture and related fields to accelerate agricultural and rural development in the region.
The awarding ceremonies will be held on November 24 at Searca headquarters in University of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines. It will coincide with Searca’s celebration of its 50th founding anniversary. The Philippine-based Searca is mandated to build capacities of institutions working in agriculture and rural development in the region through its programs on graduate education and institutional development, research and development, and knowledge management.
