Sociological study touching on bayanihan bags int'l award

Gerardo S. Petilla of the National Research Council of the Philippines was recently feted for his paper, “Regenerating the Home Base of the Filipino Internal Migrants through Indigenous Volunteerism: A Human Security Framework”, at the 20th General Conference of the International Federation of Social Science Organizations (IFSSO), held at the Lyceum of the Philippines University, Batangas City. 

 

Petilla’s paper was recognized as one the five best among the 52 papers presented at the conference, which had the theme “Social Science Perspective on Human Security”.

 

In his paper, Petilla discussed the reasons for internal migration (or the moving of people from rural to urban centers) and how it can pose a threat to home-base human security because it depletes the local community and hinders it from progressing and developing socially and economically.

 

To address this situation, Petilla suggested the development of a strategy called “indigenous volunteerism”, or bayanihan. It can be done through continuous or long-term action through various interventions, such as education and knowledge sharing, skill and competency development, leadership, good governance, and environmental literacy. These interventions empower the young and those left behind who serve as the home-base workforce that will sustain the community’s social and economic sides.

 

The 20th IFSSO conference was participated in by 269 social science professors, instructors, and government officials from Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nigeria, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey and the US. Petilla, currently the chief of NRCP’s Administrative and Finance Division, represented the Philippines, along with NRCP Social Sciences Division Chairperson Carmencita T. Aguilar and NRCP Social Science Division Regular Member Dr. Nestor T. Castro, who was elected the new President of the IFSSO during this assembly. — TJD, GMA News