Geography 192: Team Semirara 2026 co-creates P3DM with community residents of Barangay Semirara, Caluya, Antique

Last July 9, July 10 and July 13, the Team Semirara of the Geography 192 field classes for midyear 2026 held its culminating activity: the Participatory 3D Mapping or P3DM that aims to engage the community to create their own tangible, representative and functional 3D map.

The three-day activity held at the Pension House, Barangay Semirara, Caluya, Province of Antique, was participated by around 70 individuals including barangay councilors, sitio and purok leaders, barangay health workers (BHWs), Disaster Operations Center (DOC) representatives, and volunteers from various sectors of the community.

From tracing, to cutting, to painting and designing, the UPD Geography team created, collaborated and co-produced knowledge with the community to create and mount a 3-dimensional map while actively discussing and learning the geographic features and backgrounds of the barangay from the participants, and explaining how the map can better serve the community, not just in mapping spaces of vulnerabilities but also as to how to add new information to the 'living map' that was produced.

The P3DM activity produced a 5ft x 6ft topographic map with information on infrastructures, land use, capacities, road networks, and several hazard areas including flood, storm surge and rain-induced landslide.

Inset maps were also produced to zoom in on densely populated areas of the barangay for household mapping with information on building material and vulnerabilities by assigning household and building ID numbers that are linked to a database.

Video edited by Jade Ocab

Videography by Jade Ocab & Kyla Bacolod

#TeamSemirara2026

#UPDGeography

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Heo/Geo Lecture Series 2026-07: Cole Yokingco on the intersection of geography, law and climate change

The Heo/Geo Lecture Series continues during the midyear. For the seventh presentation of this long-running series, the UP Department of Geography and the Philippine Geographical Society (PGS) are co-sponsoring the talk of an alumnus who is knee-deep in conservation work.

The talk is Ignoring boundaries: How geography, law, climate change, and biodiversity intersect by John Colin Yokingco from Conservation International Philippines and is happening via Zoom on Tuesday, 16th of June 2026 at 5:30PM. His talk looks at the link between the legal system and climate change. Where things are, how justice is defined, the impacts of climate change, and the diversity of life are important in addressing the challenges of our times, according to Yokingco. 

Geography and law are fields of study that may not be connected at first glance. One deals with how things interact spatially while the other deals with the obligatory norms set by those in power. Climate change and biodiversity on the other hand, although considered as subjects studied under the physical sciences, are usually addressed separately in the legal framework of the Philippines. In spite of their apparent boundaries, geography, law, climate change, and biodiversity intersect in more ways than we think. The impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss have no respect for boundaries set by the law. The international commitments of states mean nothing if local action receives no support. Finally, justice is fundamental to any solution to these issues. Discourse on these issues have progressed over the past 12 years. The overlaps and intersections will be discussed through the experiences of a geography graduate who has navigated the space over the same period through their professional career. From land use planning, defending human rights, and now conserving nature geography remains at the core of the approach. 

John Colin E. Yokingco is a legal and development professional who has worked on issues related to climate change, disaster risk management, and human rights. Cole currently works on policies related to natural climate solutions, biodiversity, and indigenous people’s rights as the Philippines Policy Senior Manager of Conservation International Philippines.

Jointly sponsored by the UP Department of Geography and the Philippine Geographical Society (PGS), the Heo/Geo Lecture Series is a monthly resource talk / lecture given by academic geographers, geography-adjacent scholars, practitioners working in geospatial industries, and partners that engaged in multiple publics, and based locally and abroad. The talk ranges from the sharing of research findings to pedagogical practices and field-based experiences. This month’s Heo/Geo Lecture Series is facilitated by two research clusters at the UP Department of Geography: Human Geography (HUG), and Environment and Development Geographies (EDGE) and is in line with the SDG #4 (Quality Education) and SDG #13 (Climate Action) of the United Nations.

To participate in the Zoom lecture, please click this link to register: https://tinyurl.com/53rf59w2

Heo/Geo Lecture Series 2026-06: Patrick de Castro on the making, un-making and re-making of place

In a recent article by Christophe Claramunt (2025), he echoed what several critical cartographers and historical geographers have said before about power relations that result in a lacunae and concealment of places in historico-cartographical practices: "[T]here are numerous instances where information is intentionally omitted or concealed from maps, driven by motivations ranging from security and privacy concerns to political, social, economic, and cultural interests" (2025, p. 1).

It is in the un-making of places in the past that drives a corrective -- and a remaking of places -- that situates power relations and tells alternative historical accounts. Such is the case of the Iglesia y Hospital in Spanish occupation-era San Gabriel de Manila.

