Student Life

Stranded students returned, 6 May 2020

on 25 May 2020.

Twenty-three students of the University of the Philippines (UP) Mindanao, one UP Diliman student, and one U{ Los Banos faculty member successfully returned to their respective hometowns starting Wednesday last week, May 6, following a tightly coordinated inter-agency operation. Ten more students are awaiting their turn. These students from different parts of the country were stranded on campus following the imposition of a nation-wide community quarantine to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We were exploring various options to bring the students home. Fortunately, I got a call from an official of the Office of the President‒Presidential Management Staff (PMS). They offered to bring our students to the borders of their respective hometowns, from where the local PMS staff will take over and bring the students home,” said UP Mindanao Office of Student Affairs (OSA) director Ma. Teresa Escano.

“I submitted the list of the hometowns of our students, and the PMS, the Office of the Special Assistant to the President, the Davao City Tourism Office, and the City Government of Davao took action,” she added.

On May 6, 3 UP Mindanao students, together with the UP Diliman and UP Los Baños constituents, boarded the Davao‒Manila sweeper flight. The CALABARZON local government units (LGUs) arranged for transport from the airport to their hometowns. “Davao City Councilor Mabel Acosta helped in the arrangements for the air transport,” Escano said.

Among the Mindanao-based students, 7 went home to the CARAGA Region on May 6 while 8 went home to SOCCSKSARGEN on May 7 and 5 to Northern Mindanao on May 8. The PMS brought each group to the designated hand-over points in Monkayo, Davao del Norte, for those bound for CARAGA; Bansalan, Davao Del Sur, for those bound for SOCCSKSARGEN; and the boundary of Bukidnon Province for those bound for Northern Mindanao where their respective LGUs received them.

All 23 students arrived in their respective hometowns, as ascertained by the UP Mindanao OSA through their group chat and other student monitoring mechanisms, and are either on strict home quarantine or at a quarantine facility, as required by their LGUs.

Of the 10 remaining students, 5 come from provinces in the Davao Region. The City Government of Davao and the PMS are still making transport-sharing arrangements for these students. The other students come from Zamboanga (2), Palawan (1), Cebu (1), and Iloilo (1). “We have sent a letter to the Office of the President to request for sweeper flights. Rest assured that we are exhausting all possible ways and means to bring them home too,” Escano said.

Throughout the quarantine period, the stranded students were housed in the Elias B. Lopez Hall dormitory within the campus and nearby boarding houses. Last March, OSA held a donation drive to provide food and personal hygiene kits for the stranded students, which saw participation from UP Mindanao constituents, the alumni, and various organizations. Aside from monitoring their physical wellbeing, OSA also provided psychosocial support.

Before traveling, the UP Mindanao administration assisted the students in complying with travel requirements, which include medical certificates, quarantine clearances, letters of acceptance from the receiving LGUs, and the parents’ authorization. The Association of the UP Beta Sigma Fraternity-UP Mindanao Chapter provided transportation for the students during the health clearance process and, together with UP Sigma Beta Sorority, Alpha Phi Omega‒ Lambda Nu Chapter, and UP Omega Alpha Sorority, distributed food packs during the send-off. The PMS provided two vans for each departing group to abide by social distancing rules.

The Inter-Agency Task Force has classified the Mindanao regions as being under a low or moderate risk for COVID-19 through its Resolution No. 35, and economic activity is expected to resume with health guidelines in place.

UP Mindanao Bulletin, 4 - 17 May 2020

on 24 May 2020.

UP MINDANAO BULLETIN

4‒17 May 2020

CHANCELLOR’S MESSAGE

To the UP Mindanao community:

Madayaw! I hope everyone is well!

Davao City is now under the General Community Quarantine and some restrictions are eased. But I urge everyone to remember that we are still in quarantine, and many provisions during the ECQ are still in effect. Kindly refer to the Davao City Executive Order no. 33 for more information: https://bit.ly/3cDQay7

Also, from today until the end of May, the existing work-from-home arrangements, as well as the skeletal force (based on 18 May 2020 list of approved personnel), shall remain in effect. We shall start the physically reporting for work schedule on 1 June 2020 to give us more time to attend to our academic and administrative preparations, such as our alternative work arrangements and the review of our deliverables. The full guidelines are available here: https://bit.ly/3bAdmvM

Furthermore, please be reminded of the presence of COVID-19 isolation centers in the campus. Because of this, we have formulated measures to isolate these facilities from the rest of the UP Mindanao campus, such as designated routes for vehicles going to UP Mindanao separate from those accessing the facilities and placement of barriers and checkpoints in strategic locations, just to name a few. Full guidelines here: https://bit.ly/2T2DetO

Stay safe! We will get through this together!

