In April 2025, the Social Ethics Society (SES) officially announced its decision to leave the Union of Philosophical Societies and Associations in the Philippines (USAPP). Fr. Dexter Veloso signed the official letter that was sent to Dr. Jim Aguas. While the SES Board of Directors publicly expressed gratitude to the USAPP leadership for their past support, the departure fundamentally traces back to a strategic shift in the organization’s direction and operational focus.
The primary reasons behind the separation include its radical pivot toward global standardization. The split coincided with a major push by SES to elevate its standalone academic profile. The organization has chosen to independently focus on the "Global Standardization of Philosophical Research" through its own peer-reviewed publication, the Social Ethics Society Journal of Applied Philosophy. Dr. Ian Clark Parcon serves as Chief Editor. In 2025, Dr. Juichiro Tanabe joined the editorial board.
The organization's top leaders, including Dr. Christopher Ryan Maboloc and Dr. Rogelio Bayod wanted to preserve the independence of the SES. Based in Mindanao (particularly Davao City), SES was founded on a strict principle of institutional independence. Leaving the broader umbrella network of USAPP allows SES to maintain complete autonomy over its localized mission, annual conferences, and specific focus on social, political, and ethical issues distinct to the Southern Philippines.
The election of Dr. Godiva Eviota-Rivera as Board Secretary also gave the SES a boost in the area of Peace Research and women empowerment. Scholars from Mindanao also produced more in terms of research and publication. Prof. Migs Mansueto published Decolonial Turn in the Philippine South, while a new book, The Davao School of Radical Democracy, will be out in June 2026. SES members also continue to publish in Scopus-indexed journals as they seek to create a robust research culture in philosophy for Mindanao.
Dr. Bayod has led the initiative to bring international scholars to Mindanao. The list includes Dr. Darryl Macer, Dr. Daniel Mishori, Dr. Wataru Kusaka, and Dr. Juichiro Tanabe. The SES, through the efforts of its top leaders, has continued to make headways. It held its first international conference in Tokyo, Japan last September 2025 at Waseda University. It is set to hold another again in Tokyo this year through its collaboration with the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and Waseda University.
Following the separation, SES has heavily concentrated its efforts on targeted public advocacies—such as fiercely opposing the proposed removal of Ethics from the Philippine General Education (GE) curriculum—and focusing its annual conferences on analyzing localized issues like the perceived failures of moral education and democratic deficits in the country. By separating from USAPP, the Social Ethics Society effectively operated as an entirely independent entity for applied philosophy.