On Tuesday, the 19th of May at 1:30PM via Zoom, the Heo/Geo Lecture Series presents a talk by Associate Professor Patrick Anthony de Castro with a title: The search for the lost narrative and discursive reconstruction of the whereabouts of Iglesia y Hospital de San Gabriel de Manila. 

Using methodologies from various disciplines and a discursive approach in reconstructing the subject matter at hand, the research hoped to correct some long-standing misconceptions, pointed-out unknown lacunae, and clarified muddled loopholes on the beginnings of Intramuros in general, and particularly the proselytization activities of the Dominican congregation in the Philippines. Known as the church cum hospital established by the Dominicans for non-Christian Chinese immigrants to Manila, it is discovered that Iglesia y Hospital de San Gabriel was already operational, both as a church and hospital, even before the establishment of Dominican’s mother church and monastery, Monasterio y Iglesia de Sto. Domingo, and that the latter’s location at the Gran Cienaga or great swamp at the northeastern corner of what would become Intramuros was based on the location of their missionary works among the said Chinese group in the Parian and not the other way around as written in many positivistic studies about them before.

Related to this is providing a re-examination of the sources used in academic studies and secondary works placing the beginnings of Dominican missionary works at Baybay, the local town with Chinese Christian inhabitants located at the tip of the southern banks of the Pasig River.

Associate professor Patrick de Castro teaches history at Miriam College. He previously served as chairperson for the Department of International Studies and the Department of Social Sciences in Mirian College. He is a member of the Philippine National Historical Society (PNHS) as well as in Manila Studies Association. He published several modules on Philippine History and the life and works of Jose Rizal. His research includes the history of Malabon before the arrival of the Maryknoll sisters, and his past and present engagements with the lost churches in Intramuros. His academic degrees are in history with forays in geography, anthropology and urban planning. 

To provide a contemporary context to areas in Intramuros used to be occupied by such institutions, it is pinpointed that Iglesia y Hospital de San Gabriel was located at a spot currently occupied by the Letran Gym and part of the northern façade of the College of San Juan de Letran fronting it. This was discovered here through what was established in earlier scholarship as the eastern boundary of Manila from 1577 to 1583. This boundary was established earlier as being only along what became Legazpi street and not beyond where the eastern walls of Intramuros (which were constructed later).

Based on the research, when, how, and where the church and hospital of San Gabriel were transferred to two different sites on the islet of Binondo; the church in 1594 and the hospital in 1598 along its Pasig River banks, and their eventual demise. The presentation will show how the hospital completely disappeared in the 19th century while the church being destroyed during the British Invasion of Manila in the 18th  century but upon whose grounds the current church of Binondo was built almost a century later.

Additionally, the presentation argues that the first name given to the said church and hospital of the Dominicans for the Chinese in the Parian is San Pedro de Martir, considered  as one of the actual founders, aside from UST’s founder Fr. Miguel de Buenavides, Juan Maldonado de San Martir in honor of the same saint he was named after.

Thus, its well-known identifying designation in honor of San Gabriel after whom the northeastern bulwark of Intramuros was named after, Bastion de San Gabriel, that was built towards the end of Spanish rule over the country, as the current source of knowing about parts and parcel of the said subject matters of the research, has nothing to do with them except occupying portions of the site in Intramuros where they used to be located. This paper attempts to prove the historicity of Iglesia y hospital de San Gabriel built by the Dominicans for Chinese residents of the Parian and their geographical whereabouts within the city of Manila and its environs from their inception until their disappearance as Spanish institutions.

This presentation is part of a research conducted a few years ago called 'Search of Two Lost Catholic Churches in Intramuros de Manila towards the ed of the 16th Century' that was funded by the Center for Strategic Research of Miriam College then directed by  Dr. Joey Alagaran. Moreover, de Castro discovered about the muddled and incomplete historicity

of the Iglesia y hospital de San Gabriel out of his studies in the masters program on the urban development of Manila, 1571 – 1593, done a more than a century ago (1998).

Jointly sponsored by the UP Department of Geography and the Philippine Geographical Society (PGS), the Heo/Geo Lecture Series is a monthly resource talk / lecture given by academic geographers, geography-adjacent scholars, practitioners working in geospatial industries, and partners that engaged in multiple publics, and based locally and abroad. The talk ranges from the sharing of research findings to pedagogical practices and field-based experiences. This current lecture is facilitated by the Human geography (HUG) research cluster at the UP Department of Geography and is in line with the SDG #4 (Quality Education) of the United Nations.

To participate in the Zoom lecture, click this link to participate: https://tinyurl.com/4zhefnwz

Reference:

Claramunt, C. (2025). The phenomenon of hidden geographical information in cartography. International Journal of Cartography, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/23729333.2025.2595717