Philippine Association for the Study of Overweight and Obesity

Also known as: PASOO · PASOO, Inc. (SEC-registered non-stock, non-profit corporation)

Definition

The Philippine Association for the Study of Overweight and Obesity (PASOO) is a Philippine professional and scientific society of physicians, nutritionists, and allied health professionals dedicated to the study, prevention, and management of overweight and obesity and their complications. It was organized on 9 March 1994 with nine incorporators and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a non-stock, non-profit corporation on 28 September 1994, with endocrinologist Dr. Augusto D. Litonjua as founding president. PASOO states its vision as an “obesity risk-free nation” and its mission as pioneering the prevention and control of obesity through education, research, and advocacy. (PASOO — About PASOO, PASOO — Official Portal)

PASOO is the Philippine member organization of the World Obesity Federation and participates in the Asia-Oceania association ecosystem, having hosted the 6th Asia-Oceania Congress on Obesity in Manila in 2011. The Society publishes educational instruments (the Healthy Food Guide Pyramid, the Physical Activity Pyramid Guide, position statements, and white papers) and its obesity practice recommendations have been examined in the Journal of the ASEAN Federation of Endocrine Societies (JAFES) in a review of their utility and implementation in Philippine clinical practice. (PASOO — About PASOO, World Obesity Federation — PASOO member page, JAFES — Obesity Treatment Recommendations in the Philippines)

Identities

Source Type	Identity
Wikipedia	N/A
Wikidata	N/A
DBpedia	N/A
ProductOntology	N/A
Wiktionary	N/A
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)	Obesity
MeSH	Obesity (D009765)
NCBI Taxonomy	N/A
AGROVOC	obesity (c_04742f75)
Google Scholar	“Philippine Association for the Study of Overweight and Obesity”
ConceptNet	N/A
OpenCyc	N/A

Also Known As

PASOO
PASOO, Inc. (SEC-registered non-stock, non-profit corporation)

Examples and Analogies

National obesity-society analog: PASOO occupies the same institutional niche in the Philippines as national obesity associations elsewhere — a multidisciplinary scientific society that aggregates clinical, nutrition, and public-health expertise on obesity, analogous in function to the member associations federated under the World Obesity Federation. (World Obesity Federation — PASOO member page)
Verified organizational data:
Conceived: 1993, by Dr. Augusto D. Litonjua after attending the European Congress on Obesity in Ulm, Germany
Organized: 9 March 1994, with nine incorporators; incorporated with the SEC on 28 September 1994
Founding president: Dr. Augusto D. Litonjua; incorporators included Dr. Florante P. Gonzaga, Dr. Mary Anne Lim-Abrahan, Dr. Rosa Allyn G. Sy, Dr. Lyra Ruth C. Teodoro, Dr. Joseph A. Regalado, Dr. Edgardo L. Tolentino, Dr. Rodolfo F. Florentino, and nutritionist Ms. Sanirose S. Orbeta
International membership: full member of the International Association for the Study of Obesity (now part of the World Obesity Federation) since 21 June 1995
Official portals: obesity.org.ph and pasoo.org.ph
Signature publications: Healthy Food Guide Pyramid (1997, created by Ms. Sanirose S. Orbeta and endorsed by FNRI), Physical Activity Pyramid Guide (2000), PASOO Declaration II (2009), a white paper on lifestyle approaches for obesity prevention, and a position statement on sugar-sweetened beverages. (PASOO — About PASOO)

Usage Scenarios

1. Clinical Guidance on Weight Management

PASOO formulates obesity practice recommendations for Philippine clinicians; these recommendations — including their utility and implementation in practice — were reviewed in the JAFES Obesity Surgery Supplement, making PASOO a reference point for how obesity treatment is standardized in Philippine clinics. (JAFES — Obesity Treatment Recommendations in the Philippines)

2. Public Education and Awareness Campaigns

The Society produces population-facing tools such as the Healthy Food Guide Pyramid and the Physical Activity Pyramid Guide, and organizes the annual Obesity Awareness and Prevention Week — declared by presidential proclamation in 1999 for the first week of September — as its flagship public-education vehicle. (PASOO — About PASOO)

3. Scientific Meetings and Continuing Education

PASOO holds annual conventions and postgraduate courses for physicians, nutritionists, and allied professionals, and convened the 6th Asia-Oceania Congress on Obesity in Manila in 2011, which issued the resolution “A Call to Action Against Overweight and Obesity: Asia-Oceania Perspective.” (PASOO — About PASOO)

4. Research and Policy Advocacy

Through position statements (for example on sugar-sweetened beverages), white papers on lifestyle prevention, and participation in national nutrition initiatives, PASOO positions itself as an authoritative voice in Philippine obesity policy discussions alongside the Department of Health and food and nutrition research agencies. (PASOO — About PASOO)

