MMSU inaugurated the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Corner on July 9 in a fitting ceremony held at the Main Library.

Ilocos Norte Governor Imee R. Marcos and PIDS President Josef T. Yap graced the occasion which was also witnessed by university administrators, faculty and staff, and students.

In her message, Governor Marcos, who took time out before her State-of-the-Province Address scheduled in the afternoon, enjoined students, researchers, faculty members, and staff to use the information resources available at the corner. She said that the government has so long solely focused on agriculture. With the ever-changing condition of the province, however, she urged MMSU to conduct social and economic researches since data, hard facts, and statistics are bases for policy formulation.

Dr. Yap bequeathed the PIDS Corner to MMSU after Governor Marcos led the cutting of the ceremonial ribbon. A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed between MMSU and PIDS. In her acceptance speech, President Pascua expressed her gratitude for the additional information service area of MMSU which is a great help to MMSU constituents and others regarding development-related concerns.

PIDS is a non-stock, non-profit government research institution engaged in long-term policy-oriented research. It aims to expand research on social and economic development to assist the government in planning and policy making. The PIDS Corner at MMSU is a first in the region and the 20th in the country. It has an initial collection of 21 titles and 46 volumes of books. It also has 7 titles and 1,416 volumes of serials.

In the afternoon, a discussion forum was held at the University Training Center where Dr. Marife M. Ballesteros, PIDS senior research fellow, presented a research on “Measuring Vulnerability to Natural Hazards: Preliminary Provincial Estimates for the Philippines”.