—Prof. Larry N. Digal, PhD, Chancellor

UP MINDANAO COVID-19 CASE TRACKER (as of 17 May 2020)

Constituents	Respondents	Suspect Case*	Probable Case*	Confirmed Case*	Non-COVID 19 (Negative Test)*
Students ¹	383	0	0	0	0
Teaching staff ²	58	0	0	0	0
Non-teaching staff ²	49	0	0	0	0
Non-UP contractuals ²	12	0	0	0	1
¹ Based on Student Tracking Survey of the Office of Student Affairs (as of 14 May 2020) ² Based on Personnel Tracking Survey of the Human Resources and Development Office (as of 17 May 2020)

*NOTE: The Department of Health has issued a new case classification based on additional epidemiological information on COVID-19, adapting certain provisions of the WHO interim guidelines on global surveyance, in its Administrative Order no. 2020-0013 (LINK: https://bit.ly/2XFPO58).

For the purposes of this survey, confirmed and non-Covid-19 cases are based on results of actual tests undertaken by personnel in an approved testing facility, while suspected and probable cases are based on the classification system as provided for by the above-mentioned DOH memorandum. Without mass testing, asymptomatic individuals may not be properly categorized as they do not fit the definition of “suspect” (must have symptoms) and “probable” (must be tested or awaiting results) cases given by the said order.

GUIDELINES FOR WORK

All personnel shall continue current arrangements for work-from-home and skeletal force (based on 18 May 2020 list of approved personnel) until 31 May 2020.

Meanwhile, the units shall:

- Constitute their cluster teams that will monitor the implementation of alternative work arrangements and submit this to the OC by 21 May 2020

- Define the essential work vs. the priority work of their units by 22 May 2020

- Submit their unit’s Schedule of Alternative Work Arrangements to HRDO by 22 May 2020

- Complete the combination of WFH and PRW within the next eight weeks, including e-government systems that shall have pertinent forms available and submissions accepted in online portals.

A copy of the full guidelines may be downloaded here: https://bit.ly/3bAdmvM

UPDATE ON STRANDED STUDENTS

Twenty-three UP Mindanao students, one UP Diliman student, and one UP Los Baños faculty member successfully returned to their respective hometowns on 6-8 May 2020. Ten more students from Davao Region (5), Zamboanga (2), Palawan (1), Cebu (1), and Iloilo (1) are awaiting their turn. The repatriation was spearheaded by the Office of Student Affairs in coordination with the Office of the President‒Presidential Management Staff (PMS), the Office of the Special Assistant to the President, the Davao City Tourism Office, and the City Government of Davao.

The OSA thanks the organizations who gave donations and provided support to the stranded students: the UP Mindanao constituents, the UP Mindanao University Student Council and other student organizations, the All UP Academic Employees Union-UP Mindanao Chapter, the UP Alumni Association-Davao, the UP Mindanao Alumni Association, and the following organizations: UP Beta Sigma Fraternity-UP Mindanao Chapter, UP Sigma Beta Sorority, Alpha Phi Omega‒Lambda Nu Chapter, and UP Omega Alpha Sorority

UP MINDANAO COVID-19 INITIATIVES AND PARTNERSHIPS

COVID-19 Isolation Facilities in the UP Mindanao Campus

UP Mindanao granted the request of the City Government of Davao for the use of the Davao City-UP Sports Complex Multi-Purpose Gym and the Faculty-Staff Housing Building as COVID-19 isolation centers. A memorandum of agreement will be signed by the City Government, UP Mindanao, and the DPWH, covering a period of three months. For the protection and guidance of university personnel, the Executive Committee has approved the “Guidelines and Protocols for Covid-19 Isolation Centers in the UP Mindanao Campus.” Link:https://bit.ly/2T2DetO

“COVID-19 Insights” Online Dashboard

"COVID-19 Insights,” the web-based platform and dashboard developed by the UP Mindanao Interdisciplinary Applied Modelling (IAM) laboratory, is already "live." It earned about 300 views in 3 days after the link was shared to the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA). The link: https://upmindanao.shinyapps.io/covid19-insights-up-mindanao/

In response to the MinDA project “Flattening the Curve for Mindanao,” UP Mindanao delivered a proposal that listed the research questions to be studied and the requirements for data collection, to accomplish the COVID-19 forecasts needed by Mindanao leaders.

Recently, Malayan Colleges Mindanao accepted the invitation of UP Mindanao to a joint application for a DOST-NICER research grant for the creation of a Center for Interdisciplinary Applied Modeling and Data Analytics of Infectious Diseases (IAMDAID).

