This study dealt with the self-branding practices of Filipino fashion micro-influencers on Instagram, focusing on the rhetorical visual elements in their photos, the clusters that surrounded them, and the symbolic actions and human intervention present that contributed to their effective branding on the platform. By analyzing these elements, the research aimed to understand how micro-influencers crafted their online personas and established their presence within the digital fashion industry.

The study explored how different visual elements could convey meaning and build communication and connection with the audience. It aimed to achieve this by addressing three primary objectives: (1) To identify the key rhetorical visual elements and clusters in Filipino fashion micro-influencers’ photos on Instagram; (2) To examine the symbolic actions present in these influencers’ photos as reflected by the rhetorical clusters; (3) To analyze the human intervention present in the photos that established their self-branding on Instagram. This research relied on Sonja K. Foss' (2005) Visual Rhetoric Theory to determine how Instagram posts could serve as communicative artifacts, with visual symbols to communicate and create meaning. This study used cluster analysis based on the Cluster Criticism method by Kenneth Burke. The sources of the artifacts were from Filipino fashion micro-influencers on Instagram who had successfully established their names in the digital fashion industry, worked with several local and international brands, and amassed a follower count of 10,000 to 50,000.

The posts studied were chosen based on the highest engagement from the last quarter of 2023, and the results revealed that the chosen Filipino fashion micro-influencers shared similar patterns, strategically using key visual elements such as blank expressions, monochrome outfits, and neutral backgrounds to convey a professional and model-like image. This indicated that certain key rhetorical visual elements helped them establish and maintain their self-branding on Instagram.

The Cordillera region is known for its rich culture, agriculture, mineral deposits, and other natural resources. This wealth is what makes the Cordillera region a great source of profit and site for developments. The land is truly something that the Igorots regard with great importance. It is a source of cultural identity that is tied even to their traditional songs, garments, and rituals. This creative project stages Habi, an adaptation of Ilang-Ilang Quijano’s documentary, Daughters of Cordillera, that centers on the narrative of an indigenous activist, Piya Macliing Malayao, and her difficult conversation with her grandmother, Petra Macliing. The study investigates how the process of the performer is informed by the concepts from performance ethnography, specifically, through archival research and immersive fieldwork activities. Ultimately, this study aims to answer the question: How does the performer translate the narrative of Piya Macliing Malayao into an embodied presentation on the theatrical stage through the play, Habi? The performer draws artistic choices from the knowledge informed by archival research and ethnographic fieldwork for a deeper understanding of the character and the culture, as well as personal experiences of being an Igorot in creating an embodied presentation of Piya Macliing Malayao. Thus, this study highlights the importance of immersion in producing a play that involves any cultural group. To experience the culture is something that must not be looked over as this allows the artist to accurately bring to the stage the cultural accuracy and nuances of a community.

UP AND DOWN THE ROLLERCOASTER: A Bonggang List of Personal Actor’s Preparation through Improvisation Devices is a creative thesis performance and research project exploring the emotional demands of performing Bawat Bonggang Bagay, Guelan Luarca’s translation of Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe through the lens of actor wellness. Using the metaphor of an emotional rollercoaster, this thesis frames the actor’s journey across three phases: preparation, performance and disembarking. The work investigates how improvisation devices – drawn from personal mentorship with Jasson Villanueva, foundational readings and classes at Third World Improv – can support emotional sustainability, spontaneous connection and presence during performance.

This thesis aims to demonstrate how improvisation tools function as stabilizers during the emotionally turbulent ride of Bawat Bonggang Bagay, allowing the performer to remain truthful to the narrative while managing emotional labor in real time. Ultimately, this study positions actor well-being not as a secondary concern, but as a vital part of performance preparation, execution, and post-show recovery. By charting each bonggang things in the process – from script analysis, blocking, to derolling – this thesis celebrates not only the kabonggahan of the story, but the resilience of the actor who chooses to tell it

This study aimed to determine the predictors of Filipino late adolescents’ intentions to engage in their first sexual encounters. Using the theory of planned behavior as its main theoretical framework, it examined whether attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and the frequency of interpersonal sexual communication as an additional variable influence the intentions to engage in first sexual encounters among late adolescents. A quantitative research design was employed, and a survey questionnaire was administered to gather data from respondents through convenience sampling on different social media platforms. Descriptive statistics and ordinal logistic regression were conducted to determine these predictors. The results revealed only certain aspects of the three core constructs predicted these intentions. These include attitudes toward the significance of the encounter and the beneficialness of the encounter to the romantic relationship, subjective norms toward the romantic partner, and perceived behavioral control on confidence, which all significantly and positively predicted the intentions. This suggests that more positive dispositions regarding these lead to stronger intentions. However, perceived behavioral control on ease was shown to be negatively associated with intentions. This indicates that as late adolescents perceive their first sexual encounters as more easily achievable, the intentions to engage in this behavior decrease. For the frequency of interpersonal sexual communication, only communication with romantic partners on potentially having sex significantly and positively predicted the intentions, which suggests that having more conversations with romantic partners leads to stronger intentions to engage. On the other hand, communication with opposite-sex friends was found to be negatively associated with the intentions, which may mean that the more late adolescents have conversations with opposite-sex friends about potentially having sex, the less likely they intend to engage. These results reveal the nuanced nature of sexual decision-making among Filipino late adolescents as they choose to engage in sexual activity for the first time. With this, this study may contribute to helping Filipino late adolescents make more informed decisions for their sexual health. In addition to this, it may aid in improving programs specific to adolescent sexual and reproductive health, especially situated in the Philippines, where comprehensive sexuality education has not been fully implemented yet.

In this study, I explored the computer-mediated performances of faith and the emergence of cyberfaith through the online mass participation of Filipino Catholic devotees. I specifically analyzed how anti-structure reconfigures cyberfaith among Filipino Catholic devotees, the transformation of embodied practices from traditional to online mass, and the negotiation of Catholic devotees of their cyberfaith through the mediated liveness of online mass.

I integrated Victor Turner’s notion of anti-structure and Philip Auslander’s concept of liveness to examine the emergence of cyberfaith among Catholic devotees and their negotiation of mediated contemporary expressions of faith. Anchored in the phenomenological tradition, specifically Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), data were collected through semi-structured interviews, modified participant observation, and co-performance.

Findings indicate that online worship reconfigures faith expression by reframing sacred spaces, managing attention and distractions, and transforming ritual aesthetics. Cyberfaith emerges as a valid form of devotion, reflecting continuity, adaptation, and transformation of symbolic practices, particularly in gestures, clothing, routines, Eucharistic participation, offerings, community-building, and embodied sound. Participants emphasized that online masses possess a distinct liveness that enables agency among Catholic devotees in their expression of faith, despite the disembodied nature of digital worship. This highlights how Catholic devotees consciously modify and transgress embodied practices to align with contemporary religious landscapes. Ultimately, cyberfaith is shaped by broader socioeconomic and cultural conditions, redefining how devotion is performed, negotiated, and lived in the digital age.