Solar irrigation systems are sustainable practices that can improve the well-being of local communities and enhance the resilience of agriculture to climate change while reducing environmental impacts. Due to its high investment cost, small-scale farmers are inclined to use traditional fossil-based irrigation systems that can harm humans and the environment. This study aims to analyze the environmental impacts, economic feasibility, and social acceptability of shifting agricultural practices from diesel-fueled to solar irrigation systems. Taking the perspective of small-scale farmers from Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro, results found that solar irrigation system has a higher initial investment but lower maintenance and operational costs. These resulted in an attractive economic feasibility of the project with Php 19,693 of fuel cost savings per hectare per year, a project net present value of Php 10,214 per hectare, a payback period of 8.27 years, and returns on investment at 110%. Additionally, shifting to a solar irrigation system significantly reduces the greenhouse gas emissions from diesel at 199.78 CO2 eq/ha/yr, and avoids air pollutant emissions at 14.91 g/ha/yr particulate matter, 2.98 g/ha/yr nitrogen oxides,193.82 g/ha/yr sulfur oxides, and 149.09 g/ha/yr carbon monoxide. Despite the lack of in-depth environmental awareness, small-scale farmers are interested in investing in solar irrigation systems with 68% social acceptability. Results provide bases for recommendations on promoting more human ecologically and sustainable agriculture irrigation systems in the Philippines and other developing countries.

With the rise of video gaming trends within the Philippines, the risk of malnutrition related to escalated sedentary behavior and poor dietary habits may also occur. This research aims to describe the association between the video gaming lifestyle, dietary habits, and physical activity level (PAL) of university students aged 18-24. The study follows a descriptive study design and uses Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient to determine the relationships of the variables. After correlation tests, gaming addiction level was found to have a weak direct relationship with the frequency of consumption among all food groups (ρ = 0.138±0.047). Weak positive correlation was also discovered with excessive gaming and meal skipping (ρ = 0.184), self-reported loss of appetite (ρ = 0.070), and tendency to eat their meals in front of their gaming devices (ρ = 0.160). Furthermore, PAL is found to have a weak positive correlation with gaming addiction level (ρ = 0.074). Among the sample, excessive video game use was found to be related to all variables, whereas higher chances of becoming pathologic gamers may also imply a tendency in the participant’s increased consumption of caloric-dense foods, poor dietary habits, and moderate to high PAL.

Leveraging the increase in property values emerges as an innovative financing method, enabling property owners and developers to contribute to collective benefit. The special assessment tax or special levy is a land value capture tool used to recover the costs of government infrastructure projects. Despite its long-standing existence in the Philippines’ Local Government Code, it is underutilized and its potentials as revenue sources have not been realized. This qualitative study combines extensive literature reviews and semi-structured interviews, including a self-assessment scoring of government staff in the cities of Metro Manila, citing perspectives and experiences in land taxation to examine institutional challenges in utilizing the special assessment tax. Findings reveal that institutional, financial, and technical capacity problems have prevented its utilization despite existing legal mechanisms. Moreover, there is a noteworthy gap in understanding and application at the local level, as the concept of land value capture is yet to be mainstreamed in local public finance. The discussions aim to inform cities and municipalities about the untapped potential of the special assessment tax as a viable revenue source for local development and the regulation of urban growth. Additionally, the study advocates for the importance of building capacities in land-based financing. It emphasizes the need for support and improvements in the current institutional arrangements of land valuation to address socio-economic inequalities.

This study aimed to assess the acceptability of arrowroot flour (Maranta arundinacea L.) in the production of salt bread (pandesal) in the country. Two experiments were conducted namely, pre-experiment and actual experiment. The pre-experiment had two trials in making pandesal wherein the first trial focused on producing traditional pandesal (T1, 0%) while the second trial used different percentages of arrowroot flour (T2, 20%; T3, 30% and T4,40%) to determine the optimum ratio with selected flours. The acceptability used a 9-point Hedonic scale wherein 9 is the highest (Like extremely) and 1 (Dislike extremely). Results showed that T1 had the highest general acceptability (7.8, ) followed by T3 (7.5) and both were labeled as ‘Like very much’ while T2 (6.8) and T4 (6.7) were both labeled as ‘Like moderately’. In terms of cost, T1 was the cheapest and T4 as the most expensive. While arrowroot-based flour pandesal is more expensive right now, it was found out to acceptable flour substitute in making pandesal. The use of this flour as alternative in producing bread can help address the problem of the country’s heavy dependence on imported flour. Result of this study and further studies on the use of arrowroot flour will support local farmers in growing arrowroot for other potential uses.