PGC Mindanao and DRMC Diagnostic Lab

As of 13 May 2020, all parties have reviewed and signified their approval of the Memorandum of Agreement for the establishment and operation of the DRMC Diagnostic Laboratory. The MOA-signing will be done when all the parties are available, namely, the provincial government of Davao del Norte, the city governments of Tagum, Samal, and Panabo, the DOH-Davao Regional Medical Center, and UP Mindanao/Philippine Genome Center-Mindanao.

Meanwhile, the PCR machine donated by Maer Summit Konstrukt Co. was installed on 13 May 2020 in the CSM lab and was immediately used in the training for lab personnel.

Joint Intensive Training Program on SARS-CoV-2 Molecular Diagnostics

The Southern Philippines Medical Center, through medical center chief Dr. Leopoldo Vega, agreed in principle to the offer of UP Mindanao for a Joint Intensive Training Program on SARS-CoV-2 Molecular Diagnostics, for personnel of organizations interested in setting up a COVID-19 facility. UP Mindanao will draft the memorandum of agreement for the review of the parties.

Capacity Building for City Government Testing Facility

The City Government of Davao requested UP Mindanao to lend its expertise in the plan to convert the Davao City Los Amigos Health Center into a COVID-19 testing facility. A UP Mindanao team conducted an inspection of the site on 5 May 2020 together with the city council, health, and engineering officials.

Meanwhile, the Davao City Filipino-Chinese Community thru its convenor, Chairman Johnny Go, donated seven PCR kits and four Extraction Kits to UP Mindanao, that are now in the CSM lab. These are from the efforts of Mr. Sebastian Angliongto, chairperson of the UP Mindanao Foundation Inc. (UPMFI).

In addition, the UPMFI has requested SM Investments Corporation, through its vice-chairperson Ms. Tessie Coson, to donate a real-time PCR machine, an extraction machine, and a biosafety cabinet, for the Davao City COVID-19 testing lab.

Mental Health Helpline

UP Mindanao Mental Health Helpline reported that a total of 36 persons have availed of its services as of 14 May 2020. The program is ongoing and open to students and employees of the university.

STUDENTS: http://tiny.cc/UPMinMentalHealthHelpline

EMPLOYEES: http://tiny.cc/MentalHealthHelpline

Donations

- The Philippine Genome Center (PGC)-Mindanao issued a Call for Donations for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), ethanol, and bleach for use of their trainees in SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics. The UP Alumni Association responded with a new round of fund-raising that raised a substantial amount from its members and networks.

- UPSTREAM Foundation has agreed to receive donations for UP Mindanao in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

- A UP Mindanao guard from Kidapawan, who is temporarily housed in EBL dorm, gave birth to her baby in a Mintal lying-in center. Donations are solicited. Our nurse identified her needs as diapers, milk (Bona), lampin (gauze cloth), planela (flannel cloth), bigkis (baby belly binder), baby clothing or pajama, sanitary alcohol, baby bottle, baby soap, cotton balls/buds, baby wipes, and thermos bottle.

LEARNING AND TEACHING

OVCAA Online Survey

The OVCAA has an on-going online survey to gather data on how best to facilitate communication between faculty and students, provide them with the learning materials, and inform the administration on students' concerns, problems, and issues. As of 15 May 2020, 475 of the 836 UP Min students (57%) have responded to the survey. The current results are available here: https://bit.ly/3bFyfFU

INTERNATIONALIZATION

MOU with University of Western Australia

UP Mindanao, through Chancellor Digal, signed a general memorandum of understanding on 28 April 2020 with University of Western Australia, represented by Mr. Callum Cowell, director of the UWA Global Engagement Office. The MOU will enhance relations between UWA and UP Mindanao by developing possibilities for academic and cultural interchanges in teaching, research, and other activities within the next five years.

COVID-19 RESPONSE TEAM

Area	Lead person/s	Contact details
Overall	Prof. Larry N. Digal, PhD (Chancellor)
Instruction and academics	Lead: Prof. Nilo B. Oponda, PhD (Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs) Deans Department Chairs/Program Coordinators
Research	Lead: Prof. Emma Ruth. V. Bayogan, PhD (CARIM Director) Deans Department Chairs/Research Committee Chairs
Public Service	Lead: Prof. Emma Ruth. V. Bayogan, PhD (CARIM Director) Deans Department Chairs/Program Coordinators Ugnayan ng Pahinungod Land Reservation and Management Office
Student and Health Concerns	Lead: Prof. Maria Teresa R. Escano (OSA Director) Deans Department Chairs/Program Coordinators
Donations	Mr. Michael A. Gatela (Pahinungod Director)
Administration and finance	Prof. Aurelia Luzviminda V. Gomez, PhD (Vice Chancellor for Administration)
Communications	Prof. Karen Joyce G. Cayamanda, PhD (Humanities Chair)
	Mr. Michael Noel R. Bonghanoy (Info Comm Chair)
	Mr. Rene A. Estremera (Public Relations Officer)

UP Mindanao Bulletin, 18 April-3 May 2020

on 11 May 2020.

