Two graduate students from the UP College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (CSSP) recently won the first and third prizes of the first ever Loretta Makasiar Sicat (LMS) Prize for the Social Sciences.

Sanny Boy Afable won the top prize for his thesis on depression among older Filipinos entitled “Demographic Correlates of Late-life Depression in the Philippines: Exploring Gender Differences.”

Using the baseline data from the 2018 Longitudinal Study of Ageing and Health in the Philippines, Afable found that while respondents from both genders had similar experiences on depression, men tended to display somatic or physical symptoms of depression (such as fatigue or loss of appetite) while “the affective dimension is more prominent in women.”

According to the UP Population Institute, Afable’s work “fills many knowledge gaps on older Filipinos’ psychological well-being, and it offers relevant points for improved mental health research, care, and policymaking for the Philippines’ increasingly ageing population.”

Afable earned both his master’s degree (demography) and bachelor’s degree (statistics) from UP Diliman in 2021 and 2018, respectively.

Meanwhile, Mico A. Galang, a CSSP graduate of master in international studies, took the third prize for his research, “The Security Pursuits of a Small State: A Comparative Study of the Philippines’ Security Partnerships with Australia, Japan, and Viet Nam (2010-2016).”

Galang is currently an assistant professorial lecturer at the De La Salle University.

The LMS is awarded by the Philippine Social Science Council (PSSC), and it seeks to “promote the social sciences and honor the legacy and contribution of Prof. Loretta Makasiar Sicat, PhD for making PSSC the leading institution in the promotion of the social sciences and one of the country’s longest-running and financially viable non-profit organizations.”

Sicat served as PSSC executive director (1977 – 1984) and was instrumental in acquiring a home for the PSSC: the Philippine Social Science Center located along Commonwealth Avenue.

The winner of LMS top prize will be given the best thesis or dissertation award and a US$5,000 cash prize, while the second and third prize winners will receive US$500 each during the awarding ceremony. The PSSC is yet to announce the date of the awarding ceremony. To be eligible, a nominee must have graduated from a Philippine college or university and completed the master’s thesis or PhD dissertation on the social sciences in the last two academic years of the award year.