SU names 5 OSA for 2020
Silliman University (SU) names five alumni as this year’s Outstanding Sillimanian Awardees (OSA) as the university celebrates its 119th founders Day with the theme “Hope Arising from the Solid Rock”.
This year’s OSA Dr. Kenneth T. Coo in Community Emergency and Rescue Medical Services; Dr. Vicente B. Jurlano in Applied Population Dynamics and Development; Dr. Benjamin D. Legada, Jr. in Medical Services; Mr. Ponciano M. Ligutom in Filipino Labor Welfare; and Ms. Jusie Lydia Siega-Sur in Health Professions Education best exemplify Silliman’s principles of Via, Veritas, Vita (The Way, The Truth, and The Life) through excellent and distinguished performance in their field of specialization or career; social responsibility or strong commitment to what is good, right, and just; and exemplary personal life and relationships.
Dr. Coo is currently the medical director of Holy Child Hospital in Dumaguete City, as well as a founding member, the medical director, and operations head of Oriental Negros Emergency Rescue Foundation, Inc. or ONE RESCUE-EMS, the first and leading emergency rescue unit in Negros Oriental.
Aside from responding to emergencies as a medical doctor, he has conducted disaster preparedness and response training with various schools and government entities using the Crisis Preparedness and Management Handbook Advocacy, 2017, which he has authored.
Dr. Coo studied in SU from Early Childhood (Nursery School) up to High School, graduating in 1985. He earned his BS Biology and Doctor of Medicine degrees from the University of Santo Tomas. He returned to SU in 2015 where he completed his MA Hospital Administration degree.
Dr. Jurlano is the current national programme officer for Population and Development at the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF), a post he has held since 2008. Under his leadership, the UNPF Philippines produced key researches of national significance, helping provide evidence-based data in the formulation of national policies, plans, and programs, such as the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012 (RA 10354); Executive Order Nos. 12 and 71; Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Bill (Senate Bill 1482); and the formulation of Chapter 13 of the Philippines Development Plan 2017-2022, “Reaching for the Demographic Dividend,” by the National Economic and Development Authority and Commission on Population.
He leads the Big Data Family Planning Information Analysis (BIDAFPINAS) Project, a project recognized nationally and internationally as the first of its kind to utilize social media in data collection on family planning. It was awarded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health in 2019 as one of the top 10 most innovative global ideas on family planning; and the UNPF and World Food Programme Innovations Accelerator.
He also worked as a national expert on Agricultural Enterprise Development for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN; a community development specialist for the UN Development Programme; and an instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, and eventually as the dean of the SU College of Agriculture from 1979 through 1998.
He graduated magna cum laude from SU in 1979 with a BS Agriculture degree, majoring in Animal Husbandry. He then took up MS Animal Science at the University of the Philippines Los Baños as a Faculty Development Program scholar of SU. He earned his Ph.D. in Rural Development Communication from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia as a scholar of the Australian International Development Program.
Dr. Legada, Jr. is an executive committee member and the director of Ancillary Services at the Medicus Medical Center (MMC) in Iloilo City, as well as a professorial lecturer at the West Visayas State University (WVSU) College of Medicine.
A practicing orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Legada advocates for affordable medical services without compromising quality. He was one of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) alumni who established MMC to address the increasing prices of laboratory exams in hospitals. His involvement with MMC since its inception contributed to the establishment of the Ambulatory Healthcare Center and the Medicus Special Hospitalization Program in MMC, among others.
Dr. Legada was also the former chairman of the WVSU Medical Center Orthopedic Department, which he helped establish after realizing the need to cater to a growing number of orthopedic patients. His residency program in the department focused on service, training, and research. He is also a member of the Medical Education Research Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit organization in WVSU that provides financial support for medical students.
Dr. Legada finished BS Pre-Medicine at SU in 1970 cum laude before studying at the University of the Philippines, where he earned his Doctor of Medicine degree.
Mr. Ligutom is a labor attaché of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO). He was assigned at the Philippine Embassy in Rome, Italy, and recently in Muscat, Oman. He is also the Deputy Executive Director of the National Maritime Polytechnic.
As labor attaché, Ligutom was able to work on improving the welfare and protection of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) by ensuring that foreign recruitment agencies are compliant with their responsibilities for their deployed workers, especially domestic workers; that domestic workers, semi-skilled and skilled OFWs will be provided medical and life insurance; and that individual workers have the right to their passport’s safekeeping. He also helped provide training and free legal assistance to OFWs, in collaboration with a pro bono lawyer.
Ligutom facilitated the organization of OFW groups in Oman and the networking among the Filipino organizations to strengthen and empower the Filipino community. He initiated the POLO Academy for Leadership and Management to promote capacity building among leaders in Oman and established the POLO Volunteer Program to boost POLO’s efforts.
Ligutom is dubbed as the “Father of the Occupational Safety and Health Networks (OSHNET)” in the Philippines for organizing the first regional OSHNETs in Region 9, 10, and 11, which led to the application of OSHNETs all over the country.
In Mindanao, he managed the SALAM Project, which gave employment opportunities to Muslim youth in Marawi City and Maguindanao province; provided training and income for Muslim youth; started the text hotline service for DOLE in Regions 9, 10 and 11; led the provision of livelihood assistance for workers deported from Malaysia; and conceptualized convergence and productivity projects.
Ligutom graduated from SU in 1982, with a degree in BS Agriculture, Major in Agribusiness, cum laude. He earned a Master in Public Administration degree in SU as a Civil Service Commission scholar.
Ms. Siega-Sur is an associate professor and the coordinator of Extension Services, Municipal Leadership, and Governance (MLGP) program, Continuing Education, and Nursing Skills Laboratory of the University of the Philippines Manila School of Health Sciences (UPM-SHS) in Leyte.
Siega-Sur was one of the founders of the Training for Health Equity Network (THEnet), a network of schools that aim to contribute to health equity through health workforce education, research, and service, based on the principles of social accountability and social engagement. Her involvement in THEnet also helped her share her expertise on community-engaged medical education in many local and international gatherings.
She was engaged by the United Nations Population Fund and the Ministry of Health of Timor-Leste to help establish a midwifery and nursing school similar to UPM-SHS, where she also trained practicing midwives after its establishment at the Universidad Nacional de Timor Leste.
Siega-Sur graduated magna cum laude from SU in 1979, with a degree in BS Nursing. She earned a Master of Health Professions Education degree in UP Manila and was a fellow on Team-Based Learning at the Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School.
The five awardees will be honored during a virtual conferral rite to be live-streamed via Facebook at 10 am on August 28, 2020. A highlight of the Founders Day celebration, the yearly OSA conferral ceremony is usually attended by Silliman students, faculty, staff, administrators, and guests as well as by the awardees’ family, friends, and members of the nominating SU Alumni chapter. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the conferral will be done virtually.
