Silliman, ODU collaborate efforts
for marine biodiversity research

The Silliman University Institute of Environmental and Marine Sciences, collaboration with the Old Dominion University in the United States, under the Coral Triangle Partnerships in International Research and Education Project.

CT-PIRE is supported by the United States National Science Foundation. It brings researchers and graduate students together to undertake research activities on marine biodiversity in the Philippines and across the broader Coral Triangle region.

Headed by IEMS Director, Dr. Hilconida Calumpong, and ODU’s Prof. Kent Carpenter, the project seeks to test major biogeographic hypotheses on the origin and accumulation of high biodiversity in the Philippines. It focuses on the factors affecting “extraordinarily high” marine biodiversity in the Philippines, using a multidisciplinary approach that combines geospatial modeling of ocean currents with comparative population genetics.

As part of this project, researchers and graduate students at IEMS are also being trained in molecular ecology and larval distribution techniques and laboratory methods by a pool of experts, which include Prof. Mikhail Matz of the University of Texas, and Luz Romena of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

Students from the University of Santo Tomas and the University of California-Los Angeles have recently joined the team in its various activities. Among these activities are multiple studies on population connectivity patterns in key marine organisms (seagrasses, branching corals, triggerfish, parrotfish, and common fisheries commodities).

IEMS and ODU will collate results from the joint researches and compile them for publication in scholarly journals and presentation at scientific conferences.*RG

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Bacolod artist to hold
solo exhibit in Makati

A solo exhibition of Manny Montelibano’s “Sorry for the Inconvenience,” the latest in the 2011-2012 Philippine Video Art Festival, will open  at Gallery NOVA  in Makati City at 6:30 p.m.  August 13,  with an artist talk at 6 p.m. August 16.

It is being presented by Visual Pond’s End Frame Video Art Project 3: Present, together with Gallery NOVA, a press release from organizers said.

Examining the idea of aggravating disturbances amidst the thrust for the public good, “Sorry for the Inconvenience” stages an audio-visual affront on the rhetoric of the politically powerful.

The show forms the fourth solo exhibition of the Bacolod-based Montelibano, who has been practicing as an artist since 2002.

Montelibano received his training through his experience as technical director at University of St. La Salle in Bacolod,  and through a 2004 director’s apprenticeship under filmmaker Peque Gallaga.

Crossing fields, Montelibano is a member of the Black Artists in Asia Association Inc. and founded Bacollywood: The Visayan Film Festival.

Montelibano, who co-founded the production collective Produksyon Tramontina Inc., is  an active member of his community and often joins group exhibitions in his region. His other solo shows include Greater than or Equal to Infinity (Gallery NOVA, 2010), Escabeche: Filipino Sweet and Sour (Galleria Duemila, 2009) and PO Asa (Gallery Orange, 2008), the press release said.

“Sorry for the Inconvenience” runs until  September 9 at Gallery NOVA, located at Warehouse 12A, La Fuerza Compound 2241 Don Chino Roces Avenue, Makati, Metro Manila, , which is open Monday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., the press release said.

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