15 June 2007

Conference Hall 2, Development Academy of the Philippines, Tagaytay City

The meeting was called to order by Mr. Renato Reaño, CSSP President, at 5:30 pm. The agenda for the meeting are:

1.    Delinquent members of the BOD
2.    PJCS
3.    CSSP Registration
4.    CSSP Office
5.    CSSP Website
6.    New CSSP Fund
7.    Next CSSP Conference

Issues arising from the minutes of the previous business meeting held at Palawan, Puerto Princesa were discussed by Mr. Reaño.

Delinquent BOD Members

It was suggested during the last business meeting that delinquent BOD members shall be replaced. The 2006-2007 CSSP BOD decided that since most of the delinquent members were to end their term this year, the BOD members will be allowed to finish their term. However, the newly elected BOD members shall be asked to take their responsibility and shall sign a conforme letter in lieu of their acceptance of the position.

PJCS

The ISI application for the Philippine Journal of Crop Science (PJCS) is still under evaluation. It was agreed that a new technical editor-in-chief  shall be hired by CSSP. The CSSP already invited prospective editors-in-chief. Dr. Azucena Carpena signified interest to become the editor-in-chief of the PJCS.

Dr. Edwin Hondrade suggested that Mr. Frank Hilario not be fired as an editor of the PJCS, since he worked hard to provide/ publish PJCS on time. According to him, based on the CSSP experience, the PJCS publication has always been three years delayed  due to the technical editors.  

Mr. Reaño clarified that Mr. Frank Hilario will not be fired nor replaced. He will still be an Associate Managing Editor. However, a technical editor will be hired to edit the technical aspects of the papers submitted. It was clarified that no additional budget will be incurred in hiring a technical editor. The PJCS only needs someone who has the scientific background. Even if Mr. Teodoro Mendoza is tapped in some instance, it was only done to fast track paper reviews. It will still be best if there is someone who will constantly monitor the technical content of the paper.

Ms. Lilian Pateña also told the body that we should not sacrifice quality with speed. Although PJCS was always released on time, she got feedbacks that the journal’s quality has been degrading, thus the need for a technical editor.

Currently, the number of articles published by PJCS has been increased from six to eight articles with almost 100 pages. The printing press agreed to print a maximum of 10 colored pages per issue of PJCS free of charge to appreciate colored illustrations .

The post office also approved the CSSP application for a third class mail. This will be translated to some savings in terms of mailing fee.

CSSP Registration

The group was informed that the CSSP Board of Directors (BOD) was working on the Registration of the Crop Science Society of the Philippines, Inc. with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). Based on records obtained, the last financial report prepared by CSSP was in 1999. There were no constitution and by-laws (CBL) of the CSSP submitted to SEC. The BOD is in the process of accomplishing the membership book (red book) to be submitted toSEC.

CSSP Office

The previous CSSP Office at PhilRice Los Baños has already ‘deteriorated’ hence the BOD is making arrangements to have a new office at the Rice Section of the Crop Science Cluster in UPLB.

The International Rice Research Institute also approved the CSSP request for office furnitures. Minor renovations in the office will be done before transferring to the new office.

CSSP Website

The BOD terminated the contract with laguna net due to its high maintenance cost. CSSP is then in the process of preparing the new website which will be hosted in another server. Rest assured that the cost of maintaining the website will be lower. The website is expected for launching in July 2007.

New CSSP Fund

A new fund will be available for CSSP in the amount of PHP 50,000.00 per year starting December 2008. This will be granted by Dr. Ponciano Batugal provided that the Society will be able to have a sustainable project which must be unique/ innovative, preferably a project with high impact in the community/ focus on community development. The CSSP BOD is open for suggestions. Final project will be presented by the CSSP BOD for defense under Dr. Batugal’s foundation.

New CSSP BOD

The new board of directors of the CSSP was announced by Dr. Norvie L. Manigbas, chair of the CSSP Election Committee. There were 106 out of the 116 (92%) possible voters who exercised their rights during the Conference. Out of the eleven nominees, three were selected in the person of Ms. Jessica Rey, Mr. Ramon Oliveros and Mr. Tomas P. Clemeno.

The number of votes of each nominee was as follows: Jessica Rey (64), Ramon Oliveros (43), Tomas Clemeno (34), Antonio Alfonso (29), Elda Esguerra (19), Pablito Magdalita (9), Marilou Infante (16), Roberta Garcia (15), Evelyn Delfin (15), Gabriel Romero (20) and Gliceria Pascua (13).

