Department of Economics

Faculty and Staff

Faculty | Administrative Staff

Faculty

The faculty form a competent group of diverse backgrounds and specializations: agricultural economics, development studies, ecological economics, energy economics, mathematics, education, resource and environmental economics and regional planning. Aside from teaching and research, some of the faculty also do consultancy work for the government, private sector and international organizations.

After a three-termed, seven-year stint from 1990-1997 as Chair of the Department of Economics, Prof. Remedio is back for yet another term starting school year 2005-2006. After finishing in 1976 a bachelor’s degree in business administration majoring in economics, she served the ticking clock of the corporate world with great enthusiasm for six straight years. However, her mounting intellectual curiosity and the search for more challenges prompted Prof. Remedio to pursue a life of scholarship and join the department as a full-time lecturer in June 1981—a decision she looks back on with much joy and fulfillment. For two decades, she has led various locally and internationally funded research projects, published in many peer-reviewed international scientific journals, presented in various international fora and served as consultant to several national and supra-national organizations. Concurrent to her being department chair during the 90s, she was project manager of USC’s Affiliated Nonconventional Energy Center and co-founded the USC Social Science Research Center in 1996.

Prof. Remedio was the first Filipino awarded the Visiting Experts from Research and Academic Institution Grant from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO) for a one-year stint at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy from February 2000 – February 2001. There she worked with the Forestry Department of the Wood Energy Programme. Prof. Remedio was a Fulbright Senior Scholar from September 2004 – March 2005. She spent the first part of her tenure as Visiting Lecturer at George Washington University and the last half as Visiting Researcher at Texas A & M University. She is currently pre-occupied with helping to craft a “Climate Change” curriculum; towards this end, she will be meeting with other university representatives from Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam in Bangkok this March 2006. Afterwhich, she will be visiting France to collaborate with academics from the University of Bordeaux on the conceptualization of a book on the economic development of Cebu, Philippines.

Prof. Remedio holds a PhD in Education and an MA in Economics from USC. She directs the readings and research course for economics students, lectures on development economics at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, and also handles PhD courses in business and education.
E-mail: eremedio@skyinet.net

Heideliza Batausa teaches agricultural and international economics in the department at the both graduate and undergraduate level. She finished an MA in Development Studies, majoring in agricultural and rural development, at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands. Her research has focused on the political economy of rice trade liberalization in the Philippines and she was nominated for a CHED Regional Republica Award last 2005 for her work in that area. She has been on leave since August 2005 to pursue a PhD in Economics at the National University of Singapore.
E-mail: hbatausa@yahoo.com

Dr. Oscar Bucog earned both his BA and MA in Economics as well as his PhD in Education from University of San Carlos (USC). His PhD dissertation examined the national budget for education and proposed budget policy guidelines. He has been a member of the department faculty since 1975 and served as chair from 1997-2002. Dr. Bucog’s research interests have primarily been macroeconomic in focus and during the last two years he has completed a study on foreign direct investment and economic restructuring of developing economies in the Asia-Pacific Region, and published a paper re-appraising Philippine economic policy in the 1980s and 1990s. He held the John Gokongwei Sr. Professorial Chair in Business and Economics from 1980-1982.

Prof. Fajardo finished BS Commerce (1969) and MA Economics (1981) from the USC. He also completed, among others, a special course on Impact Assessment of Development Projects (1981) at East-West Center’s Resource Systems Institute in Hawaii. He joined the USC Economics Department in 1969 and subsequently transferred to the government in 1974 as Professional Economist of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Region X in Cagayan de Oro City. In 1988, he was appointed Assistant Regional Director of NEDA Region VII in Cebu City. He left NEDA in 1994 to head the AusAid assisted Central Visayas Water and Sanitation Project (CVWSP) until 1999. Aside from teaching, Prof. Fajardo presently writes a twice-weekly column for Cebu Daily News and provides consultancy services on local planning and development for local government units. His past research included an investigation of the impact of the PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate in Misamis Oriental which was published in the Journal of Philippine Development. He has recently completed a research project on the state of regional planning and development in the country.
E-mail: fcfajardo@eudoramail.com