5. Regional and International Linkages

As the Philippine member of the World Obesity Federation, PASOO connects Philippine practitioners to global obesity science and to the Asia-Oceania Association for the Study of Obesity’s congress circuit, importing and localizing international guidance for Philippine practice. (World Obesity Federation — PASOO member page)

Strategies

Multidisciplinary composition: founding the society with physicians and nutritionists together (as reflected in its nine incorporators) built credibility across clinical medicine and nutrition science from the start. (PASOO — About PASOO)
Awareness-week institutionalization: securing a presidential proclamation for Obesity Awareness and Prevention Week in 1999 gave the Society a recurring, government-recognized platform. (PASOO — About PASOO)
Publication-based education: translating science into simple instruments — food and physical-activity pyramids, declarations, and position statements — extends PASOO’s reach beyond its membership to schools, media, and the general public. (PASOO — About PASOO)
International anchoring: early membership in the international obesity association (1995) and hosting the 2011 Asia-Oceania congress embedded PASOO in the regional scientific community. (PASOO — About PASOO, World Obesity Federation — PASOO member page)

Security and Safety Measures

Evidence-based public messaging: PASOO’s pyramids, white papers, and position statements are drafted to give the public and professionals a defensible, non-commercial basis for weight-management advice, countering fad diets and unsafe slimming practices. (PASOO — About PASOO)
Professional oversight of obesity treatment: by issuing practice recommendations that are then examined in peer-reviewed journals such as JAFES, PASOO subjects Philippine obesity care to professional scrutiny and continuous refinement. (JAFES — Obesity Treatment Recommendations in the Philippines)
Incorporated, non-profit structure: SEC registration as a non-stock, non-profit corporation (28 September 1994) provides governance and accountability for the Society’s finances and activities. (PASOO — About PASOO)

Historical Context

PASOO’s founding in 1994 placed it ahead of the curve on a problem that was then still emerging in the Philippines: the idea was conceived by Dr. Augusto D. Litonjua in 1993 after he attended the European Congress on Obesity in Ulm, Germany, and the Society was organized the following year with nine incorporators — physicians from endocrinology and related fields plus nutritionist Ms. Sanirose S. Orbeta — and incorporated on 28 September 1994. It became a full member of the International Association for the Study of Overweight and Obesity on 21 June 1995, linking Philippine obesity science to the international community within its first two years. (PASOO — About PASOO)

The Society grew through the late 1990s and 2000s via local chapters (Cebu in 1996, followed by North Luzon, Mindanao, and Laguna), the first Physical Activity Pyramid Guide in 2000, postgraduate courses, and children’s initiatives such as the Whiz Kids Project (2002). In 1999, President Joseph Estrada proclaimed the first week of September as Obesity Awareness and Prevention Week. The 2011 hosting of the 6th Asia-Oceania Congress on Obesity in Manila — chaired by Dr. Rosa Allyn G. Sy — marked PASOO’s emergence as a regional convener, and its subsequent strategic plan (“E.R.A.S.E. OBESITY!”, 2012) organized its work around education, research, advocacy, service, and expansion. Through the 2010s and 2020s, PASOO has continued to position obesity as a chronic, relapsing disease requiring medical management rather than a cosmetic concern — the framing that informs this wiki’s entries on Obesity in the Philippines and Bariatric Surgery. (PASOO — About PASOO)

Challenges and Controversies

Implementation Gap for Clinical Recommendations

The very existence of a JAFES review examining the “utility and implementation in clinical practice” of Philippine obesity treatment recommendations documents a recognized gap between guidance and actual practice — obesity care in the Philippines is delivered unevenly, and specialist-led weight-management services remain concentrated in urban centers. (JAFES — Obesity Treatment Recommendations in the Philippines)

Rising Prevalence Despite Advocacy

PASOO has operated since 1994 while overweight and obesity prevalence in the Philippines has continued to climb — a long-arc public-health failure that the Society’s own awareness-week framing acknowledges, and that is traced in this wiki’s Obesity in the Philippines entry. The tension between educational advocacy and structural drivers (food environments, urbanization) is a standing critique of lifestyle-centered prevention strategies. (PASOO — About PASOO)

Boundaries with Adjacent Societies and Guidance

Philippine obesity guidance is produced by several bodies — PASOO alongside endocrinology, diabetes, and nutrition societies (for example the 2012 Philippine Diabetes Nutrition Algorithm, on which PASOO was a partner with the Philippine Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism as lead) — and delineating which guidance is authoritative for which clinical situation is a recurring question for practitioners. (PASOO — About PASOO)

Industry Support at Founding

PASOO’s official history records that its 1994 organization was supported by Les Laboratoires Servier, a pharmaceutical company — a disclosure-relevant fact in an era of heightened scrutiny of industry relationships with medical societies, particularly in obesity pharmacotherapy. (PASOO — About PASOO)