Prof. Maria Vanessa Lusung-Oyzon
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Professor Maria Vanessa P. Lusung-Oyzon is currently the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (OVCAA) of the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD). She is a Professor at the UPD College of Education where she also obtained her Doctor of Philosophy in Education degree (major in Educational Psychology), Master’s degree in Educational Psychology, and Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education, specializing in Social Studies. Her dissertation “Lived Experiences of High Ability Underachieving Filipino College Students in STEM: A Phenomenological Study” was awarded with Pinakamahusay na Pananaliksik (Kategorya ng Disertasyon) [Most outstanding research (Dissertation Category)].
Her passion in teaching has been remarkable since her undergraduate years until today. She was awarded as the Most Outstanding Student Teacher of the Philippines in 1993. Prof. Oyzon was also recognized as one of the Top 100 UP Diliman Professors in 2010 and 2011, initiated by the Great Ideas.ph Project of the OVCAA. In 2011 and 2013, she was granted the Gawad Kolehiyo Excellence in Teaching Award in the College of Education. In recent years, she was also a recipient of the UP Centennial Professorial Chair and Faculty Grants as well as the One UP Professorial Chair Award.
Professor Lusung-Oyzon, or “Teacher Vanessa/Venice” as she is fondly called by her students, has trained undergraduate students to compete in national teaching competitions on lesson planning and innovating teaching resources/materials. She also helped mentor Japanese pre-service teachers who had their teaching practicum at the UP Integrated School (the teaching laboratory school of the UP Diliman), and was invited as a visiting professor at Ehime University, Matsuyama, Japan under the Good Practice Program sponsored by the Japanese Government way back in 2012. Locally, she has been a trainer of UP Diliman Faculty through the Office for the Advancement of Teaching’s (OAT) Teaching Effectiveness Courses under the OVCAA as well as basic education teachers, including multi-grade teachers from far flung areas of the Philippines. Her research interests focus on metacognition, student learning and development particularly at-risk students, and teacher education.
Professor Lusung-Oyzon’s dedication to help students thrive and flourish despite challenging experiences led her to accept the University Registrar position during the recent pandemic (i.e., from 2020-2023). Prior to that, she was the Director of the General Education Center of UPD under the OVCAA. She also served as the Director of the UP Diliman Learning Resource Center which is the tutorial arm of UPD, under the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs from 2007 to 2011, the Coordinator for Student Teaching matters of the College of Education Diliman in 2011-2013, the College Secretary from 2013 to 2016, and OIC Dean from January to April 2016 of the College of Education. She has also been involved in College Committees, and has been an active member of University Council Standing Committees. Outside administrative work, she hosts the radio-based literacy program of the College of Education, Radyo Edukado (DZUP 1602).
Finally, and most importantly, Professor Lusung-Oyzon is a cheerful and devoted wife and a loving and nurturing mother to two responsible adolescents.
Dr. Ivy D.C. Suan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Accounting and Finance, Cesar E.A. Virata School of Business. She obtained her BS Mathematics, MS Applied Mathematics, and PhD Mathematics degrees from the UP Diliman Institute of Mathematics.
Dr. Carlene Perpetua Pilar-Arceo is a Professor at the UP Diliman Institute of Mathematics (IMath), where she obtained her BS Mathematics, MS Applied Mathematics, and PhD Mathematics degrees. For her MS Applied Mathematics degree, she majored in Operations Research. Her PhD dissertation was on Partial Differential Equations, research for which was done under a Monbusho scholarship at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
Dr. Arceo has been recognized twice as Gawad Tsanselor Natatanging Guro (1993 and 2004). She is a recipient several times of the Centennial Faculty Grant and twice of the One-UP Professorial Chair (2016 and 2019). A publication she co-authored, “Chemical Reaction Networks: Filipino contributions to their theory and its applications,” was recognized as a 2020 NAST Outstanding Scientific Paper. She is very active in the teaching and promotion of GE Mathematics and has several projects and publications in Mathematical Biology, Mathematical Modeling, and Optimization. She is also involved in teacher training locally and in the ASEAN region.
Before assuming the OILD Director post, Dr. Arceo served as the Director of the UPD Institute of Mathematics (2018-2021), Director of the General Education Center Diliman (2016-2018), and Assistant Secretary of the University and of the Board of Regents (2007-2011). She is currently the Philippine representative to the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction, a Board Member of the Mathematical Society of the Philippines.
