PSBI: Bukidnon's First Philosophy Organization

By Professor Joefer Maninang (Bukidnon State University) 

The establishment of the Philosophy Society of Bukidnon, Inc. (PSBI) began with a meeting between two philosophy enthusiasts and friends, Joefer Maninang and Redentor De La Rosa, who envisioned founding a philosophy organization based in Bukidnon. They first shared the idea with their colleagues and set a formal meeting that the Bukidnon State University (BukSU) Philosophy Department then hosted. Philosophy teachers from BukSU, Central Mindanao University (CMU), and San Isidro College (SIC) attended the meeting to deliberate on PSBI’s Constitution and By-Laws and elected its officers for a three-year term. Dr. Arnel Morte of CMU and Mr. Joefer Maninang of BukSU were elected President and Vice-President, respectively, while Mr. Nicko Aznar of SIC was elected Secretary and Mr. Mave Rick Roa (BukSU) as Treasurer. Mr. Keith Revilla (CMU) was also elected as Auditor, while Prof. Redentor De La Rosa (CMU) was elected as Public Information Officer. The Board of Consultors are Dr. Arnel Morte, Prof. Christian Inovejas (BukSU), Fr. Eric Cantones (SIC), and Prof._Juanito Jumalon (CMU). A few months after applying, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the registration of Bukidnon’s first philosophy organization – the Philosophy Society of Bukidnon, Inc. 

The PSBI officers are mostly experienced faculty members who have attended various conferences and seminars that were organized by international and national institutions and philosophical societies like the Social Ethics Society. Their experiences became a benchmark to realize PSBI’s first set of activities, like the Annual Philosophy Conference. Before the first conference, a series of meetings were held in CMU and SIC, which resulted in the theme “Exploring Philosophy along the Indigenous and the Environment” for the conference. Just in time with the World Philosophy Day’s month-long celebration, the whole day PSBI conference was held in the CMU Auditorium last November 15, 2024, where renowned scholars and experts in philosophy spoke and imparted their knowledge. Other researchers from higher academic institutions in the country also presented their works during the parallel sessions. The officers also took their Oath at the end of the program. It was well attended, even by graduate and undergraduate philosophy students who expressed themselves to join again at the next conference.

While PSBI’s first conference was well-received, the officers were again challenged to come up with another philosophical activity which, after the conference evaluation meeting in a café, they thought to be just a gathering of invited faculty of different academic departments from their schools to casually talk about a certain topic that goes with the times. The officers decided to name it the Roundtable Discussion, with the first theme revolving around Gender and Ethics. The first PSBI Roundtable Discussion was hosted by the San Isidro College Philosophy Office in the SIC Conference Room last May 1, 2025, where the speakers presented their philosophic, scientific, and theological views about gender and entertained queries even from those watching the YouTube Live Stream. The Roundtable culminated in the publication of PSBI’s Statement on Gender and Ethics on its Facebook page. 

As of this moment, the Officers are committed to implementing the Annual Conference and Roundtable Discussion as PSBI’s major activities. This will happen yearly in November and May. Whereas others, like the registration of the society’s philosophy journal and research, and community projects, are now in the works.