Alumni News

UP Mindanao Bulletin, 15 March-3 April 2020

Written by Rene Estremera. Posted in Alumni

UP MINDANAO BULLETIN
15 March 2020–3 April 2020

MESSAGE FROM THE CHANCELLOR

“In the past two years, we have experienced major disruptions. Last year, we had to deal with the various earthquakes that hit Mindanao. This year, we—and the rest of the world—face another threat in the form of a pandemic caused by the coronavirus disease.
“What disruptive events such as this pandemic teaches us is the importance of focusing on what really matters. And right now, during this difficult time, what the university is focusing on is taking care of its constituents, particularly our students, our teaching and nonteaching staff, and our non-UP contractual staff.”
—Prof. Larry N. Digal, PhD, Chancellor
READ FULL MESSAGE HERE: https://bit.ly/3dSW7rK

IMPORTANT REMINDERS AND NOTICES

19 April 2020 | End of extended work and class suspension unless further extended, modified, or withdrawn
8 April 2020 | Deadline for submission of work accomplishment for 17–31 March 2020
4 April 2020 | Bayanihan for our non-government service, security, and sanitation personnel (Read letter here: https://bit.ly/2xV3FcV)
30 March–15 April 2020 | Ongoing work-from-home (WFH) training for all UP Mindanao personnel

UP MINDANAO COVID-19 TRACKER

We are currently working out a system for tracking the condition of UP Mindanao constituents, particularly students (through the Office of Student Affairs) and employees (through the Human Resource and Development Office). The tracker will go live in the next volume of the bulletin.

ISSUANCES

UP System Memoranda and Other Releases

03 April 2020 | Memorandum no. NGY 20-56. Submission of Work Accomplishment from 17–31 March 2020 and 1–14 April 2020. https://bit.ly/2ReP6Id
02 April 2020 | UP System IT. Reminder on Secure Zoom Meeting Sessions. (Email sent to everyone)
25 March 2020 | Memorandum no. LGSB 2020-017. Submission of Project Proposals for UPSA Funding Request. https://bit.ly/2V4pS0i
20 March 2020 | Memorandum no. OVPAA 2020-40. Payment of Salaries of Lecturers and Teaching Assistant/Teaching Fellows up to 15 April 2020. https://bit.ly/2XcA9Kv
17 March 2020 | UP System IT. Zoom Video Conferencing Access for UP Faculty and REPS. (Email sent to everyone)
17 March 2020 | Memorandum no. OVPAA 2020-39. Addendum to Memorandum no. OVPAA 2020-38 on the Suspension of Classes in All UP Constituent Universities Except UP Open University. https://bit.ly/2JK40BW
13 March 2020 | Memorandum no. NGY 2020-44. Implementation of Alternative Work Arrangement. https://bit.ly/3e29bLM
05 March 2020 | Memorandum no. NGY 2020-33. CSC Guidelines on the Procedure of Availment of Leave Privileges for Absences Incurred in Relation to Self-Quarantine and/or Treatment of Public Sector Officials and Employees Relative to COVID-19. https://bit.ly/2wlKKI6

UP Mindanao Memoranda and Other Releases

2 April 2020 | Memorandum no. LND 2020-041. Extension of Work and Class Suspension until 19 April 2020 Unless Further Extended, Modified or Withdrawn.
https://bit.ly/3c6lSDx
1 April 2020 | Memorandum no. MTRE 2020-005. Misting/Disinfection of the City Health Office in UP Mindanao on 1 April 2020. https://bit.ly/2XeVEdE
26 March 2020 | Memorandum no. LND 2020-40. Work-from-home (WFH) training for all UP Mindanao personnel from 30 March to 15 April 2020. https://bit.ly/2X4jBUR
20 March 2020 | Memorandum no. LND 2020-034. Clarification on the Early Release of Salaries of Non-UP Contractual Personnel and Project-based Personnel. https://bit.ly/2xTyzT0
19 March 2020 | Memorandum no. LND 2020-033. Skeletal Force During Community Quarantine and Possible Lockdown Due to COVID-19 https://bit.ly/2JHL86L
18 March 2020 | Memorandum no. LND 2020-032. Work Arrangement During Community Quarantine Due to COVID-19 https://bit.ly/2X8dwH8
17 March 2020 | Memorandum no. LND 20200-031a. Early Release of Salaries of Regular and Non-UP Contractual Personnel and Project-based Personnel. https://bit.ly/2RgWbrF
17 March 2020 | Memorandum no. LND 2020-031b. Requirements for Early Release of Salaries of Non-UP Contractual Personnel and Project-based Personnel. https://bit.ly/3bVBRUO
17 March 2020 | Memorandum no. LND 2020-029. Release of P25K CNA incentive. https://bit.ly/2Rd9wkE
16 March 2020 | Memorandum no. LND 2020-028. Reiteration of the Suspension of Work and Cancellation of Classes. https://bit.ly/2UMcAqr
16 March 2020 | Memorandum no. LND 2020-27A. Clarification on Memorandum no. LND-27, “Implementation of Alternative Work Arrangement in Relation to COVID-19 Code Red Sublevel 2 and Community Quarantine in Davao City” https://bit.ly/39Seni0
15 March 2020 | Memorandum no. LND 2020-27. Implementation of alternative work arrangement in relation to COVID-19 Code Red Sublevel 2 and community quarantine in Davao City https://bit.ly/3bOvvq2
13 March 2020 | Memorandum no. NBO 2020-16. Online mode of instruction. https://bit.ly/39MCVsy

