Meet the Speakers

Dr. Akihiro Fushimi will be one of several plenary speakers at the 2026 International Sanrokan Festival on the Diversity of Cultural Expression through Inclusive Governance and Education to be held at the Romblon State University in Odiongon, Romblon on March 13-15, 2026.

Dr. Akihiro (Aki) Fushimi is Chief of Education at UNICEF Philippines, bringing over 25 years of experience and expertise in education and international development.

For two decades, Aki has served UNICEF as Education Specialist in Thailand, Kenya, Ghana, and the Czech Republic, and as Partnership Manager at UNICEF’s Private Fundraising and Partnerships Division in Geneva.

He holds a Doctorate in Education from the University of Sussex and a Master’s in Education and International Development from University College London.

Aki is passionate about equity in education and quality learning, advocating for marginalized communities and leveraging data and innovation to strengthen education systems. His work promotes early investment in holistic learning and development, and the enhancement of foundational and socioemotional skills.

He champions adolescent empowerment, employability, and climate-resilient schools to ensure learning continuity during crises. Combining evidence, partnerships, and practical solutions, Aki strives toward one goal: enabling every child in the Philippines to learn, succeed, and thrive.

Dr. Jennie V. Jocson is a distinguished educator and academic leader with 25 years of experience in education. Currently, she serves as the Executive Director V of the Teacher Education Council (TEC) Secretariat, a role that reflects her lifelong commitment to advancing teacher education in the Philippines.

Before her appointment as Executive Director, Dr. Jocson held significant leadership positions. She served as the Vice President for Academics of the Philippine Normal University from 2020 to 2023, and as Director of the Research Institute for Teacher Quality (RITQ) from 2022 to 2024.

During her tenure at RITQ, she successfully transitioned the center into a full-fledged institute, driving impactful collaborations with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Bangsamoro Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education. Her leadership was instrumental in embedding teacher and school leader standards into DepEd’s career progression framework.

Dr. Jocson played a key role in the development and validation of the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers, Philippine Professional Standards for School Heads, and the Philippine Professional Standards for Supervisors.

As a project leader, she guided the creation of DepEd’s Result-Based Performance Management System assessment tools and informed the development of policies enhancing the field study and teaching internship programs for pre-service teachers. Her involvement in the Technical Working Group for Teacher Quality, under the Office of the Cabinet Secretary, was her driving force to understanding the mandates of TEC in improving teacher education in the country.

Doc Jennie will be talking about teacher quality as one of the most critical factors in solving the country's education crisis at the 2026 International Sanrokan Festival on the Diversity of Cultural Expression through Inclusive Governance and Education on March 13-25, 2026 at the Romblon State University in Odiongan, Romblon.

Alfredo Mahar Francisco Amante Lagmay is a Filipino geologist, academic, and public science advocate. He serves as executive director of Project NOAH, the country’s flagship initiative for disaster risk reduction, and works as a professor at the National Institute of Geological Sciences of the University of the Philippines Diliman.

He earned his Bachelor of Science in Geology in 1987 and Master of Science in 1993 from UP Diliman, and completed his PhD in Geology at the University of Cambridge in 2001. His academic training includes research appointments as a visiting scientist at Stanford University and the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

His scholarly work centers on volcanic processes, landslides, earthquakes, floods, and typhoon-related hazards, with strong emphasis on impacts on communities. His published analyses include major Philippine disasters such as the Guinsaugon landslide, Mayon Volcano eruptions, and typhoons Ondoy, Sendong, Pablo, and Yolanda, as well as storm surge events.

His expertise in disaster mitigation led to his appointment as head of Project NOAH in 2012, where he guided nationwide hazard mapping, early warning systems, and public risk communication.

His professional service extends to national and international roles. He served on the Philippine panel for the country’s claim to Benham Rise before the United Nations Commission on the Law of the Sea. He also worked as a consultant to the World Bank and holds membership in the Philippine-American Academy of Science and Engineering.

His contributions earned major honors, including Outstanding Filipino for Geology and Earth Science, WikiPinoy of the Year, and the Plinius Medal from the European Geosciences Union, making him the first Asian recipient. Beyond academia, he co-hosted the disaster awareness radio program RED Alert on DZMM, which received national recognition for educational broadcasting.

Dr. Aniceto C. Orbeta Jr. is the immediate past president of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS). Before this appointment, he was a senior research fellow at PIDS for 29 years, wherein he led the education and labor policy research team that studied key policy recommendations and reforms, including the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, Sustainable Livelihood Program, and Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act or Free Tuition Law.

He has also served as Officer-in-Charge and Deputy Executive Director for Policy Development and Planning of the Agricultural Credit Policy Council. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of the Philippines School of Economics and conducted postdoctoral studies at Harvard University.

Considered one of the country’s pioneers in impact evaluation research, Dr. Orbeta has extensive experience designing and teaching impact evaluation of programs across social protection, judicial reforms, water services, and agriculture.

