Cultural appropriation has been a topic of great debate in recent years as the term enters into the lexicon of many. The increasing presence of indigenous textile and design incorporated into commercial fashion products has aroused uncertainty among members of the majority culture in the Philippines in light of cases of cultural appropriation found in popular culture. Limited research has been done on cultural appropriation in the Philippine local context and more so, on the recontextualization of T’boli textile and design in commercial fashion products. Hence, this paper seeks to propose a research with the general objective of developing a concept of cultural appropriation for T’boli textile and design. To do so, the paper proposes a participatory research approach. The presentation of findings related to the cultural appropriation of T’boli cultural textile and design to the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples is the first step followed by further consultations and involvement of research partners from the community. Researchers of the study will employ indigenous research methods of pakapa-kapa and pagtatanong-tanong to develop a research methodology and instrumentation for ginabayang-talakayan with community stakeholders. In light of restrictions in conducting field research and in consideration of high ethical standards for research surrounding indigenous peoples, this paper is limited to a participatory research approach to allow for further development.

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, prompting urgent measures to curb its spread and mitigate its impacts worldwide. In the Philippines, lockdown policies were soon implemented restricting operations of non-essential including the garments manufacturing sector. Responding to the shortage in protective wear supply, the garments industry transitioned to manufacturing alternative isolation suits. To examine the repurposing of the garments sector, this study investigated the various factors influencing the manufacturing of alternative protective isolation suits in Metro Manila using a qualitative multiple-case study approach. Data collection involved a combination of remote and in-person interviews with representatives from the four (4) purposively sampled garment manufacturers, using a 5-structured questionnaire to gain insights on their product offerings and clientele, sourcing and procurement, production and quality control, distribution, and support activities. Analysis of findings highlights internal strengths such as resilient sourcing networks and adaptive production systems, juxtaposed with vulnerabilities in quality control and supply chain disruptions. External opportunities identified include bolstering sourcing resilience and leveraging technological advancements, while threats encompass volatile raw material supplies and logistical bottlenecks. The study concludes that navigating these complexities necessitates strategic alignment of strengths with emerging opportunities, advocating for diversified supply chains and technological investments to enhance resilience and sustainability in the production of PPE isolation suits. To comprehensively map out the protective wear manufacturing in the Philippines, further studies can explore the production challenges encountered in the medical grade PPE sector.

A functional beverage made with peanuts, rice, and MCT can be used to alleviate diet-related health concerns such as overweight/obesity and hypercholesterolemia. This study was conducted to optimize the formula for a peanut-rice drink with MCT and characterize this drink as a functional beverage. Development of the PR drink with MCT involved the determination of the best ratio of peanuts (P), rice (R), sugar (S), and water (W) for a beverage of optimal product cost and sensory acceptability. Formula optimization using a D-optimal mixture design generated the following models for product cost (PC) and sensory acceptability (appearance acceptability (AA), mouthfeel acceptability (MA), peanut flavor acceptability (PFA), sweetness acceptability (SA), overall acceptability (OA)):

PC = 29.94P + 22.01R + 24.85S + 15.08W
AA = – 103.08P – 536.98R + 435.03S + 2.09W + 443.79PR – 451.11PS
+155.40PW – 239.01RS + 630.67RW – 440.28SW
MA = – 4.72P + 4.70R + 18.32S + 6.82W
PFA = 4.64P + 5.56R + 27.47S + 4.38W
SA = 1.24P + 9.24R + 42.01S + 3.61W
OA = 0.70P – 0.75R + 28.81S + 4.86W

Validation confirmed the predictive capacity of all the models within a 95% prediction interval. From the above models, an optimal formulation with regular sugar (ORS)(7.63%P, 2.73%R, 6.71%S, and 82.93%W) and optimal formulation with less sugar (OLS) (9.38%P, 4.48%R, 4.11%S, and 82.01%W) was obtained. The latter was subjected to physicochemical and nutritional characterization. The OLS PR drink with MCT is a brown beverage (59.46L*, 8.91a*, 24.61b*) with a pH of 7.03 ± 0.06, TSS of 8.74 ± 0.08 °Brix, and viscosity of 817.07 ± 44.39 cP (ca 15°C) and 699.15 ± 37.50 cP (ca 20°C). The drink had 81.2%wb moisture, 8.0%wb protein, 7.0%wb fat, 0.15%wb TAC, 3.5%wb crude fiber, and 0.15%wb ash. It had low protein quality (PDCAAS of 11-12) and lysine as its limiting amino acid. For fatty acid composition, 100 g of drink had 0.78 g essential fatty acids (FAs), 5.00 g nonessential medium-chain FAs, and 1.37 g nonessential long-chain FAs. Mineral content per 100g
drink was composed of 12.0 mg phosphorus, 27.8 mg sulfur, 10.0 mg magnesium, 11.6 mg sodium, 34.7 mg potassium, and less than 10.0 mg of calcium, iron, zinc, copper, manganese, selenium, chromium, and molybdenuml.This study found that the OLS peanutrice drink with MCT can be potentially used as a functional beverage for energy production in the body, fat loss, and/or management of hypercholesteremia through meal supplementation.