This current edition of Asia Pacific Journal of Social and Behavioral Sciences (APJSBS) presents works of academics within Bukidnon State University and excitingly enough those from another university and schools in Asia and the United States. This is an exciting leap from previous editions not only because it is one criterion by which the Commission on Higher Education in the Philippines gauges this journal on but more importantly because we get to read studies conducted by academics elsewhere in the world with different perspectives. The first studies are on gender, where the first one found that equality in education does not guarantee equal access to economic opportunities and participation, and the second delved into the push/ pull of the migration of Cambodian women into Thailand for work. Then there are two studies on the development of indices, one for research index applicable to higher education institutions, and the other on responsiveness index in the development of 21st century competencies applicable to education. The last two are separate studies on the use of pragmatics in determining the discourse used in the rituals of Bukidnon, one of the indigenous tribes of the Philippines, and the other a phenomenological study of preservice teachers in an elementary school.