Assoc. Prof. Ma. Nerissa Masangkay Abara
University Registrar
Dr. Ma. Nerissa Masangkay Abara is an Associate Professor at the UP Diliman Institute of Mathematics, where she earned her BS, MS, and PhD in Mathematics. Her research focuses on Matrix Analysis and Combinatorial Matrix Theory. She teaches courses in linear algebra as well as the general education course Math in Everyday Life, and has mentored numerous undergraduate and master’s students as a thesis adviser.
Dr. Masangkay Abara served as Deputy Director of the Institute of Mathematics from 2010 to 2017 before serving as College Secretary of the UP Diliman College of Science from 2018 to 2025.
Charles Erize P. Ladia is an Assistant Professor of Speech Communication and Rhetoric at the Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts (DSCTA), College of Arts and Letters, University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD). He is currently pursuing PhD in Political Science at UPD. His teaching and research examine the intersections of communication, rhetoric, identities, and politics. He is the co-editor of the Philippine Humanities Review Special Issues on “Speech Communication in the Philippines Now” (2024, 2025).
He began his teaching career at UPD by handling the General Education course Communication 3: Practical Speech Fundamentals. He currently teaches Speech 30: Public Speaking and Persuasion, along with courses on political rhetoric, rhetorical theories and method, and qualitative methods in speech communication research. He has taken on several roles within the DSCTA and the University, and most recently served as GEC’s Program Development Associate before being its Director.
Director Remolona is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Chemical Engineering. He specializes in applications of artificial intelligence–more specifically in knowledge and information management as well as information extraction. He has several priority researches that involve various expertise in both Chemical Engineering and Machine Learning. His expertise in software development and computational infrastructure that he obtained during his PhD are an asset in the running of the services of ILC. He is currently working on streamlining the services of ILCD so that they can be integrated into one unified service. This is to accomplish the vision that ILC be the premier when it comes to educational technologies.
Ligaya Leah Figueroa is a Professor at the Department of Computer Science in UP Diliman. She is affiliated with the Web Science Lab and is engaged in projects involving geospatial technologies and urban environments. She obtained her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Computer Science from the University of the Philippines in Diliman. She received her Ph.D. in Surveying and Spatial Information Systems from the University of New South Wales. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on Software Engineering and Databases and advises senior computer science students working on applications that take advantage of location data. She is currently working on citizen monitoring projects involving volunteered geographic information.
Olivia Sicam earned her Bachelor of Science in Architecture and Master of Architecture degrees at the College of Architecture in the University of the Philippines, Diliman. She is currently pursuing a doctorate degree in the Designed and Built Environment in the same institution. Her professional experience in the field of architecture includes residential design and construction. For the past ten years, she has been part of the faculty at the University of the Philippines College of Architecture, handling courses in architectural design, construction, urban design, and social housing. She has also served as thesis adviser, with advisees in the undergraduate program winning the best thesis awards in 2019, 2022, and 2023. Beyond her academic experience, she has also been involved in the humane and sustainable management of stray animals on campus. Her advocacy for animal compassion and responsible pet ownership led to her active role in Trap/Neuter/Vaccinate/Return and Anti-Rabies initiatives for stray dogs and cats inside the Diliman campus as a member and later chair of the Committee on Campus Animal Management under the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs between 2018 and 2023. She also promotes the value of public service and community architecture in her leadership roles within the University, serving as the Director of the Extension Program from 2017 to 2020 and as the National Service Training Program (NSTP) Coordinator until 2023 at the College of Architecture.
Ms. Elvira Lapuz is a senior lecturer since 2004 at the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS), Lapuz is known as the creator of a comprehensive program on information literacy at the University Library as well as the creation of new library education programs such as Copyright and Ethical Use of Library resources.
In 2013 she was part of the group that drafted the competency-based standards for the library profession, which were implemented by the Professional Regulation Commission in 2014.
The recipient of the 2016 UPD Gawad Tsanselor para sa Natatanging REPS, Lapuz is active in a number of organizations, including the National Commission for Culture and the Arts-National Committee on Library and Information Services (NCCA-NCLIS) and the PRC Board for Librarians-Continuing Professional Development Council for Librarians.
Lapuz has been with UPD since 1991 when she entered the University Library as a Reference Librarian and Indexer after earning her Bachelor of Library Science from the Institute of Library Science (now SLIS) that year.From there she worked her way up to become the University Library’s Acquisitions Librarian, then Head Librarian of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy Library and head of the General Reference and Electronic Resources Section.
Lapuz earned her Master of Library Science from the SLIS in 2003. In 2004 she became an SLIS Senior Lecturer and subsequently Deputy University Librarian in 2016.During her time at the General Reference Section, Lapuz actively worked to increase awareness of the University Library’s activities to the UPD community through social media.For extension work, he facilitates outreach workshops on research mentoring.
