On March 23, 2026, OFA Diliman successfully held its first webinar entitled “Alam MOA Ba? A Guide on Contracts and MOAs for Internships,” tackling the ins and outs of processing Memoranda of Agreements (MOAs). The event aimed to help participants understand the basic legal principles of contracts and MOAs, highlight relevant and non-negotiable provisions of contracts and MOAs for internships in the context of UP Diliman, and impart a deeper understanding of intellectual property rights in the context of internships.
Despite an early start at 8:00 AM, the online seminar ran on time as a steady stream of participants entered the Zoom room. The webinar garnered a peak of 122 online participants. To begin, the event’s objectives and house rules were laid out accordingly by host Anthony Bagano Jr. of the National Service Training Program (NSTP) Diliman office. Then, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Maria Vanessa P. Lusung-Oyson imparted insightful opening remarks to the participants. The three main speakers of the event then proceeded to tackle various topics in relation to MOAs.
First was the UP Law Center Institute of Government and Law Reform’s Atty. Marie Catherine Alcantara, who gave an introduction to basic legal concepts and documents for internships. She provided an engaging general overview of legality, as well as the differences between MOAs and contracts.
Afterwards, Diliman Legal Office’s (DLO) Atty. Percival Cortez gave an in-depth discussion on the basic legal documents for internships, particularly in the context of UP Diliman. This gave participants insight into the collaboration between OFA Diliman and DLO in processing memoranda of agreements for local internships.
The final speaker was Ms. Ma. Christina S. Mate of the Technology Transfer & Business Development Office, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Development. Her talk honed in on intellectual property (IP) rights and the IP provisions commonly found in internship MOAs.
A brief question-and-answer session followed. Throughout the event, participants were allowed to send in their questions to the organizers, who collated and asked these to the speakers during the Q&A portion. Their concerns included student safety, intellectual property, diversity of partner organizations, and MOA processing turnaround, among others. These inquiries were adequately addressed by the speakers present.
As the webinar approached its culmination, OFA Diliman’s Senior Project Assistant for Training and Education, Carlos Gacutan, also shared a quick review and discussion on the flowchart of MOA processing and the various offices involved to serve as a reminder to all faculty-in-charge this midyear internship season. The event wrapped up with the distribution of certificates to the speakers and warm closing remarks by the OFA Director, Assoc. Prof. Christian R. Orozco. Overall, OFA Diliman held an informative and engaging webinar tackling topics that are relevant to its stakeholders.