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CALBAYOG CITY, Samar – Northwest Samar State University (NwSSU) has finalized a manual that sets the rules for its income-generating projects (IGPs). The Auxiliary Services and Business Affairs Office (ASBAO) led a four-day, closed-door write-shop from November 3 to 7, 2026 to validate the manual. ASBAO Director Rodolfo Corrales headed the effort in collaboration with the Project Development Office. Following the Higher Education Modernization Act (RA 8292) and the NwSSU Charter (RA 9719), the review and revision of the IGP manual aims for its immediate implementation to augment the university’s resources. Almost half of the income (40%) that will be generated from the IGPs will be used to support the university’s instruction, research, extension, and innovation activities, while around 30% is set to augment the university’s administrative operations.  The team reviewed whether a first-time proponent could follow the process from idea to approval, whether every peso could be traced from collection to deposit to distribution, and whether figures were consistent across chapters. Vague provisions were tightened, and conflicting chapters were reconciled. Under the manual, every Auxiliary Service and Special Project follows the same path: feasibility study, proposal, approval, then operation on a budget with collections deposited and reported. The manual also lets research, instruction and extension outputs become University-managed projects. These include products from faculty research, fee-based training and media services, and community-built products and services. Intellectual property is protected, and a feasibility check comes first. Projects involving indigenous communities or traditional knowledge require Free and Prior Informed Consent, and original beneficiaries must keep access to the service. The manual is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals on decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), quality education (SDG 4), industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), and partnerships (SDG 17). The ASBAO’s vision, as stated in the manual, is “an entrepreneurial NwSSU community that grows productive ventures” from instruction, research, extension and production, sustaining the University and Samar communities “from source to sea.”

Northwest Samar State University (NwSSU) has formally joined the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Region VIII Planner’s Network through a three-year partnership aimed at strengthening local land use planning and promoting sustainable, resilient, and futures-informed communities. The partnership was formalized through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on October 29, 2026, during the 2026 Eastern Visayas Zoning Conference held in Palo, Leyte. Under the agreement, NwSSU will provide technical assistance to Local Government Units (LGUs) in the preparation of Comprehensive Land Use Plans (CLUPs) and Zoning Ordinances. The collaboration will also cover training and capacity-building initiatives, research development, policy dialogue, and the formulation of plans and projects that support sustainable community development. Through this partnership, NwSSU will contribute its academic expertise, research capabilities, and strategic foresight initiatives to help local governments strengthen their planning processes and transition from risk-informed to futures-informed land use planning. The collaboration highlights the University’s commitment to extending its knowledge and resources beyond the academe, supporting local institutions in anticipating future challenges and developing responsive, inclusive, and resilient communities. With this three-year partnership, NwSSU reinforces its role as an active partner in regional development, advancing forward-looking planning approaches that help shape a more sustainable future for communities across Eastern Visayas.

Officials of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) inspected and tagged laboratory equipment of Northwest Samar State University (NwSSU) on November 10, 2026. The equipment was procured through the Higher Education Development Fund (HEDF). The activity, led by CHED’s Higher Education Development Fund Staff (HEDFS), began at the NwSSU President’s Board Room, where University President Atty. Lorelie Fabillar-Tangaran, DM, received the delegation. The HEDFS team consisted of Rosanna B. Garcia, Administrative Officer V; Catherine M. Malapo, Administrative Assistant III; and Patrick James M. Arao, Project Technical Staff I. The team then proceeded to the laboratories for the physical inspection. They were accompanied by Dr. Teodoro A. Amatosa, Jr., Vice President for Research, Innovation, Extension, and External Affairs (RIEEA), and Dr. Leo Jesus M. Lacaba, Vice President for Administration and Finance. The inspection covered two HEDF-funded projects: the upgrading of the University’s engineering laboratories and the upgrading of the Technology, Engineering, Tourism and Hospitality Management laboratories at the Main Campus. Each item was verified against the University’s inventory report, which CHED had requested NwSSU to prepare in advance. The inspection is mandated under Chapter 10, Section 17 of the Government Accounting Manual, which requires that property and equipment acquired through grants to higher education institutions be inspected, tagged, and documented. CHED’s itinerary also included a focus group discussion with University stakeholders, forming part of the Commission’s efforts to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation of HEDF-funded projects. This ensures that public funds invested in the University’s laboratories are accounted for and that the equipment is in use by engineering, technology, and hospitality management students who train on it daily.