A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of 60 caregivers regarding complementary feeding and its impact on the nutritional status of their children aged 6–23 months in Panicuason, Naga City, Philippines. Face-to-face interviews were conducted to collect data using pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and Pearson’s R Correlation tests were used to analyze the data at p<0.05. The results indicated that the households involved had poor conditions in terms of educational attainment, occupation, and household income of the caregivers. The prevalence rates revealed a medium level of underweight (10.0%) and stunting (23.4%), and a poor level of wasting (5.0%). The KAP results demonstrated medium knowledge, positive attitudes, and poor practices among the caregivers. Several KAP components were found to be significantly associated with socioeconomic factors and water sanitation practices. The study found a weak positive correlation between weight-for-age and employment and a weak negative correlation between height-for-age and caregiver-child relationship. This study highlights the urgent need for nutrition education interventions focused on complementary feeding to improve the knowledge and practices of the caregivers. Such interventions are essential for enhancing child nutrition outcomes and potentially influencing positive changes in the attitudes of the caregivers.

The volcanic Molucca islands have provided the world with their precious cloves, which have been highly valued in medicinal properties for millennia. Cloves have antibacterial, antiviral, and analgesic characteristics. They were considered silver bullet cures in medieval epidemics and the early COVID-19 pandemic response. Cloves originated from Ternate Island, the center and regional trade hub of the Molucca Islands. Its cloves had reached Babylonia 4,000 years ago, marking its importance in global trade. Qualitative research was conducted on the 1775 Mount Gamalama eruption’s impact on indigenous knowledge development. To confirm the findings, I conducted field visits, key informant interviews, field observations, and a literature review. Tolire Lake is an apparent landmark in Takome village, which has a sacred white crocodile, a java plum hill, a lush forest, stunning landscapes, and an underwater mythical village. The residents are testaments to human resilience, preserving indigenous knowledge and turning it into disaster risk reduction tools. They built settlements on safer ground and designated parts areas for conservation-based tourism. In addition, modern science introduction enhances disaster early warning and alert systems and empowers indigenous communities. Understanding indigenous knowledge and wisdom is critical to building resilience and sustainability through disaster risk reduction (DRR) efforts. Indigenous knowledge produces lessons in environmental protection, social justice, and economic growth. The world can learn from indigenous and scientific knowledge combined to sustain the island, its people, and its prosperity.

Using Froma Walsh’s Family Resilience Framework, this study explored the experiences of overseas Filipino workers’ (OFWs) families as narrated by adolescent children of migrant parents. Ten (10) Filipino college-level older adolescents (five were female) served as participants in an in-depth interview. Their narratives explored key family resilience processes using a Deductive Qualitative Analysis using various domains of family resilience (i.e., family belief system, communication processes, and organizational patterns). The study found that: (1) The family adjusts belief systems to accommodate unsettling realities of international labor migration; (2) Roles change in the family to compensate for responsibilities fulfilled by the parent before leaving for another country; and (3) Communication processes were strained, but family members serve as moderators to ease tensions and maintain a pre-migration relationship. This study concluded that the family resilience framework is a robust lens through which migrant families’ experiences can be understood. Families generally exert effort to maintain homeostasis and cope with migration’s psychological and social costs. A resilience-focused model for addressing psychosocial needs is proposed. Processes more apparent to the Filipino family and opportunities for future research are also discussed.

Food neophobia (FN) is the reluctance to eat novel foods. It peaks around the toddler and preschool years, a sensitive time for developing dietary habits. If this eating behavior persists, children are susceptible to acquiring lifelong unhealthy dietary habits, ultimately affecting their development. Hence, this cross-sectional study involved 88 parents or caregivers of children ages 2 to 5 to describe FN relative to nutritional status (NS) and diet quality (DQ) and identify factors affecting its development. Data were collected using a computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) online survey. Weight-for-height and height-for-age measurements were used to assess NS. While dietary diversity score (DDS) and Menu Eval Plus for DQ. The Child Food Neophobia Scale was adopted to measure FN. No significant associations were noted regarding NS and DQ. However, food-neophobic children had fewer intakes of legumes (p-value=0.041) and non-vitamin A-rich vegetables (p-value=0.048) and excessive intakes of phosphorus (p-value=0.002), vitamin A (p-value=0.027), and riboflavin (p-value=0.037). Snacks and discretionary foods are also frequently consumed as they are readily available and accessible. This behavior may probably be due to the innate preference of children for sweet and salty over bitter and sour flavors. Results warrant further research to develop interventions to address FN in children.

Undernutrition among school-age children remains to be highly prevalent in developing countries. The adverse impact of undernourishment among school-age children could significantly affect their cognitive development, school performance, and future productivity. Despite the government's efforts in poverty and hunger reduction, the Philippines continuously sustains a high prevalence of undernutrition among school-age children. This study aims to determine the influences of different factors on the weight, height, and body mass index of school-age children in farming households. This study utilized data from the 2015 Updating of the Nutritional Status of Filipino Children and Other Population Groups of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute. This study includes 1689 school-age children from farming households who satisfied the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The findings of this study suggested that household wealth index, household size, and food security status affected the weight of school-age children in farming households. It was also observed that household wealth index, size, food security status, and dietary diversity status significantly affect the height of school-age children in farming households. Lastly, the wealth index, the age of children, and the number of 0-10 years old children in farming households significantly affect their body mass index. The findings of this study provide empirical evidence that the most important underlying causes of undernutrition among school-age children belonging to farming households could guide policymakers and program planners to craft interventions that target this vulnerable group.