Prof. May Anne E. Mata delivered plenary talks at two conferences in June 2023. The abstracts of her talks are shown below. She delivered a keynote talk at the Philippine-American Academy of Science and Engineering (PAASE)'s Annual PAASE Meeting and Symposium on 27 June 2023 (top image). She gave a plenary talk at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) Mathematics Summit 2023 (middle and bottom image).

The UP Land Reservations in Laak and Marilog had their 25th-anniversary milestone in June 2023. 

President Fidel V. Ramos signed Presidential Proclamations 1252 and 1253, creating the UP Laak Land Reservation and the UP Marilog Land Reservation on June 15, 1998, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources. 

PP 1252 set aside 2,800 hectares in Laak, in present-day Davao de Oro Province, for "research, extension, instruction purposes, forest rehabilitation and protection, biodiversity conservation, crops and livestock production and management, including upland communities training and development center." 

PP 1253, on the other hand, proclaimed 4,100 hectares in Marilog for similar purposes in addition to "watershed and forest rehabilitation and protection." 

UP leads and participates in their socioeconomic development. Both land reservations are presently parts of ancestral domains, as well.

UP Land Reservation Manager Joel Sagadal recalled these milestones in his visit to Special Barangay Talle in Davao del Oro Province on June 15, 2023. 

"UP Los Banos Alumni Association Davao President Luciano 'Sonny' Puyod II suggested the Laak area to then-UP President Emil Javier," he said. 

The local communities welcomed UP's arrival because basic education was their urgent need. Consequently, the newly-created UP Ugnayan ng Pahinungod's Gurong Pahinungod volunteer teachers were deployed to Laak. Today, the pilot schools established in the Laak reservation have grown, and some former pupils have become teachers. 

The communities in both Laak and Marilog are likewise experiencing economic opportunities and sustainable development. The resident Dibabawon and the Obu-Manuvu indigenous and migrant communities in Laak and Marilog are engaged in sustainable agriculture, livestock-growing, food processing, and contract-growing for an international market. 

In 2017, UP Mindanao's efforts were recognized with a Gawad Pangulo Award for Excellence in Public Service for "Economic Upliftment of the Indigenous People's Community through Agricultural Projects" in the UP Marilog Land Reservation.

The issuance of the presidential proclamations is proving to be wise action in the UP Laak and Marilog Land Reservations. 

Urban voids in a city center or poblacion are a problem that can be viewed as a potential for development. The local government could provide solutions for these urban voids to positively impact a town’s poblacion district. It could increase socio-economic activity and attract more investors within the abundant commercial and institutional areas. 

Mr. Karl Wendel C. Magno gave these insights in his thesis, “Uncovering the Potential of Urban Voids in Davao City: An Analysis of the Poblacion District.”

The unutilized, underutilized, and abandoned land areas in a poblacion are types of urban voids. These are created by natural, geographical, political, economic, or sociocultural factors. High imposed taxes and community disputes are common causes of urban voids. He said that the majority of these factors arise from lapses between the community and the local barangay councils and may be solved through coordination and planning. 

He also recommended that local stakeholders study the ecological dynamics between the living inhabitants, the spaces, and buildings, how these elements co-exist, and their relevance to each other. 

Magno was one of the five presenters at the Research Colloquium 2023 of the Master of Arts in Urban and Regional Planning (MAURP) program conducted by the University of the Philippines Mindanao Department of Architecture on May 20, 2023, at UP Mindanao. Steven Adrienne M. Chua presented "Improving the Quality of Life in Phil. Navy On-site Housing," and Vherna C. Comagon on "The effectiveness of community-based conservation in Agusan Marsh." Aisa C. Samson discussed "Disaster Preparedness of Existing Land Use in Tandag City," and Rachel Mae P. Sitcharon presented "Management Regimes and Sustainable Structural Dimensions of Floating Houses in Agusan Marsh."

Zamboanga, its waters, and its people are the settings for UPMin Instructor Sigrid Marianne Gayangos’ first published collection of stories. 

“The tropical seas, the ocean, the waters, and vast archipelagic realms become sites of the unknowable, sometimes even forbidding places that refuse to give up their stories,” wrote fellow Mindanaoan writer Kristine Ong-Muslim in the foreword to the book.

“Laut: Stories,” Gayangos’ newly published book, features 13 stories set in the author’s birthplace of Zamboanga. Now based in Dumaguete City, the author was in Davao to meet her UPMin students, and the UPMin Department of Humanities took the opportunity to hold a book launch and author’s talk. 

The discussions touched on how the author began writing, her conscious choice to take inspiration from her roots, the process of revision, and the challenges that come with being a Mindanaoan writer.

“The stories contain the reality and experiences of interethnic communities. It taps into their political consciousness. It has queer and sociopolitical themes, and dives deep into the marvelous and fantastic,” said UPMin student Daryll.

According to the author each story has a different approach relating to how she understood water. “...there’s turbulence. It’s erratic, it’s unpredictable…it’s also scary—we never know what’s underneath,” she said. Despite these things, writing, she admits, has allowed her to explore the depths of water through the stories she wrote. 

Despite her works being categorized under speculative fiction, Ms. Sigrid expressed how it tackles realities that seem more familiar than readers think.

“Laut: Stories” may sound marvelous or nonrealist, but she explained that these were tales she grew up with, coming from a long line of fisherfolks, and were what helped shape her stories. 

During the talk, she expressed how seven of the stories were “major overhauls” of her thesis collections, while the six other stories are new. 

The UP Mindanao Department of Humanities held the book launch and author’s talk for “Laut: Stories” by Instructor Sigrid Marianne Gayangos on 4 May 2023, moderated by Associate Prof. John Bengan. The book is published by UP Press and is also available online.