Gerard Go is a part-time lecturer handling graduate courses in microeconomics and mathematical economics. He earned an MA in Economics from the University of Georgia, U.S.A. after finishing his AB Economics (Summa cum laude) from the USC. He worked on market structure and price-cost margins in Philippine manufacturing industries for his master’s thesis and has co-authored a paper based on it which was published in Applied Economics. Go runs his own successful fast-food franchise and realty firm. Prior to joining the department, he was a financial analyst for a Canadian communications firm.
E-mail: gerardgo@cebu.ph.inter.net

Daizylyn Jovita lectures on introductory undergraduate courses in economics. She is currently finishing her master’s degree in economics at USC where she also finished her undergraduate degree. Jovita has been trained in the use of Geographic Information Systems and has been involved in urban planning researches using GIS. She is currently the faculty adviser for the Carolinian Economics Society.
E-mail: daizylyn_claire@yahoo.com

Francisco M. Largo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics of USC. He obtained his Master’s degree in economics from the University of the Philippines School of Economics and has recently advanced to candidacy for the Doctor of Philosophy in Economics degree from the same school. His research interests lie primarily in the fields of human and natural resource economics and public policy. For his research into water resource issues in Metropolitan Cebu, he was supported by the John Gokongwei Professorial Chair in Business and Economics. He is currently working on a dissertation on the economics of child labor. Outside the classroom and the research office, his time is spent doting on two rambunctious daughters, keeping current with desktop computer hardware, and neophyte ventures into home audio appreciation.
E-mail: fmlargo@usc.edu.ph

Lourdes O. Montenegro is an environmental economist whose recent research and publications have focused on the valuation of environmental costs from development projects and the economics of monitoring and enforcing pollution regulations. Her recently completed policy research on the environmental costs of coastal land reclamation was funded by the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), a Singapore-based research network in which she actively participates. She received her MA in Economics from the University of San Carlos, where she also graduated Magna cum laude from the AB Economics program. She then proceeded to read for an MPhil in Environmental Policy (Economics and International Law) at the Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) and finished with a commendatory letter from the degree committee. She is currently a member of the International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE) and a Fellow of the Cambridge Overseas Society. Montenegro handles courses in applied econometrics and environmental economics for both graduate and undergraduate programs in the department. Outside of academic work, she participates in clean energy campaigns, runs several miles a week, and engages in excessive tea and coffee drinking while arguing with friends or catching up on her eclectic reading.
E-mail: lomontenegro@usc.edu.ph

Reymar Sarsoza has been lecturing part-time on health economics courses. He is currently finishing his master’s degree in economics at the University of San Carlos.
E-mail: allstar71996@yahoo.com

Alan Tabanao has been a faculty member of the economics department since 1997. His master’s thesis focused on economic growth and openness using time series analysis. His research interests center on forecasting, public policy, trade and growth. He currently handles undergraduate courses in macroeconomics as well as graduate courses in business administration. Recently, he has been involved in research on fishery economics both in Panglao Island and the Danajon Double Barrier Reef in Bohol Province.
E-mail: aatabanao@usc.edu.ph

Engr. Yap lectures part-time on both graduate and undergraduate courses in economics. He received an MS in International Economics and Finance from the University of Queensland, Australia and an MBA from the University of the Philippines-Diliman. He also graduated from USC with a BS in Mechanical Engineering (Cum laude) and obtained a license as an engineer shortly after. Engr. Yap has extensive experience in business consulting and training and has established and managed a variety of retail and finance companies since the early 80s.
E-mail: erniegy234@yahoo.com

Dr. Victorina Zosa earned both her MA and PhD in Economics from the University of the Philippines School of Economics in Diliman where, for her dissertation research, she investigated the urban and spatial dimensions of Philippine development. After completing her graduate training in 1983, she joined USC and held the John Gokongwei Professorial Chair in Business and Economics from 1984 to 1989. Dr. Zosa is currently Director of the USC Office of Research as well as the CHED Zonal Research Center for Region 7. Prior to this, she served as Dean of the College of Commerce for six years. Her research work has primarily focused on population and regional development issues and during the last two years, she completed a study on Philippine-Japan economic linkages for the Philippine Institute of Development Studies and co-authored “Cebu: A Demographic and Socioeconomic Profile Based on the 2000 Census” which was funded and published by the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Dr. Zosa teaches regional economics for the graduate program.
E-mail: vickyzosa@yahoo.com

Vicenta Cabalhin has been the department’s office secretary/administrative assistant for eight years and has already worked under three different chairpersons. Over the years, she has been a friendly and accommodating presence in the office and economics students endearingly call her ‘Mam Tata’.