Others

02 April 2020 | SMAARDEC/PCAARRD Secretariat: 2020 Non-Degree Training Courses https://bit.ly/2UJMggv

Reference Materials

UP System Coronavirus advisories and prevention guidelines: https://bit.ly/2UCQS80

NEWS

01 April 2020 | UP Philippine General Hospital Bayanihan Na! Operations Center is launched. Dial 155200 for assistance. https://publicservice.up.edu.ph/uppgh-bayanihan-na/
28 March 2020 | “Processing and release of 2020 UPCAT results suspended due to ECQ” (Philippine Daily Inquirer) https://bit.ly/3aNXLJj
27 March 2020 | “Villanueva: State universities, colleges, need raw materials, support to continue initiatives against COVID-19” (Manila Bulletin). https://bit.ly/2JEe53o
26 March 2020 | “LGUs to support proposed laboratory" (The Mindanao Times). https://bit.ly/2UWhnV0
26 March 2020 | “Call for volunteers for COVID-19 Testing Lab” (Philippine Genome Center-Mindanao). https://bit.ly/2wWJ5Jq
26 March 2020 | UP Alumni Association Davao, Inc. has launched a donation drive to provision public health frontliners (UPMin Facebook page). https://bit.ly/2V8TZ6P
23 March 2020 | “UP Mindanao proposes diagnostic program to test for COVID-19 in Davao City” (Manila Bulletin). https://bit.ly/3aQOQXC
20–28 March 2020 | Alumni, officials, staff, and students donated food and personal necessities for students stranded at the dormitory and nearby boarding houses (UPMin Facebook page). https://bit.ly/3e8to2u; https://bit.ly/34ePV96; https://bit.ly/3bWpnME
20 March 2020 | Launch of Online Portal of University of the Philippines CoViD-19 News and Information. https://www.up.edu.ph/index.php/covid-19-updates/

CONTACT DETAILS
Rene Estremera
Public Relations Officer
Email:
Messenger: https://www.facebook.com/pg/UPMindanao/services/

The UP-PGH has launched Bayanihan Na! COVID-19 Operations Center! Call 155-200 for your questions about COVID-19 and how to volunteer and donate.

Full story here: https://www.up.edu.ph/bayanihan-na-up-pgh-launches-covid-19-ops-center/

Visit https://publicservice.up.edu.ph/uppgh-bayanihan-na/ to learn more about the operations center via UP Public Service

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Dear fellow alumni and friends,

The effects of the COVID-19 virus has strained our health care system, particularly our health care frontliners: doctors, nurses, technicians, and hospital staff. Our health frontliners need Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to continue working effectively to limit the spread of COVID-19. Hence, the UPAA Davao Chapter would like to ask your help in raising funds for provision of these PPE. While we are working on a dedicated bank account to receive all donations, we are using the account one of our UPAA-Davao directors. Please send your donations to:

Atty. Marie Glenn C. Sorila

Metrobank Account No. 564-3-564-00734-0

Email an image of your transaction slip to

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UPMin Thank you message 3 40 Sa mga UPMin officials, faculty, staff, students sa pangunguna ng University Student Council (USC), Association of the UP Beta Sigma Fraternity & the UP Sigma Beta Sorority (Betans) at iba pang student organizations, All UP Academic Employees Union, All UP Academic Employees Union-Mindanao, UP Mindanao Alumni Association (UPMinAA), UP Alumni Association-Davao Chapter (UPAA-Davao), UP Mindanao Foundation (UPMFI), at iba pang mga nakibahagi sa aming munting bayanihan para sa ating mga estudyante na kasalukuyang natigil sa Elias B. Lopez Hall dormitory at boarding houses dahil sa ipinatutupad na community quarantine sa siyudad ng Davao dulot ng panganib na dala ng COVID-19 ...

