Republic of the Philippines
OFFICE OF THE
PRESIDENT
COMMISSION ON
HIGHER EDUCATION
Press Statement
NO ANOMALY IN
PCARI PROJECT—CHED
To enhance the country's academic and economic
competitiveness-especially after 2015 when the ASEAN economic community becomes
a reality-the Philippine Government strongly supported the implementation of
the Philippine-California Advanced Research Institutes (PCARI) Project, earmarking a special
P1.763 Billion
appropriation
under Special Provision No. 6 "Allocation for the Research and Scholarship
Project" of Republic Act No. 10352, otherwise known as the General
Appropriations Act (GAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013.
This unprecedented government initiative is a' response
to the disturbing reality that the Philippines is seriously lagging behind its
neighbors in terms of having a sustainable university-based research
infrastructure for technological innovation. For instance, it continues to
trail behind China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and even Vietnam
in some critical indicators such as the number of high-level researchers and
quality of scientific output. Moreover, it is also now in the second tier-with
Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand in the first tier-behind Indonesia and Vietnam
in terms of research and scientific outputs.
A major public investment to help the country catch up,
the PCARI Project aims to develop over a five-year period the capabilities for
high-end research of Filipino scientists and researchers in leading public and
private universities and colleges, thus laying the human infrastructure for the
production of a critical volume of quality scientific research that will
translate into innovations and cutting edge technologies. Like many other
countries-e.g. Rwanda, Botswana, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China and
Chile-the Project seeks to do so by linking Philippine higher education
institutions (HEls) with elite research universities that have successfully
produced leading-edge technologies in potential niches of the country.
The PCARI Project will specifically support joint
research for capacity building between Philippine HEls and leading universities
in California, USA, initially, with the University of California San Francisco
(UCSF) and the University of California Berkeley (UCB) to tap into their
world-recognized expertise in translational medicine and in information
infrastructure development, respectively. The project is covered by the 2012
Agreement between the Government of the United States of America
and the
Government of the Republic of the Philippines on Scientific and Technological
Cooperation.
The Philippine-based HEls will be initially drawn from
the member institutions of the Engineering Research and Development for
Technology (ERDT) and the National Science Consortium (NSC), formal
associations of top ranked Philippine HEIs in the fields of Engineering and
Science. These HEIs have been recipients of government research grants not only
from CHED but also from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
To carry out the project, CHED has established a Project
Management and Coordination Office (PMCO) headed by Dr. William G. Padolina,
former Secretary of the DOST and current president of the National Academy of
Science and Technology. Dr. Padolina shall oversee the establishment of two
institutes for
purposes of
implementing the priority areas stated in the GAA: The Institute for Information
Infrastructure Development (IIID) with Dr. Joel Marciano Jr. as Interim
Director and The Institute for Health Innovation and Translational Medicine
(IHITM)'
with Dr.
Carmencita Padilla as Interim Director.
The Institute
for Information Infrastructure Development (IIID) is tasked to develop: 1)
Electronic computing and communication system and devices for effective
generation, processing, management and dissemination of relevant, accurate
timely and actionable data that support and enhance disaster risk management
and response, environmental monitoring, education, cyber security, agriculture,
energy generation monitoring, inclusive governance through e-Government/e-Participation
in the Philippines; and 2) Innovation in computing, software, communications and
electronic technologies and techniques - including experimental validation of
testing for wireless networks, micro-grids, information technology (IT)
security, micro-electronics and advanced materials, embedded
sensors and
computers - leading towards translation into industry, which enhance the
competitiveness of the Semi-conductors and Electronic manufacturing and
Information and Communication Technology sectors in the country.
The Institute for Health Innovation and Translational
Medicine (IHITM), on the other hand, will develop the following for the
diseases on the list of the ten highest causes of morbidity and the ten highest
causes of mortality in the Philippines: rapid and affordable diagnostic tests;
targeted drug therapy and' affordable medical devices for an array of diseases
and health practitioners; and viable and effective health intervention systems.