Northwest Samar State University (NwSSU) students, faculty, and staff can now get professional mental health care at a discount through a four-year partnership with Dr. Liberty Monesit Medical Clinic. The University and the clinic formalized the partnership on November 3, 2026, through a ceremonial Memorandum of Agreement signing at the NwSSU President’s Board Room. University President Atty. Lorelie Fabillar-Tangaran, DM, and clinic proprietor Dr. Ofelia Amores Monesit, MD, signed the agreement. Under the agreement, members of the University community who are referred by NwSSU can access consultation, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment at the clinic, with a 25% discount on consultation fees. The clinic will also provide resource speakers for the University’s seminars, workshops, and other mental health activities. Both parties committed to comply with the Data Privacy Act of 2012 (R.A. 10173) and to safeguard sensitive medical and mental health information. By lowering cost barriers and linking the community to licensed professionals, the partnership supports students’ and employees’ well-being, which in turn supports how well they learn and work.

Northwest Samar State University (NwSSU) and the City Government of Calbayog conducted a foresight and tabletop workshop on El Niño–La Niña preparedness on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, at the NwSSU Main Campus. The workshop comes as Samar is among the provinces PAGASA has placed under drought, with the current very strong El Niño expected to linger into 2027 and a La Niña possibly following. All four states of calamity Calbayog has declared since 2022 were for floods, which organizers said makes the shift from too little water to too much the city’s biggest blind spot. Participants from multisectoral agencies and civil society worked in five sector tables, each guided by NwSSU facilitators. The tables covered water; food and agriculture; health, education and social welfare; emergency response and public safety; and governance, budget and coordination. The day began with a “Worry Wall,” where participants posted their biggest concerns about too little and too much water. Emmanuel R. de Guia, resident futurist and consultant of the Senate Committee on SDGs, Innovation, and Futures Thinking, then gave a situation briefing on the El Niño outlook, from the global picture down to Calbayog. Participants were then guided through a Causal Layered Analysis to examine the deeper causes behind their concerns, followed by a session on four possible futures of Calbayog in 2036, which they presented through an “a day in the life in 2036” role-plays. In a backcasting session, the tables worked backward from a preferred 2036 vision to concrete first moves the city can take during the current El Niño. The highlight was the Pivot Drill, a tabletop exercise that tested the tables’ plans against fictional but realistic developments: drought at its peak, the regular dry season stacked on El Niño, and a sudden turn to La Niña flash floods and landslides. Dr. Sandro Daguman, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), played the council chair who approved or held requests for water, personnel and funds, testing the workshop’s guiding rule: “No owner, no commitment.” Lastly, each table pledged three commitments with a named lead office, deadline, and trigger. In the session, each participants signed personal 30-day commitment cards. Dr. Daguman said the next steps are to consolidate the outputs into a draft El Niño–La Niña Preparedness Plan, integrate its actions into the city’s existing plans and budgets, monitor PAGASA signals, and bring the approach to barangays and schools. In his closing message, City Councilor Marc Celino “Jormac” B. Tan thanked the facilitators and participants and said the commitments made at the tables are only the beginning. “We can do this together,” he said, adding that by acting early, working across offices and barangays, and holding one another to their promises, Calbayog can face both the drought and the floods ahead with confidence.