MARAMING SALAMAT!

Mula sa Office of Student Affairs, University of the Philippines Mindanao

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Message from UP President Danilo L. Concepcion
March 20, 2020

Dear members of the UP community:

I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to you all for your amazing response to this crisis—a global situation the likes of which we have not seen in our lifetimes. We have been forced to suspend classes, work and all other campus activities, and to stay inside our homes and practice social distancing, all to contain the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and to keep our healthcare system from being dangerously overwhelmed. For some of us, the effects of these measures on our finances, work, and social lives, and on our mental and physical health, have been devastating.

Yet, I have seen UP rise magnificently to the challenge. Every constituent unit, every sector, and every member of the UP community has demonstrated and continues to demonstrate incredible courage, resourcefulness, intelligence, selflessness, and compassion. Our scientists have used their knowledge to help their fellow Filipinos. Our medical and health practitioners, including our interns, are serving heroically at the frontlines of this war. Our faculty are exploring new ways and alternative platforms to fulfill their mission to teach, no matter the circumstances.

Our skeleton staff are working to keep our University running and to protect our communities. Our administrative officials have been tirelessly steering the University through rough waters. And our students, alumni and campus residents are doing their part by using their training to build sanitation tents for public use, or by donating food and supplies to fellow members of the UP community in need, or by campaigning for support for our doctors, nurses and health centers, or by simply doing what they can to educate, to ease people’s burdens, and uplift their spirits.

You are all an inspiration to us. Ang iskolar ng bayan ay tunay na maaasahan.

I cannot say for certain how the future will be shaped by this global crisis. However, I can assure you that we will keep moving forward as one UP community. We will continue to harness the expertise of the country’s premier community of scholars to make thoughtful and informed decisions. We will continue to communicate with you and disseminate information as often as possible. We will support your efforts to help yourselves, your families and your communities. Together, we will emerge stronger, better, and more united than ever.

We must and will remain in touch with one another. To facilitate this and to make sure that we disseminate and receive only official and verified information at a time when misleading and even dangerous rumors abound, we are opening a dedicated webpage at https://www.up.edu.ph/index.php/covid-19-updates/ for the UP community. I urge you to bookmark and to follow that page for future announcements and updates, and stay safe.

Once again, I thank all the individuals and teams who are toiling bravely through this uncertain time. Thank you for showing the world what honor and excellence in the service of the Filipino people truly mean.

Maraming salamat po.

Naglilingkod,
Danilo L. Concepcion

Call for volunteers for a CoViD-19 testing lab

Written by Rene Estremera. Posted in Alumni

The Philippine Genome Center-Mindanao has issued a call for volunteers who are willing to work in a CoViD-19 diagnostic laboratory in Davao del Norte. Persons who wish to participate need to have experience in RNA/PCR/qPCR and are willing to work in Davao del Norte. Qualified persons may indicate their interest by filling up the survey form at http://tiny.cc/vn7tlz. Deadline is 26 March 2020.

This call is URGENT. Davao Region has not reached its CoViD-19 peak, hence the operationalization of the lab is urgent to prevent the spread of CoViD-19 in the region.

UPDATE:

Davao del Norte supports UP Mindanao proposal on diagnostics program for COVID-19 testing

The diagnostic lab for COVID-19 free testing proposed by the University of the Philippines (UP) Mindanao has gathered immediate interest from the Davao del Norte province. In a joint letter to UP Mindanao dated March 22, provincial governor Edwin Jubahib and Tagum City mayor Allan Rellon wrote, “As local chief executives, we hereby commit and support your proposal to establish a mobile diagnostics laboratory for rapid medical and public health response to COVID-19 in the province.”

Philippine Genome Center-Mindanao director Dr. Lyre Anni Murao, a professor of virology at UP Mindanao, revealed that the construction of the proposed lab and procurement of needed equipment, estimated at P15 million, will be funded by private groups while the operational costs, pegged at P10.3 million per month, will be funded by the local government unit.

“Our partners from the private sector will take charge of designing the lab to ensure it will meet biosafety standards,” she said. “The entire laboratory establishment including accreditation, design and assembly, up to equipment installation and calibration, will take roughly 7 to 8 weeks. When running at full capacity, the lab can be expected to handle 96 tests per day.”

Based on previous discussion with the Department of Health (DOH), the proposed lab will likely be attached to the Davao Region Medical Center (DRMC) in Tagum City according to UP Mindanao chancellor Dr. Larry Digal.

