Transparency and accountability are essentials to the operation of governments regardless of political systems. They are tools to prevent corruption. Transparency and accountability are twin requirements in managing school financial resources. Transparency as a requirement ensures that sound and efficient utilization of resources is maintained while transparency makes opportunity for greater accountability. The study looks into the behavior of school heads on how they manage financial resources of their schools using the parameters of transparency and accountability. The locale of the study is in the province of Nueva in the Philippines. The findings showed that most school heads and finance staff possess graduate-level educational qualification and experienced financial managers. The least accountability parameter of the respondents is in the domain of asset management while it showed the least scores for transparency domain in the area of budgeting. School financial managers encountered challenges which include policy-related procedures, differences in the market prices of supplies and equipment against the programmed budget, and limited opportunities for seminars/trainings regarding school financial management. The late release of budget allocation to schools, lack of adequate skilled manpower essential for effective budget utilization, engagement of school management on different duties, lack of planning and performance of school activities together with stakeholders and interferences of school principals are among the critical challenges that may render ineffective financial resource utilization in secondary schools.

Wound dressing is a vital component of wound infection management specially by immunocompromised patients due to accidents that caused injuries. Biodegradable hydrogel-based wound dressings are being developed to acquire the advantage of high swelling capacity and being environment friendly at the same time. The study involves development of hydrogels using solution casting method with different ratio of rice bran starch. Mechanical properties such as tensile strength and swelling capacity were determined. The hydrogel developed with 7% starch emerged with comparable tensile strength and swelling capacity with the available wound dressing in the market. FT-IR spectra confirmed the crosslinking of PVA and starch while SEM images revealed that the hydrogel is not porous. Drug loading capacity of the hydrogel was determined to be 83.48% with PBS which is higher than with water. Results suggest that the developed hydrogel has great potential for wound dressing application with the advantage of being biodegradable.

Climate change contributes to disasters in the Philippines. Most human activities have had negative consequences on the environment, exacerbating global warming. Humans contribute to climate change and global warming by burning fossil fuels, cutting down trees, engaging in improper waste disposal, using electricity, and driving a car. This study assessed the environmental practices of communities in Nueva Ecija, Philippines, and their implications for climate change. Respondents were selected using convenient sampling. A questionnaire delivered online was used to elicit their responses then analyzed the data using SPSS. This study revealed that most post-secondary students do not litter but sometimes burn their trash in an open dump. Most of them used LPG as their primary source of fuel for cooking. Rice production is always the same as producing food waste in food production. Garden waste was sometimes produced. Plastic containers are commonly produced as recyclable wastes. They often dispose of wastes in controlled and regulated open dumpsites by their municipality or city. Due to the pandemic, special wastes like face masks and face shields are disposed of daily. Generally, despite no littering behavior, the respondents never burned their trash or threw it on any body of water. They perceived to disagree that these daily community activities contribute to climate change. Lastly, less than half of them affirmed that there are initiative programs at the barangay level to lessen and eliminate community activities that cause climate change.

Teachers are significant in shaping the minds of the youth and contributing to the quality of education. Thus, examining the relationship between Emotional Quotient (EQ), profile, and faculty performance is important. The 175 faculty of a Higher Education Institution (HEI) in the Philippines were randomly selected. Employing Jerabek's (1996) Emotional Intelligence Test, EQ was found, on average, to indicate the faculty’s ability to recognize and deal with their own and others’ emotions effectively. Analysis of variance, regression, and Pearson Correlation revealed a significant positive correlation between teaching performance and their EQ, confirming that emotional intelligence influences teaching performance. Further, the combined impact of education and academic rank influences EQ, which may be the basis for further study. It is recommended that EQ be considered by HEIs when hiring faculty. Intelligence and emotional quotient are equally important in generating high performance. Therefore, the study may contribute to the significance of faculty's EQ on productivity.