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It was a clash of science smarts alright, but it was no quiz bee inside an auditorium.

Instead of contestants quietly sitting on chairs onstage, ready to answer science questions fielded to them by the quizmaster, competitors huddled around their tables excitedly to create and perform fun, science-based items and experiments amidst Manila Ocean Park’s amazing aquatic displays.

Tinkering with everyday materials like sticks, nails, strings, pencils, straws, bond paper, tape, eggs, and others, each team raced against time to prove that their school is the best and that they’ve got the smarts.

 

Gina P. Lopez, managing director of ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, singled out a Department of Science and Technology (DOST) program for community empowerment as a way to get the Philippines out of poverty.

Dubbed as Community Empowerment through Science and Technology or CEST, the program is targeting to empower the poorest and most depressed communities in the country, via S&T interventions in health and nutrition, water and sanitation, basic education and literacy, livelihood/economic enterprise development, and disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

 

Increased business productivity and job creation are but two of the many benefits of the Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program or SETUP, a longstanding enterprise development and technology transfer initiative of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

“SETUP, a development program to empower the micro, small and medium enterprises or MSMEs, creates a conducive business environment for MSMEs to improve their productivity and increase efficiency through the infusion of appropriate technologies”, said DOST Secretary Mario G. Montejo.