Ma. Simeona Martinez is exploring the territorialization of watershed resources in the context of “green energy transition” that is actively promoted by the Philippine government in the Cordillera Administrative Region in the Philippines. Her work seeks to investigate the social formations and spatial relations contingent with hydropower development in a watershed area in the Kalinga Province, under the mentorship of Dr. Boris Michel and in partnership with the Center for Development Programs in the Cordillera (CDPC). Outside of her doctoral project, she engages in various research and extension activities as a faculty member of the Department of Geography in the University of the Philippines Diliman Campus, specializing in the use of participatory mapping, the Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, and geospatial technologies for community-centered resource governance and community-based disaster risk management.
Ma. Simeona
MM : Ma. Simeona Martinez (SchH)
Areas of responsibility
Scholarship Holders Area: Digital Geography
Contact options (Simeona Martinez)
Consultation hours: by appointment
Focus Areas:
counter-cartographies, countermapping, micro hydropower development, collaborative mapping, GIS, participatory action research, remote sensing
Research
Biography
Since 08/2025 – Doctoral student, Digital Geography Research Group, Institute of Geosciences and Geography, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
2006 – present – Instructor/Lecturer/Assistant Professor, University of the Philippines Department of Geography
2009 – M.S. in Remote Sensing, Department of Geodetic Engineering, College of Engineering, University of the Philippines Diliman
2001 – B.S. Geography, Department of Geography, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines Diliman
Publications
Martinez, M. S., Santiago, E. B., & Delfinado, J. A. C. (2025). Fostering collaboration for community-based disaster risk reduction and management: A case study of Barangay Tatalon, Quezon City (UP CIDS Discussion Paper Series 2025-34). UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies. https://cids.up.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Fostering-Collaboration-for-Community-Based-Disaster-Risk-Reduction-and-Management_A-Case-Study-of-Barangay-Tatalon-Quezon-City-1.pdf
Garcia, E., Martinez, M.S., & Palis, J. (2025). Doing Social Science Research (vol 2):Deep-diving into the Social Science Research Methods, Quezon City: PSSC, pp.71-97
De Guzman, M., Martinez, M. S., Garcia, E., Palis, J., Anacta, V. J., Cadag, J. R., Amorsolo, D. S., Ocampo, L. A., & Gutierrez, D. (2024). Integrating service-learning in geography in Philippine higher education. Pennsylvania Geographer, 62(2), 1–22.
David, L.T., Azanza, R., dela Cruz, T., Borja-del Rosario, R., Amihan, H.E., Martinez, M.S., & Peñaflor, E. (2024). Climate change impacts on coastal communities. In Berse, K., Pulhin, J., & La Viña, A. (eds.) Climate emergency in the Philippines: Impacts and imperatives for urgent policy action. Springer Nature Singapore.
Ortega, A.A., Dela Cruz, B., Dayrit, C., Angeles, E., Saguin, K.K., Garcia, L.M., Martinez, M.S., De Guzman, M.H., Lopez, Y. (2024). Counter-Cartographies of resistance: Exposing everyday authoritarianism in the Philippines. In The International Research Group on Authoritarianism and Counter-Strategies (IRGAC) and kollektiv orangotango (eds.) Beyond Molotovs: A Visual Handbook of Anti-Authoritarian Strategies. https://www.transcript-verlag.de/shopMedia/openaccess/pdf/oa9783839470558.pdf
Ensina, M. A. B., Tabernilla, J. P., Carcellar III, B. G., & Martinez, M. S. M. (2024). Toward spatial and social equality: Investigating and modeling the link between opportunity and urban intensity in Metro Manila, Philippines, The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XLVIII-4/W8-2023, pp.211-218. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-4-W8-2023-211-2024
Cordero-Bailey, K. S., David, L. T., dela Cruz, T. L. P., Almo, A. T., Martinez, S., Amihan, H. E., … & Protected Area Superintendent (PASu) MOBMR. (2023). Philippines Case Study Two: Looking into the Management Strategies of Three Philippine National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS) Sites. In Wolff, M., Ferse, S.C., Govan, H. (eds) Challenges in Tropical Coastal Zone Management: Experiences and Lessons Learned (pp. 187-205). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17879-5_12
Martinez, M.S.M., Palis, J. (2021). Faces places: Countermapping art, subalternities and counterpublics. Politicising artistic pedagogies: Teachings, publics, struggles special issue of Art & the Public Sphere, 10(2), 185-193. https://doi.org/10.1386/aps_00058_1
Martinez, M.S.M., Palis, J. (2020). COVID Spatialities and geographies of care in the Virocene. Danas/[R]anas: COVID-19 Special Issue of Diliman Review, 64(1), 1-12.
Martinez, M.S.M. (2019). Spatial disparities and the challenges to inclusive growth in the Philippines. Philippine Social Science Review, 71 (2), 31-58.
https://saliksik.upd.edu.ph/storage/submission/pdf/manuscripts/TSLTtP1sPrKkZIILLelp4Ln5ahTVA5IRTeYDePiB.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawQ_UAFleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFrUHQ4VXpYUUZhZ010ODRZc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHsKP9OUEIKwlXJGr4_Gbg-9qFHUUV_oTGR4dErdlCO0XcVsjVtFrfyzvDyC1_aem_s5nNE1iNWRysOJPlS-OSOQ
Ortega, A.A., Martinez, M.S.M., Dayrit, C. and Saguin, K.K. (2018). Counter-mapping for resistance and solidarity in the Philippines: Between art, pedagogy, and community. In ©kollektiv orangotango+ (Ed.). This is not an Atlas (pp 144-151). Bielefeld: transcript Verlag
Martinez, M.S.M., Lagman, M.S.B, and Villasper, J.M. (2016). Manila suburbs and the spatial characteristics of work in the late 19th century Manila. E-Journal of Asian Network for GIS-based Historical Studies (ANGIS), 4, 44-61. http://www.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~angisj/ANGIS(Japan)_en/JANGIS4.html
Martinez, M.S.M., Zayas, C. N. (2015). The Philippine Social Sciences engaged: Responding to the challenges of the sustainability agenda. In Social Science Information, 43, 4-17.