By Dhel Nazario
Who would have thought that mud could provide medicinal benefits to us, or bacteria found in soil could have the capability to rejuvenate barren areas back into a luscious greenery?
Dr. Ramon A. Razal (photo courtesy of International Federation of Social Science Organizations)
All of these would have remained mere queries and reams until the possibilities were explored through the scientific prowess of the Department of Science and Technology National Research Council of the Philippines (DOST-NRCP), the first and oldest research council of the country founded in 1933.
Dr. Ramon A. Razal, current NRCP president said the that NRCP experts should not just sit on their laurels, instead, they should step over the borders of their respective disciplines to cope with this millennium’s varying modes and fast technological revolutions and study new possibilities of making things happen and achieve positive change.
In commemoration of its 85th founding anniversary, bannered by the theme “Leading Frontier Research for the Filipino and the ASEAN, Dr. Razal enjoined the NRCP members to continue embracing frontier research.
The agency has been producing high-value research results with positive impacts on many of the most serious problems of the nation particularly on health, food security and safety, environment, energy, agriculture, disaster and hazard mitigation, biodiversity, heritage, culture, governance, peace, and conflict.
A number of NRCP research activities were anchored on the ground works of the science frontier, these include: in 2008, the use of crude coconut oil and water-diluted alcohol for dual fuel option for diesel engine; in 2012, the genomic survey of Dengue virus; in 2015, the bioremediation strategies for mined-out areas; in 2015, the potential use of ciliates and protozoans as indicators of pollutants in Lake Lanao along with its physical and chemical characterization; in 2017, the potential use of aquatic bacteria – Actinobacteria, as antibiotics, in the seabeds of Eastern Visayas, Luzon, Palawan, and Mindanao.
The current NRCP President, Dr. Ramon A. Razal said the that NRCP experts should not just sit on their laurels, instead, they should step over the borders of their respective disciplines to cope with this millennium’s varying modes and fast technological revolutions and study new possibilities of making things happen and achieve positive change.