Press Release UPD scholars win best presentations in 13th ASTHRDP Graduate Scholars’ Conference published on September 25, 2025 written by DOST-ASTHRDP Staff Edited by Eunice Jean Patron Four scholars from the University of the Philippines – Diliman College of Science (UPD-CS) took home the award for best presentations in the 13th Accelerated Science and Technology Human Resource Development Program (ASTHRDP) Graduate Scholars’ Conference, held on September 18-19, 2025 at the Limketkai Luxe Hotel in Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental.

Kilala ang buhay at karera ng mga Ilustradong Pilipino sa Madrid nitong huling dalawang dekada ng ika-19 na siglo. Ang mga katulad nina Dr José Rizal, Heneral Antonio Luna, Juan Luna, at Marcelo H. del Pilar ay pamilyar sa maraming Pilipino. Taliwas nito, di gaanong tanyag ang karera ni Dr. Francisco Tongio Liongson.

The lives and careers of the Filipino Ilustrados in Madrid in the last two decades of the 19th century are well known. Figures such as Dr José Rizal, General Antonio Luna, Juan Luna, and Marcelo H. del Pilar are familiar to many Filipinos. However, the career of Dr. Francisco Tongio Liongson is less so. Like General Luna, Liongson trained as a scientist at the Universidad Central de Madrid, where he earned his doctorate, and pursued postdoctoral training at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. As with many Filipino scientists who studied overseas, he returned home with the intention of establishing laboratories and teaching future medical students, had the revolution not occurred and Philippine independence been secured.