His expertise has been widely sought by international organizations including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, USAID, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

Dr. Orbeta specializes in applied economic modeling, demographic economics, and information technologies. He has published numerous papers on these areas, contributing significantly to the national policy landscape.

Prof. Dr. Heidi Barcelo-Macahilig is a distinguished Full Professor and the current Director of the Educational Policy Research and Development Office (EPRDO) at the Philippine Normal University (PNU), the National Center for Teacher Education. She is the pioneering graduate of PNU's Ph.D. in Reading Education program, where she also earned her Master of Arts in Teaching with a specialization in Reading.

Dr. Macahilig's extensive research and policy work are centered on literacy, teacher education, and language-in-education reform. Her work focuses on the vital link between evidence-based research and national education policy formulation, spanning beginning reading, reading assessment, and first- and second-language reading.

Her expertise is demonstrated through her leadership in research initiatives funded by prominent organizations, including the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC), the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP), and the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO).

Beyond her current role, Dr. Macahilig has held significant leadership positions at PNU, including Associate Dean of the Graduate Teacher Education Faculty (2020–2022), Director for the Office of Admissions (2023), and former Faculty Regent of the University.

She is also actively involved in professional organizations, having served as Vice President of the Reading Association of the Philippines (RAP) and as a member of the technical working group of the Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC).

Randy John LaPolla (Chinese: 羅仁地; pinyin: Luó Réndì) is a professor and former Head of Division at the Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies in Nanyang Technological University. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, elected in 2008.

He is currently Professor of Linguistics at the Center for Language Sciences at Beijing Normal University's Zhuhai campus, and Associate Fellow of CLASS, Nanyang Technological University.

LaPolla has conducted extensive research in various areas of linguistics, specifically the typology and morphosyntactic patterns of Sino-Tibetan languages. He is well known as the author of a grammar of Qiang and as the coauthor of Van Valin and LaPolla (1997), a major work in Role and Reference Grammar.

He obtained his Ph.D. in 1990 at the University of California, Berkeley. His distinguished career includes roles as a researcher at the Academia Sinica, Chair Professor at La Trobe University, and serving as President of the Australian Linguistic Society from 2007 to 2009. From 2005 to 2008, he was honored as a Cheung Kong Scholar.

Kirk R. Person, Ph.D., has been based in Thailand since 1988. He is a Senior Consultant in Literacy and Education with SIL Global. He has conducted linguistics research throughout Southeast Asia and served on the Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group, co-chaired by UNESCO and UNICEF.

Dr. Person sat on the Royal Institute of Thailand’s National Language Policy Drafting Committee and provided technical advice to the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization’s (SEAMEO) MLE Roadmap.

He was an advisor to the Patani Malay-Thai Multilingual Education Programme, which received the 2016 UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize.

He is the co-author and editor of UNESCO’s "Languages matter: Global guidance on multilingual education", which was recently released on 21 February 2025.

Maria Mercedes E. Arzadon is a professor at the UP College of Education, University of the Philippines Diliman. She completed her PhD in Anthropology and Sociology of Education at UP, where her dissertation examined the policy enactment of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) through ethnography.

She has played key roles in national language policy, contributing to DepEd Order No. 74 s. 2009 institutionalizing MTB-MLE, and more recently to DepEd Order No. 35 s. 2025, the Language Mapping Policy. Her research spans MTB-MLE, Indigenous Peoples Education, Alternative Learning System (ALS), and teacher education.

A founding member of Talaytayan MLE and an active member of the UNESCO-Bangkok Multilingual Education Working Group, she has long been engaged in advocacy, research, teacher training, and materials development in support of equitable and community-rooted education.

Dr. Arzadon brings a grounded, ethnographic perspective to the ideological, emotional, and practical dimensions of language and education reform—insights reflected in her extensive scholarship and public writing across the Philippines.

Raphael Vergel de Dios Domingo is a Filipino Deaf leader, linguist, educator, and human rights advocate. They lead the Deaf Heritage and Filipino Sign Language Studies Unit at the Center for Education and Advancement of the Deaf at De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde.

In 2022, Dr. Domingo made history as the first Filipino to complete a Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics through the Nippon–Gallaudet World Deaf Leadership Scholarship Program at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC—the world's leading institution for Deaf higher education.

A co-founder of the Philippine Federation of the Deaf Inc., Domingo has held leadership roles in numerous local and international organizations. They also served as an advisor to the Pinoy Deaf Rainbow, the first national Deaf LGBT organization in the Philippines and Asia.

Their pivotal contributions include Filipino Sign Language (FSL) documentation and promoting legislative support for FSL, which was officially recognized as the national sign language under the Filipino Sign Language Act of 2018.

Dr. Domingo's current research focuses on FSL syntax, linguistic structure, and policies supporting language access and equity, continuing to mentor Deaf scholars and advocates both in the Philippines and abroad.