Loretta Makasiar Sicat
Dr. Loretta Makasiar Sicat is one of the distinguished and renowned social scientists who played a huge role in facilitating the growth of PSSC and the social sciences. In recognition of her contributions, a documentary exploring her life and legacy would be immortalized and presented to a wider public. Dr. Sicat has dedicated her life to developing and strengthening the social science community. It is through her efforts that PSSC was able to acquire its own building, thereby rooting itself as an established and permanent entity in the social sciences. Fueled by her passion, much of her life had been spent teaching and studying the social sciences.
Dr. Loretta Makasiar Sicat, fondly known as Lor among friends and family, graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of the Philippines Diliman. Through a generous grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, she pursued her graduate degree (MA in Political Science) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1959, and returned to the same university to pursue a PhD in Political Science after a recommendation from then Chairperson of the UP Department of Political Science, Onofre D. Corpuz in 1965. Between those years, she was able to build a family with her husband, Dr. Gerardo Sicat, and a career as a teacher at the UP Department of Political Science. After finishing her coursework in 1966, she returned to the Philippines to do field work on her doctoral thesis about the political socialization of young Filipinos.
Dr. Sicat continued to teach at the UP Department of Political Science, even after her retirement in 1998 until she became ill. She became an active member, and eventually President, of the Philippine Political Science Association. In a memoriam written by Dr. Olivia C. Caoili, Dr. Sicat was a key figure in “resuscitating” the organization in 1974. Through this, she was able to be well-acquainted with the PSSC. According to her husband, through this she was able to connect with leading and emerging figures in the social sciences. She started out as a member of the Board of Trustees, until her colleagues asked her to become the Chairperson and eventually the Executive Director. It is through her dedication and hardwork that PSSC grew to be a visible and established entity catering to Filipino social scientists. Through quick action and support from fellow UP Professors, they were able to secure a grant from the Ford Foundation for the establishment of the PSSC Secretariat and a building from the Japanese government. The generous donation helped fuel more years of funding for the PSSC to prosper. The donated building from the Japanese government allowed a permanent location to not only house PSSC but also generate funds through rental fees.
Beyond her years at PSSC, Dr. Sicat was active in other organizations for the social sciences. She was the Chair of the Board of Editors, and served as an Editor of the Philippine Political Science Journal from 1974 to 1981. She was also the President of the Asian Social Science Research Council from 1979 to 1981 and a member of the International Federation of Social Science Organizations.
