Research

As the national university, we champion and support innovative research that addresses the country’s most pressing challenges.

06 Mar 2026

Taken together, the oral narratives of families left behind by Duterte’s drug war reveal a shared understanding of political struggle and resistance

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is infamous for his war on drugs campaign, commonly known as Oplan Tokhang, which killed...

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05 Mar 2026

Motherwork includes often difficult conversations as mothers try to regulate their adolescents’ social media use

This study rests on the premise that motherhood is composed of unaccounted invisible work. Moreover, motherhood is not a natural...

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04 Mar 2026

There are some cases where individuals can reasonably believe in claims of miraculous events

When people claim that a miracle has happened—like someone suddenly healing from an incurable illness or holy bread turning into...

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03 Mar 2026

Indigenous myths are closely connected to the lived experiences and ongoing struggle of the Lumad for self-determination

Myths that involve sacred spaces largely make up local knowledge among Indigenous Peoples across continents. Often, these myths are dismissed...

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02 Mar 2026

Study uses machine learning to predict whether a patient is intoxicated due to pesticide exposure

In response to a growing human population, greater attempts to correspondingly increase agricultural production become necessary. To boost crop production,...

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27 Feb 2026

Researchers use ChatGPT in their writing mainly out of trust in the technology than perceived usefulness

ChatGPT has attracted the attention of the scientific community. Unlike existing writing tools that are conventionally capable of checking styles,...

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26 Feb 2026

Croplands in Tarlac have been reduced due to their conversion into farms for solar power plants

Clean energy, such as solar power, is an important solution for reducing carbon emissions and ensuring a stable energy supply....

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25 Feb 2026

Films function as visual records of national violence and their inclusion in cinematic archives is crucial to preserve historical memory

This research revisits the discourses surrounding films about the regime of former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. It proposes the employment...

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24 Feb 2026

Scientists develop a model that shows how heat moves during femtosecond pulsed laser ablation

Imagine a laser so fast, it can zap tiny bits of metal in the blink of an eye. This process,...

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23 Feb 2026

Density is not only experienced by residents but also actively produced through their discursive and material practices

While there is a long and varied history of research on urban density, there is little work examining how
high-density urbanism...

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20 Feb 2026

Nine plant species in the beach forest of Hijo in Davao del Norte are considered threatened

Philippine flora, noted for its high levels of endemism, is increasingly threatened by deforestation, climate change, illegal logging, and infrastructure...

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19 Feb 2026

ASEAN would benefit from a shared regulatory framework for business competition, particularly in relation to artificial intelligence

Big tech companies are facing more and more scrutiny over their business practices, especially in the US and Europe, where...

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Research

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is infamous for his war on drugs campaign, commonly known as Oplan Tokhang, which killed countless members of urban poor communities and left numerous families suffering the consequences of losing a loved one to state violence. This article centers on the narratives of ten (10) mothers and wives whose loved ones perished in Duterte’s drug war and who eventually joined the non-government organization called Rise Up for Life and for Rights that opposes drug-related extrajudicial killings and violations. Guided by Ernest Bormann’s Symbolic Convergence Theory, it brings to the surface the prevailing characters, settings, and plotlines embedded in the oral narratives of these left-behind women. Out of these converging elements, it further crafts the rhetorical vision of these women in relation to the brutal death of their beloved and to their own struggles and sufferings. This article throws into light a rhetorical vision that accounts for how families of the victims are no longer simply mothers and wives incapable of resistance and vulnerable to all forms of injustices. Informed, empowered, and open to change, they have realized and actively practice a kind of political agency in the wake of the adversities they faced during Duterte’s presidency and continue to face at the present time.

The article examines the elements, experiences, and encounters that comprise the oral narratives of families left behind by Duterte’s drug war. But rather than considering these aspects in isolation, they were considered together. Understanding them in conjunction with one another establishes that a collective understanding of political struggle and resistance has emerged among the respondents.

Moreover, the article reveals why the act of narrating is significant for the mothers and wives included here. The respondents have shown how oral narratives could contain and convey the layered ordeals they face then and now, using these oral narratives not only to expose the exploitation, discrimination, and intimidation they face from the police and other Filipinos but also to critique Duterte’s drug war. Their oral narratives show how left-behind families actively reinterpret their tragic experiences, rethink their views on drugs and drug users, overcome feelings of powerlessness, and reshape their sense of victimhood and marginalization.

Authors: Francis Louie F. Palaspas (Independent scholar) and Oscar T. Serquiña, Jr. (Department of Speech Communication and Theater Arts, College of Arts and Letters, University of the Philippines Diliman)

Read the full paper: https://brill.com/view/journals/ppsj/45/3/article-p213_1.xml

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