APRU Day 1 – Resilience Advocacy Day was held on November 26, 2025 as a flagship side event to APRU-MH20, hosted at the UP BGC Auditorium. As part of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, APRU links leading universities across the Americas, Asia, and Australasia to address 21st-century challenges through education and research. Resilience Advocacy Day echoed APRU’s mission by providing a neutral, international platform for high-level dialogue, exploring innovative solutions for a sustainable future, and highlighting diversity and inclusion through the participation of foreign students and global partners.
The morning program featured a series of powerful talks on the Rights of Nature, plastics and the Global Plastics Treaty, sustainable mobility and active transport, river rehabilitation, and social science perspectives on informality and resilience. Speakers from PMPI, Greenpeace, Move As One, Ilog Pasiglahin, and the academe shared grounded case studies and policy insights, while panel discussions surfaced intersections between environment, governance, equity, and everyday urban life.
In the afternoon, the event shifted into a Balangkasan-style debate on the motion: “Is sustainable development achievable when people are in survival mode?” Interdisciplinary discussants—architects, environmental planners, climate lawyers, youth leaders, and senior practitioners—presented affirmative and negative positions, followed by thoughtful reactions from former deans and respected leaders of the planning profession. The exchange was rigorous yet accessible, allowing students and practitioners alike to engage with the ethical and practical tensions of sustainability in a context of inequality and crisis.
The day concluded with the presentation of “A Manifesto on Resilience and Our Shared Volatile Realities” by Prof. Leonido Gines Jr., culminating in a public signing by UP CA, professional organizations, and advocacy groups. This sealed a shared commitment to resilience, justice, and collaborative action across disciplines and sectors.
For UAP Diliman, Resilience Advocacy Day strongly advances the national thrust of MOVERS OF PROGRESS – Visionary Initiatives by positioning architects as active partners in global resilience discourse, promoting systems thinking, and amplifying advocacy grounded in environmental stewardship, social justice, and cross-border collaboration.
Annex A – Balangkasan Resolution Summary. During the APRU Day 1 – Resilience Advocacy Day on 26 November 2025, the Balangkasan titled “Is Sustainable Development Achievable when People are in Survival Mode?” resulted in the adoption of a formal Resolutionaffirming that sustainable development remains a national imperative that must be pursued alongside an honest recognition of survival realities faced by many communities. Grounded in the Filipino values of Kapwa and Bayanihan, the Resolution calls on professionals and institutions—particularly those not in survival mode—to share responsibility in addressing immediate humanitarian needs while safeguarding long-term sustainability for future generations, with priority action areas identified in education, housing, livelihood, transportation, and environmental stewardship. The Resolution was formally endorsed by the UAP Diliman Chapter and signed by Ar. Rachelle Lea C. Manuel (Chapter President) and Ar. Yna Amelle S. Ramos (Chapter Secretary), together with the Balangkasan Moderator Ar. Kathreen Regala Odulio, Affirmative and Negative discussants Ar./EnP Armando Nicoleta Alli, Ar. Ray Saulo, Mr. Alec Hope Buenaventura, Ar./EnP Nathaniel “Dinky” von Einsiedel, PhD, Ar. Pablo Fortunato A. Suarez, and Atty. Gregorio “Grip” Bueta, Reactors Ar./EnP Armin Sarthou and Ar./EnP Jose Danilo Silvestre, and Rapporteur Ar. Marie Edraline Belga, underscoring broad interdisciplinary consensus and lending formal legitimacy to its elevation to the UAP National Board.
