UP ISSI Staff Awarded UPAA Honors
Joanna Rose T. Laddaran, a University Extension Specialist III at the Institute for Small-Scale Industries, received this year’s Distinguished Alumna Award in “Business Continuity and Disaster Resilience Planning for MSMEs” from the University of the Philippines Alumni Association (UPAA).
Laddaran was recognized for her work in the field of disaster preparedness and business continuity planning among the micro, small and medium entrepreneurs in the country. Laddaran serves as the Program Manager of ISSI’s “Honing Agents of National Disaster Awareness: Disaster Preparedness and Business Continuity Planning (HANDA)”, a program that aims to develop a culture of preparedness and resilience among MSMEs through research and capacity building. She also serves as its focal person, resource speaker and training materials developer. Throughout the implementation of the Business Continuity Planning (BCP) capacity-building programs of the UP ISSI in 2014, around 3,000 MSMEs and cooperatives have been given training on business continuity planning, disaster preparedness and business resilience. To widen the reach of the program, the Institute – through the initiatives of Laddaran – has also partnered with different agencies and organizations such as the Business Continuity Managers of the Philippines (BCMAP), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) – Philippines, Women’s International Network on Disaster Risk Reduction (WIN DRR) – Philippine Chapter, and ARISE Philippines, among others.
Laddaran also does research related to business resilience. Among the studies she took part of are the “UP Shopping Center fire incident and its effects on MSME concessionaires,” “The Effects of the COVID-19 on MSMEs,” and the “Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women in the Informal Sector in Quezon City.”
For her active engagement and work in this field, Laddaran has received awards such as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Ally/Champion of the Year 2023 by the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) Global Awards and Asia-Pacific (APAC) Awards, UP Diliman 2021 Gawad Tsanselor sa Natatanging REPS – Extension Cluster, and the Continuity and Resilience Professional in the Public Sector in 2020 and 2021, also given by the BCI APAC Awards.
Laddaran has a master’s degree in Education Major in Philosophy of Education and bachelor’s degree in Philosophy (cum laude), both from the University of the Philippines.
The UPAA Distinguished Alumnus and/or Alumna Award is given to UP graduates who “achieved distinction in multiple professional fields or areas of endeavor, or made a clearly greater qualitative or quantitative impact than the other awardees in their professions or areas of endeavor.” This year, the Alumni association honored 96 exceptional UP graduates, including among others, journalist Roby Alampay, Department of Education Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara and real estate and construction entrepreneur Isidro A. Consunji.
The 2024 UPAA Awards Ceremony was held on August 17, 2024, at 6:00 PM at Ang Bahay ng Alumni, UP Diliman, Quezon City.
In his Welcome Remarks during the ceremony, UPAA president and Alumni Regent Robert Lester F. Aranton encouraged the awardees and the UP Community to “reignite the fire of service within our hearts, let us continue to make a difference not just for ourselves but for our community and our University for every Filipino… may this evening inspire all of us to live out the values of Honor, Excellence and Service in everything we do.”