by Prince Edmar N. Nismal, Editor in Chief, Arts and Sciences Voice Prints

Bautista’s work which earned 1st place.

From limited spare pastels to an exquisite Obra Maestra, this 19-year-old Chemistry student raised the bar of Central Philippine University into the Regional Level.

College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Student, Mark Janscen E. Bautista once won the National Digital Poster making and recently joined the on-line poster making contest, Tertiary level of the Biology Teachers Association of the Philippines, Inc. Western Visayas Chapter (Biota WV) with the theme “The biologists Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic”.

Bautista was given the opportunity to represent the University despite the challenges brought by the pandemic through the trust of Mrs. Ilda Borlongan, part-time Chemistry teacher, and with the support of Prof. Mizpah Villalobos, acting Chairperson of Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences.

March 10, 2021, Bautista formally turned-over his masterpiece to the dean and received cash prize and a certificate of recognition by Dr. Stella G. Fernandez, Dean of CPU-CAS and President of BIOTA WV, together with Prof. Mizpah Villalobos his coachadviser.

He said in an interview, “I know we all did our best [the fellow contenders] to do what we can to make our school or university proud. Personally wala guid ko nag expect to be the winner, all thank you guid kay God because he gave me this talent and with humbleness, I rose above the sea of talents that day.”

Bautista’s hard work and art gained attention including one of the judges of Biota WV based in the United States of America, Mr. Marvin Cadornigara, former Faculty of Philippine Science High School Western Visayas.

“Impressionistic imagery; a resplendent prosopopoeia!”—comment of Mr. Cadornigara. Awarding of the said event was held on March 6, 2021 9:00 – 11:00 am via Google Meet.