CSSP Financial Report

The financial report was presented by Ms. Jessica D. Rey, treasurer of the CSSP.  Ms. Rey highlighted the devaluation incurred by the dollar account of the PJCS amounting to PhP 152,653.80. It was therefore suggested to consider the possibility of converting the dollar account into a euro account. Euros are more stable nowadays, and might probably be more beneficial to maintain than a dollar account.

Mr. Rodriguez suggested that the CSSP provide an inventory of the CSSP equipment which Ms. Rey answered that the CSSP is really keeping its records. As a policy, CSSP declares all assets of the CSSP including a list/ inventory of equipment and include it in the annual financial report of the Society.

FCSSP is also requested to present their report.

Ms. Rey was requested to present the list of itemized office equipment during the next conference. Ms. Rey announced that the complete financial report shall be posted in the CSSP website. Ms. Rey also clarified that the report was presented for the information of the members on the actual expenses incurred by the Society to date. The Fiscal Year of the Society is May 1 of the current year until April 30 of the succeeding year. Hence, if she reported the Annual Financial Report of the Society, the expenses due to the conference will not be reflected.

Other Matters

According to Ms. Pateña, PJCS/FCSSP/CSSP (?) was able to solicit funds for payment of honoraria of the executive secretary in 1995 from Dr. BM Domingo. He committed to provide PhP2000/month for as long as he is alive. Hence, the Society only needs to follow up on that commitment. The amount to be generated may be divided equally for PJCS/FCSSP/CSSP(?).

It was also suggested that each Society shall have a ‘historian’ who will keep records of the Society. There should be a standard date of submission for each requirement such as the abstracts, CSSP achievement awards, and others.

Dr. Hondrade also clarified that the 1999 CSSP Achievement Awardee in Extension is Otingge Masnar and not Otingge Hondrade.

Next CSSP Conference

The next CSSP Conference will be held in the Visayas. The conference is targeted to be held at the Bacolod Convention  Center, Bacolod City on the last week of April 2008. Dr. Norvie L. Manigbas will be the chair of the program committee (venue).

Several suggestions were presented for the improvement of the 2008 CSSP Conference:

Participants/ invitees. CSSP shall coordinate with CHED regarding the conference. It is better if presidents of agencies and CSSP members both be invited for the conference. CSSP participants were requested to update the membership form available at the CSSP Secretariat’s desk.

Announcement. The definition of basic and applied research or whatever category for the abstracts shall be defined in the first and final announcement so participants may determine where their papers will be categorized. Basic research must be original, something new and with significance and impact. Applied research on the other hand, may have low originality but must have high impact.

Awards. CSSP and FCSSP must have a standard in awarding the best poster award. In the next conference, those intending to have oral presentation should submit the full paper. Oral presenters may therefore be considered for the best paper category. Next year, there will be awards for best paper and best poster for basic, applied and extension category, which will be defined in the first announcement.

Book of Abstracts. The souvenir program shall include the email address of at least the senior authors.

Schedule of oral presentation and poster viewing. There were rumbled schedule of oral presentation, ie, if other presenters were not around, the next presenter were allowed to present. Thus, those who wanted to view the presentations didn’t make it since they were viewing presentations in the other concurrent sessions. Thus, next year, the moderators shall ensure that schedules are strictly followed.  

A certain time should be allotted for poster viewing and not just 30 minutes because poster preparation also entails time thus should not be disregarded. Ms. Rey confirmed that during CSSP Conference, there is always a time allotted for poster viewing everyday. However, FCSSP must also be informed about this comment.

Achievement awards. This year, there were no nominees for the teaching awards. Dr. Hernandez asked the group for nominations, especially for the teaching award.

Papers. Best paper finalists’ paper shall be published in the PJCS and CSSP must reserve the right to publish the paper. It must also be clarified that CSSP have the right to distribute copies of the abstract and digital files of the oral presentation, but IP rights still remains with the author(s).

Due to a number of comments discussed during the business meeting, Dr. Hondrade suggested that the CSSP BOD inform the body what to expect in the next conference.

Dr. Manigbas as chair of the program and venue committee for the next conference briefed the participants on what to expect in Bacolod.

Bacolod City is famous for sugarcane. They are also into organic farming, biofuels, rice, vegetable farming, game fowl breeding. Dr. Hondrade suggested that the BOD organize a one-day field tour/trip to discover the wonders of Bacolod, including game fowl breeding, since the nutrients needed by fowls are dependent on the crops/ feeds provided. Although a theme has not been finalized yet, alternative fuels can be considered as one.

There being no other matters discussed, the meeting adjourned at 7:29 PM.

Prepared by:
GRETCHEN S. OCAMPO
Executive Secretary


Approved:
RENATO A. REAÑO
President