About Me

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Belfast, Northern Ireland, Manila, Philippines, United Kingdom
Very simple person with a simple plan in life. A registered Philippine civil engineer, an urban/environmental planner, a lecturer/tutor; plays badminton, loves to swim, sing and dance; has the passion in drawing, writing reviews/poems and reading, and a photo enthusiast.

Sunday, 7 August 2011

Finally...my British graduation ceremony!

Graduation is an important occasion - it is the culmination of all your hard work during your time at the University of Ulster. It marks the point at which you leave us to make your way in the world. Graduation is a proud day for you, your family and your friends. It is a chance to celebrate all that you have achieved throughout your university career and to look back at the years you have spent with us and above all we're keen to make your day a special one. We'd like to congratulate everyone who is graduating at this summer's ceremonies. We hope you enjoy your graduation day and that you have many happy memories of your time here. Congratulations! (full text was taken from the University of Ulster website). For the graduation souvenir program, click HERE. Click HERE for the Belfast Telegraph Special Edition issue which graduands are published.

Unfortunately, I did not able to wear my red toga and march to get my much-awaited certificate of graduation. Nevertheless, I am happy that my hardwork and patience paved the way to attain the highest educational degree! Thank God and to all the members of my family and friends who one way or another, helped, supported and comforted me during the toughest and challenging part of my postgraduate program at the University of Ulster (Northern Ireland, UK)... Sa inyong lahat... maraming salamat at para sa inyo ang aking tagumpay!"


About My PhD Thesis: Mixed-use development is not a new phenomenon in urban planning and real estate management. This development is currently promoted to revitalise inner towns and cities particularly utilising unproductive urban spaces being referred to as ‘brownfield’ and ‘greyfield’ (underutilised) land for social, economic and environmental benefits. Mixed-use development is also challenging various players (planners, policy makers, investors and developers) in terms of the diverse of uses, density of the scheme, inclusion of high quality urban form and design, and the delivery of optimum utilisation of the development scheme in terms of highest and best use.

This research explores the underlying factors in the promotion of mixed-use schemes (MUS) in response to the emerging challenges of urban regeneration agenda towards achieving sustainable communities. The study presents the findings from the case studies carried out in the UK and the Republic of Ireland using a set of variables identified from the literature towards establishing success indicators that have a strong contribution to the overall occupancy level of MUS against single-use or mono-use developments in the revitalisation of urban centres. Finally, the application of Multiple Regression Modelling proves that the component mix (number of uses), the balance of uses (space allocations), site condition and integration with the neighbouring uses which are essential elements in accomplishing the maximum potential for viability and success of mixed-use developments.

Certainly, these findings offered invaluable inputs in carrying out further investigations of various mixed-use schemes to fully understand the determining qualitative and quantitative factors in the feasibility and performance for this type of development in regeneration areas. The results from the MRA also present relevant judgments in assessing the optimal composition of the mix of uses which enhance the scheme promotion in regeneration areas which could leads to the potential optimising mixed-use and policy decision making.

To date I am working now in Manila Philippines since June 27, 2011...So far so good...working with one of the fastest top growing environmental consulting companies in the world. I love my work very much to be an instrument in protecting, conserving and preserving our Mother Earth! Well, Im not a Global Warming and Climate Change advocate, BUT I do believe that we contributed to the degradation of our natural resources, AND I do believe that we can make a big difference in our own simple and little way!

Monday, 2 May 2011

International Journals List and links...

THE PUBLIC AFFAIRS INFORMATION OFFICE (PAIS) maintains an online resource information of international journals. It is current and a free list of all journals indexed and abstracted by PAIS since the mid-1970s. It contains 81 pages and contains almost 4,200 titles, alphabetized by title and updated semi-annually. It provides the ISSN, including a link to the journal's website.

This PAIS International Journals List is very helpful in terms of searching for relevant research publications and for possible journal article submission in the area of specialisation.

Some of the journal titles in Environment and Urban Planning sector are as follows:

Journal of Energy, Natural Resources and Environmental Law. (1053-377X)
Journal of Environment & Development (1070-4965) http://www.sagepub.com/journal.aspx?pid=43
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. (0095-0696)
Journal of Environmental Planning and Management (0964-0568) http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/09640568.asp
Journal of Urban Affairs: the journal of the Urban Affairs Association. (0735-2166) http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0735-2166&site=1
Journal of Urban Analysis. (0091-1909)
Journal of Urban Economics. (0094-1190)
Journal of Urban Health (1099-3460) http://www.springerlink.com/content/119977/
Journal of Urban Law. (0041-9559)
Journal of Urban Planning and Development. (0733-9488)

Saturday, 15 January 2011

Who is Digital Environmentalist?

Hello eReaders!
Welcome to my professional world - my new extended blog mainly dedicated for my academic endeavour in the field of civil and environmental engineering, including urban planning, environmental management, and real estate development. Why on those areas? I will explain why my academic interests focused on them by giving you the stages of my learning process, from inside the classroom to the outside world of living.

I did my bachelor degree in Civil Engineering in a state university but prior to that course, I did a 3-year diploma in Civil Technology at the same school. At the age of 19, I started working full time in the university, while taking classes during the evening. Upon completion of BS degree, I took the state board/licensure exam and fortunately I passed it. Eventually, I decided to resign from my first job and joined a local council/government planning office. From that work as a Planning Officer, my interest in planning and enviromental issues grew as the years past until I attended a 20-month postgraduate program in urban planning at the Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand) with a full scholarship grant.
My third job offered me alot of opportunities in the development and management of environmental and business trainings for professionals in developing countries. Time flies, I decided to go back to my home country and applied my knowledge gained from working abroad. But after 7 years, I decided to go back again to school to further hone my expertise which I took a research program in environmental engineering at the University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia). Fortunately I got an AusAID scholarship for two years and after that I went back to my home country again and I joined a consulting firm which mainly manages foreign funded environmental projects. With my dedication to my work, it seems that Ive been working in that firm for so many years, but in reality I only stayed for one year. I love my work but I have to grab the rare opportunity to take a doctoral program abroad (Northern Ireland, UK) with full scholarship! Well, the rest is still on-going ...

Time flies and it is almost 5 years now when I embarked in my doctoral program. It is a struggle and I do hope that by early 2011 I will successfully submit my revised thesis for the conferment of my degree. I did pass the oral defence a year ago, but it is just Im already burned out and for the past months, I strugged to look for job opportunities elsewhere, consequently affected my focus and motivation to sit-down and finish my corrections. Anyway, no regrets at all and Im very optimistic to hurdle this personal struggle and be able to achieve what I really wanted in life!

Friday, 10 December 2010

Philippines wins 2010 BBC World Challenge



THE ONLY WAY IS UP, a community project in the Philippines is recognised as the 2010 BBC World Challenge winner. This project is initiated by AIDFI which aims to bring water closer to the countryside in the Philippines.

For details of this annual event, CLICK HERE.