UP MINDANAO BULLETIN

18 April-3 May 2020

CHANCELLOR’S MESSAGE

To the UP Mindanao community:

In this issue of the bulletin, we summarize updates on the various COVID-19 initiatives of the university. I am glad that based on the survey from the Office of Student Affairs and Human Resources and Development Office, UP Mindanao constituents remain COVID-free. We will continue to exert efforts to monitor the well-being of everyone in the coming weeks as we ready ourselves for the lifting of the Enhanced Community Quarantine. For now, our priority is ensuring that our stranded students can go home to their families, and the Office of Student Affairs has been doing a tremendous amount of work to coordinate with various local and national government agencies to make this happen.

Looking to the future, however, I urge everyone to read DBM’s National Budget Circular 580, “Adoption of Economy Measures in Government due to the Health Emergency Situation,” which will have serious ramifications for our operations in the university in the coming months (Read the text here: https://bit.ly/35m5yMK). There will be a lot of discussions in the coming weeks, and we will provide you with relevant information as soon as they are available.

Stay safe! We will get through this together.

—Prof. Larry N. Digal, PhD, Chancellor

UP MINDANAO COVID-19 CASE TRACKER (as of 3 May 2020)

Constituents	Respondents	Suspect Case*	Probable Case*	Confirmed Case*	Non-COVID 19 (Negative Test)*
Students ¹	365	0	0	0	0
Teaching staff ²	54	0	0	0	0
Non-teaching staff ²	48	0	0	0	0
Non-UP contractuals ²	12	0	0	0	1
Based on Student Tracking Survey of the Office of Student Affairs (as of 4 May 2020) ² Based on Personnel Tracking Survey of the Human Resources and Development Office (as of 3 May 2020)

UPDATE ON STRANDED STUDENTS

As per information from ASec. Atty. Vanessa Goc-Ong, Office of the Special Assistant to the President, and Atty. Joseph Encabo, head of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS), 28 out of 29 stranded students from Regions 10, 11, 12, and 13 in Mindanao will be brought home per batch within the week. PMS has been coordinating with the office of the provincial governors for the transfer and conducted an orientation to stranded students on May 5 (with OSA and Vice Chancellor Gomez).

Through the office of Councilor Mabel Acosta, 4 stranded students and 1 UPLB faculty have boarded a sweeper flight bound for Manila on 6 May 2020. (The UPLB faculty was in UP Mindanao for his thesis but was unable to go back home due to ECQ.) VC Gomez will chaperone and arrange for the transport of students from UP Mindanao to the airport. The LGUs of Cavite, Laguna, and Batangas will take charge of transporting the delegation from NAIA to their homes.

There are 3 stranded students from Palawan, Cebu, and Zamboanga who will be left behind because arrangements for their return are more complicated. Arrangements continue to be negotiated.

The Office of Student Affairs has facilitated the following requirements of the stranded students so they can go home:

- Quarantine Clearance: Two quarantine clearances are still pending since the students are no longer in Mintal; clearance need to be secured at their respective barangays.

- Laboratory test/Medical Certificate: The ones for those who took the sweeper flight received their medical certificates on May 4. Arrangements already made with Adventist Hospital for the laboratory tests and issuance of medical certificates for the other students.

- Parent’s authorization

OSA will continue monitoring the whereabouts of our students until they reach their destination.

UP MINDANAO COVID-19 INITIATIVES

Bayanihan for Non-Government Service, Security, and Sanitation Personnel

Last April 24, our security, sanitation, and qualified NGS personnel received financial assistance (in cash and in kind) from cash donations of our UP Mindanao employees totalling PhP 78,600. With the approval of the ExeCom, cash and in-kind assistance was distributed to 28 security, 15 sanitation, and 20 NGS personnel (4 have not yet been claimed). The university is very thankful to the generosity of our community in times of crisis.