CATBALOGAN CITY, Samar — In a decisive move to revitalize the province’s agricultural landscape, the Northwest Samar State University (NwSSU) solidified its role as a key institutional partner of the Provincial Local Government Unit (PLGU) of Samar during the two-day Samar Agro-Industrial Harmonization Workshop, held from October 22 to 23, 2026, at the Samar Convention Center. Led by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist and the Office of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer, the workshop brought together regional stakeholders, academic experts, and policymakers to streamline development efforts for Samar’s high-value agro-industries: coconut, bamboo, ube, and high-value crops (HVC) such as chili. Harmonizing a Shared Vision For years, the development of Samar’s primary agricultural commodities has occurred in silos, with agencies tackling problems independently. However, the workshop showed that the challenges facing Samar’s farmers are shared across commodities. Data consolidated during the sessions revealed six recurring gaps that hold back the provincial agro-industry. These are limited planting materials and seed stock, ranging from expensive bamboo material, scarce ube seedlings, and senile coconut trees to a lack of chili seed stock; limited farmer capacity and extension support; vulnerability to climate impacts, including typhoons, droughts, pests, and diseases; fragmented production and weak institutional coordination; a lack of shared processing, postharvest, and logistics facilities; and weak market linkages that leave farmers at the mercy of volatile trading prices. Rather than addressing these barriers commodity by commodity, the workshop successfully grouped these gaps into six strategic convergence initiatives. By anchoring interventions across specific segments of the value chains—such as clustering ube processing, upgrading chili facilities, and establishing robust marketing networks for coconut and bamboo—the PLGU and its partner agencies can now deploy targeted solutions that uplift multiple farming sectors simultaneously. NwSSU at the Helm of Facilitation and Expertise As an institution deeply committed to community transformation, NwSSU sent a powerhouse team of educators and researchers to orchestrate the event and contribute technical foresight. Mr. Redem D. Tingzon, Director of the NwSSU External Affairs Office, steered the strategic direction of the sessions as the Lead Workshop Facilitator, working hand-in-hand with Provincial Planning Officer Mr. Joel Mancol. Their collaborative moderation allowed diverse agency representatives to find common ground and synthesize complex farm-level data into actionable government policies. Lending academic and scientific weight to the workshop was Dr. Jessie Sabijon, Dean of the College of Agriculture & Forestry at the NwSSU San Jorge Campus. Serving as a Small Group Facilitator, Dr. Sabijon acted as the resident expert contributor for Ube Research & Development (R&D). His insights highlighted how academe-driven crop technology can directly mitigate the planting material scarcity that currently limits local ube growers. Assisting throughout the rigorous two-day convergence were personnel from the NwSSU Project Development Office, who served as official documenters, meticulously capturing the baseline findings that will shape Samar’s next comprehensive agro-industrial master plan. Empowering the Samarnon Farmer Samar’s smallholder farmers stand to benefit most from this partnership. By addressing systemic weaknesses like funding access and farm mechanization (gaps highlighted for bamboo, coconut, and ube), the convergence framework aims to move farmers toward more competitive agro-enterprise. When farmers are equipped with high-yield seed stocks, resilient farming practices, and shared processing facilities, their post-harvest losses drop, and their profit margins rise. Sustainable market linkages ensure that the sweat and labor poured into Samar’s soil translate into stable, premium household incomes. Shaping Samar’s Economic Future The collaboration between NwSSU and PLGU-Samar marks a shift in the province’s approach to agro-industry. By moving away from fragmented initiatives and embracing a synchronized value-chain approach, Samar positions itself as an emerging agro-industrial hub in the Eastern Visayas region. Through localized research, extension services, and policy facilitation, NwSSU continues to contribute to the province’s economic development. As this harmonized blueprint rolls out, the university and the provincial government stand united in building a resilient, food-secure, and economically vibrant Samar.

Faculty members from Northwest Samar State University (NwSSU) completed a two-day Basic Research Ethics Training on October 19-20, 2026, at the 3rd floor of the BDC Building, organized by the Research Integrity Office with the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board – Committee on Information Dissemination, Training, and Advocacy (PHREB – CIDTA) of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD), under the Department of Science and Technology. Faculty members from the different colleges of the NwSSU Main Campus and the San Jorge Campus participated in the training which aimed to equip them  to apply research ethics principles, evaluate protocols, and navigate the national and institutional ethics process. PHREB’s Dr. Leslie Michelle M. Dalmacio and Prof. Maria Cecilia C.G. Conaco both served as resource speakers. The Day 1 lectures covered historical research abuses, protections for human participants, core ethics principles, informed consent, and justice. Through group work, participants applied these principles to cases and protocols, then reviewed a protocol, consent form, and relevant guidelines. On Day 2, the resource speakers discussed research ethics governance, the roles of institutional research ethics committees, types of ethics review, researcher responsibilities, and current issues such as “publish or perish” and artificial intelligence. Participants also had group discussions and shared their own experiences related to the topics covered. The training, spearheaded by Mr. Felix John Refamonte, Director of NwSSU’s Research Integrity Office, marks another step toward the full operationalization of the university’s Research Ethics Committee. A response to the need to uphold research integrity and scientific soundness in the work of both faculty and students.