ENGR. RENE BURT N. LLANTO

* April 27, 1959

+ November 1, 2013

The Department of Science and Technology – Regional Office No. VII (DOST 7) deeply mourns the death of our beacon in public service, Director RENE BURT N. LLANTO.

Burt passed away early morning on November 1 at the age of 54.

He died after staying two weeks at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu City. The cause of death was cardiac pulmonary arrest secondary to septic shock.

Rene Burt N. Llanto is currently the Regional Director of the DOST 7. He holds a Masters Degree in Engineering as well as a Certificate in Engineering from the Asian Institute of Technology – where he specialized in Natural Resource Development and Management, Energy Technologies. He is a licensed chemical engineer who graduated from the Cebu Institute of Technology.

He rose from the ranks of the DOST progressing from 1984 to the present as follows: Planning Officer II to Science Research Specialist I to Science Research Specialist II to Sr. Science Research Specialist to Supervising Science Research Specialist to Chief Science Research Specialist to Regional Director (in the year 1999). He also served as OIC for DOST Region 8. Before working in the DOST he was an assistant project manager of the Affiliated Nonconventional Energy Center in Cebu and an engineering instructor of the Cebu Institute of Technology.

Burt sits as a Trustee and Regent of many colleges and universities.

Burt played a key role in the formulation and successful development of many innovative and pioneering projects that related to R&D, technology transfer, human resource development and institution building. 

Global interest on functional foods is ramping up and the Philippines is expected to catch on to this trend, said an official from the Department of Science and Technology’s Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST- FNRI). Yet these foods should come with valid health claims that are government approved and market accepted, he stressed.

Mario V. Capanzana, PhD, director of FNRI, spoke on the topic during the 62nd Annual Convention of the Philippine Association for the Advancement of Science  (PhilAAS) held last September at Pearl Manila Hotel with the theme “Nutritional and Functional Food for Health and Wellness.” In his presentation titled “Functional Foods: Global Trends and Issues,”

At the convention, Dr. Capanzana revealed that functional foods, valued at US$ 168 B in the global market, is part of the new “health and wellness” market segment which also includes fortified foods, organic foods, traditional herbal products, and slimming products, among others.

Also called nutraceuticals, functional foods, as defined by the International Life Sciences Institute-North America, are those containing physiologically active food components, thus providing health benefits other than basic nutrition. Functional foods also refer to products isolated or purified from foods and generally sold in medicinal form like pills, or products that serve as supplement diets such as herbs.  Some examples are rice, sotanghon noodles, coconut, malunggay, bitter gourd, sweet potato, taro, fruits, nata de coco, achara, and legumes that exhibit antimicrobial, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, and anti-allergenic properties.

President Benigno S. Aquino III cited the Newborn Screening Society of the
Philippines, Inc. (NSSPI) for its cooperation with the government to curb
disease.

"I am confident that your solidarity will drive our efforts to curb disease
at its roots, and to protect our youth from potential impediments to their
individual progress," the Chief Executive said in his message to the NSSPI
on Thursday.

The NSSPI opened on Thursday its two-day Annual Newborn Screening
Convention 2013 entitled, “Facing the Challenges of Expanded Newborns
Screening” at the Manila Hotel, One Rizal Park, Manila.

The Department of Science and Technology Region 7 (DOST 7), together with the Central Visayas Consortium for Health Research and Development Region 7 (CVCHRD 7) and the Confederation of Scientific and Professional Organizations (COSPO) is encouraging schools, companies and organizations to join the “S&T Conference: Putting Science into Health”.

The lectures will be held on October 3-4 from 8:30am-3:30pm at the Conference Room (Elena O. Diola Memorial Hall) of the Department of Science and Technology, 2nd floor, S&T Complex, Sudlon, Lahug, Cebu City.

This conference serves as a good platform for the entire science and technological communities to meet with each other and to exchange ideas. It aimed on popularizing science and technology through this information brigade for the topics on:

(a) Food Supplements and Herbal Medicine: Real Claims or Quackery,
(b) Student Investigatory Project on Health,
(c) Healthy Lifestle and Wellness and
(d) Beauty and Health.