Mental Health Helpline

UP Mindanao Mental Health Helpline provides free mental health and psychosocial support to our constituents. This initiative is organized by our Office of Student Affairs in partnership with agencies such as the Southern Philippines Medical Center, the Philippine Mental Health Association Inc.-Davao Chapter, the Psychological Consultancy Services, and the AUPAEU – UP Mindanao Project Tambayayong. At present, the support program has helped a total of 36 individuals who availed of its services. The program is ongoing and open to students and employees of the university.

STUDENTS: http://tiny.cc/UPMinMentalHealthHelpline

EMPLOYEES: http://tiny.cc/MentalHealthHelpline

PGC Mindanao and DRMC Diagnostic Lab

On 20 April 2020, medical technicians of Davao Regional Medical Center (DRMC), Philippine Genome Center Mindanao (PGC Mindanao) laboratory staff, and volunteers have begun training in RNA and qPCR laboratory techniques as part of capacity building while engineering plans are being drawn up for the COVID-19 laboratory to be established in DRMC in Tagum. Last April 29, Maer Summit Group, our private sector partner, delivered to CSM a PCR machine and accessories and some 20 test kits for the proposed lab. (We are expecting additional testing kits from the Davao Chinese community.) The target date for completion of the lab in the DRMC site is mid-June. The draft Memorandum of Agreement between UP Mindanao and the LGUs and the private sector is being reviewed and circulated for comment.

Capacity Building

PGC Mindanao has received various requests for trainings on technical aspects and assistance on building a COVID-19 testing laboratory. Among those who are interested to avail of these trainings are the Brokenshire Integrated Health Ministries Inc. and Davao de Oro LGU, just to name a few.

Insights Dashboard

“COVID-19 Insights” is a dashboard and a Web-based platform developed by the Interdisciplinary Applied Modelling (IAM) laboratory, which aims to host big data and artificial intelligence models to enable the sharing and peer review of the models and comparison of results under different assumptions and scenarios to come up with more informed decisions. The link to the dashboard is given below:

https://upmindanao.shinyapps.io/covid19-insights-up-mindanao/

The Mindanao Development Authority has requested for a collaboration with UP Mindanao for the creation of COVID-19 forecasting models specifically for the Mindanao Island. The IAM lab, on the other hand, is seeking to establish linkages with the Department of Health XI, Southern Philippines Medical Center, and PAGASA to secure more data.

Alcohol Production

The Department of Food Science and Chemistry will lead a project for the production of rubbing alcohol in response to the scarcity of this product in the market, as reported by the Department of Trade and Industry. Establishment of a pilot-scale production plant or using preexisting facilities in collaboration with participating DACUN-member institutions, DOST XI, and private sector is crucial. Fund support will be sought from CHED, with co-funding from DOST XI and DOST-PCAARRD. The OVCAA and CARIM are coordinating efforts to bring all the players together and finalize the proposal for submission.

Assistance to Partners at Land Reservation

The Land Reservation and Management Office continue to assist our partners at Marilog in the harvesting of tiger grass (tahiti) as part of our livelihood program. LRMO has also reserved 200 kg of dried palay for milling, which is equivalent to almost 150 kg of rice, to add to donations for the Laak site. This initiative of buying essential goods from local farmers for relief operations is in support of the government’s advocacy to buy local to help with farmers’ income during this crisis. The university is now studying the situation to come up with donation drives and relief operations for people in Laak and Marilog.

PULL Program Assistance to Farmer Partners

In response to the urgent need of our partner farmers at this time of COVID-19 in South Cotabato, Maguindanao and Zamboanga Sibugay, the PCAARRD-UP Mindanao-Landcare-LIFE (PULL) Program provided assistance in various ways based on their needs. One of these was the pooling of resources among the team and from friends which were then used to help in providing immediate support to the farmers. Following the Livelihood Improvement through Facilitated Extension (LIFE) Model, another response was through monitoring their situation and linking them with partner institutions, proactively finding out what assistance they provide at this time. Such strong coordination and collaboration proved effective as some agencies provided support to the farmer groups. The project was able to provide relief through our site facilitators for over 200 families across study sites in South Cotabato, Maguindanaw, and Zamboanga Sibugay from mid-April to the first week of May.

STUDENT SURVEY FOR ACADEMIC INSTRUCTION

The OVCAA has conducted an online survey, which was coordinated with the faculty through the deans, OUR and college secretaries, and the ILC. The survey will data on how best to facilitate communication between faculty and students, provide them with the learning materials, and inform the administration on students concerns, problems, and issues. As of 4 May 2020, 467 of the 836 UP Min students (56%) responded to the survey. An intensive follow up on the participation of students will be done this week. This section will be updated in future releases of the bulletin.

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