Apart from enhancing capacities through involvement in
high-end research, the outputs of the PCARI Project over a five-year period,
with budgetary support of Pl. 763B per year include a pool of masters/doctoral
grantees; Research Development and Innovation (RDI) workers; creation of
several unique programs (e.g. Master in Translational Medicine, Master of
Engineering, Master of Advanced Studies in Integrated Circuit Design, Master in
Clinical Research; capstone on information infrastructure technology and
certificate programs including training on Technopreneurship); trained RDI
management, grant administrators, human resource managers for RDI, Intellectual Property, among
others.
Since the budget for each approved collaborative research
project between the UCB and UCSF and the collaborating Philippine HEls shall be
funded by the Philippine Government, through CHED, the provisions of Republic
Act No. 8293, as amended, also known as the Intellectual Property Code of the
Philippines, and Republic Act No. 10055, also known as the Philippine
Technology Transfer Act of 20091 shall govern 1 where applicable, the
inventorship and ownership of intellectual properties and intellectual property
rights as a result of the implementation of the approved collaborative research
project.
CHED emphasized that under the contract documents that
are being negotiated with UCB and UCSF1 the two institutions even agreed to be
subjected to Philippine Commission on Audit post-audit review and evaluation as
regards the financial transactions of the research projects approved for PCARI
Project funding. The PCARl Project contract documents have been endorsed to the
Secretary of the Department of Justice for appropriate review, evaluation and
go signal for implementation. Since the projects are still going through the
approval process, very little of the budget for 2013 has been spent. The
research proposals have been initially reviewed by CHED and submitted for
evaluation by DOH and DOST.
Under the CHED Charter, Republic Act No. 7722, the
Commission is mandated Lo promote, direct and support higher education
institutions in performing their research and instructional functions. In line
with this mandate, the National Higher Education Research (NHERA) Agenda 2 for
the period 2009-2018, which CHED developed with partner institutions,
encourages partnerships and collaborations between Philippine HEls with other
research institutions both local and foreign in the conduct of research and the
application of its outputs.
In response to queries about what the Philippine HEIs can
gain from a partnership with the University of California (UC), CHED clarified
that the UC is at the forefront of the science, technology and know-how in the
two identified research priority areas indicated in the 2013 GAA provision:
information infrastructure development (IID) and health innovation and
translational medicine (HITM). The access alone to the know-how accumulated
through years of high quality research provides a rare opportunity to enhance
the capacity of Filipino researchers.
Furthermore, upon approval of the projects, the extent of
the involvement of UC in the execution of the research plan is significant
because parts of the experiments will be conducted in the UC high end
laboratories to accelerate the pace of the experiments as their laboratories and other project
facilities already possess state-of-the-art equipment.
CHED also pointed out that the procurement process that
led to the selection of the UCB and UCSF in fact complies with the conditions
expressly provided in the Special Provision No. 6 of the 2013 GAA, namely, the
appropriate and premier California public institution of higher learning with
specialization in the areas of translational medicine and information
infrastructure development. It is also in accordance with the congressional
deliberations during the 2013 Budget hearings of CHED.
The Fellows and Researchers who will carry out the
peer-reviewed and fully evaluated joint research projects would have the
technical know-how, specialized knowledge, professional skills and expertise
required. CHED made clear, however, that the agreements covering the PCARl
Project will be between CHED and UCB or UCSF, and the Philippine HEls, and not
with the individual researchers themselves.
CHED also clarified that former Commissioner Nona S.
Ricafort's 2nd term expired on July 20, 2013, although she served thereafter on
holdover capacity. While it is claimed that she had resigned through an alleged
letter to the ~resident, she continued to report to the CHED office and held
Board meetings with the State Universities and Colleges assigned to her. The new
commissioners took their oath a day after their appointment by President
Benigno S. Aquino III on September 24, 2013.
On the other hand, CHED Director Carmina B. Alonzo, in a
letter to Chairperson Licuanan dated October 2, 2013, disavowed having given
any reporter a letter which. is being cited as source of the claims of the
alleged anomalies in the PCARl Project.
lssued this 3rd day of October 2013 at the Higher
Education Development Center Building, U.P. Campus, Diliman, Quezon City.
PATRICIA B.
LICUANAN, Ph.D.
Chairperson