“DOH XI welcomed the idea of setting the lab with DRMC to supplement the capacity of SPMC so that other provinces in the Davao Region and even outside the region can be better served,” he said. “We are now working closely with the DavNor LGU on how to set up this lab as soon as possible. But just like the case of Marikina, the facility will have to be assessed by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine [RITM] of the DOH before it can be operational.”

Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) Dr. Leopoldo Vega has suggested during the Philippine Information Agency online press conference yesterday for UP Mindanao “to be an independent lab” since it will take time for DOH System and UP System to sign a memorandum of agreement.

He said, “Just make sure you have the necessary accreditation. This is a molecular biology lab. There has to be a standard, protective room with negative pressure so that safety is there when they inactivate the virus. If they have that, I think the RITM would give their approval.”

To augment the personnel who will initially operate the proposed lab, PGC Mindanao has already issued a call for volunteers last March 24. Dr. Murao said, “We cannot rely fully on our partner hospital to free up their personnel to do COVID-19 tests because they are needed in other hospital operations. We need volunteers with background on molecular biology, which is crucial to process the samples.”

Volunteers must have experience on quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) or ribonucleic acid procedures and are willing to be deployed in Davao del Norte. The survey form is available here: http://tiny.cc/vn7tlz

“While we already included in our initial proposal to the LGU funding to take care of our volunteers (i.e., compensation, accommodations, etc.), we are now crafting a separate proposal for a rigorous training on biosafety and molecular diagnostics to ensure the welfare of our volunteers. This will be submitted to the UP System for funding,” she added.

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Read original news story here: https://www2.upmin.edu.ph/index.php/news-sp-3476/madayaw-news/4236-proposed-diagnostics-program-for-free-covid-19-testing

UPAA-Davao officers, 2020

Written by Rene Estremera. Posted in Alumni

IMG 0344rez25 UP Alumni Association-Davao Chapter elected new directors in elections held on 22 February 2020; the directors selected the chapter officers from among themselves in the proclamation meeting on 29 February. Nap Concepcion was elected chairperson, joined by Sherwin Ramos (president), Pedro "Bogs" Quitain (vice president), Bai Ashrafia Aymee "Toie" Biruar Mitmug (secretary), and Marvin Sison (treasurer); the other elected directors are Marie Glenn Cedeño-Sorila, Antoinette Principe-Castrodes, Ana Siapno-Gualberto, Eric Divinagracia, Allan Montenegro, Marianne Esther Aniceto-Guinomla, Roberto "Bo" Puentespina, Apple Legario, and Rene Estremera; UPLBAA-Davao president Ramon Bien, UPMinAA president Krishna Balaga, immediate past president Joel Laserna, and UP Mindanao chancellor Larry Digal are ex-officio members of the UPAAD board of directors.

UPAA-Davao elections, 2020

Written by Rene Estremera. Posted in Alumni

Members of the University of the Philippines Alumni Association-Davao Chapter (UPAA-Davao) are called to choose 14 directors in elections to be held on 22 February 2020 (Saturday), from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., at Farmfix, Bacaca Road, Davao City (across FS Dizon Elementary School).

“The Election Committee, chaired by outgoing UPAA-Davao president Joel Laserna, has been constituted and is now accepting nominations for 14 board seats,” said the bulletin issued by the committee.

Eligible to be nominated and to vote are bona fide members of UPAA-Davao, who may also nominate fellow-members. Members may cast their votes in person or through a proxy. Alumni may apply for membership on election day, by paying the membership fee.

The nomination and proxy forms are available at the UP Mindanao Foundation, Inc., with address at 2/F Vega-Quitain Building, F. Iñigo (formerly Anda) Street, Davao City. Members may also request for the forms to be sent by email from Ms. Doromal at the email address , or through mobile phone no. 0906-298-1067.

Completed nomination forms, with the signature of the nominee, must be submitted to the UPMFI office or through the email by 19 February 2020, 5:00 p.m. Signed proxy forms must be submitted in the same manner by 20 February 2020, 5:00 p.m. The designated proxies must be present to vote on 22 February 2020.

UPAA-Davao was founded in 1949 and was instrumental in creating UP Mindanao. It has been awarded as Outstanding Chapter twice and counts alumni from all eight UP constituent universities among its members.

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UP Mindanao Foundation Inc., 2020

Written by Rene Estremera. Posted in Alumni

IMG 9754RZ20 Trustees of the UP Mindanao Foundation Inc. (UPMFI) took their oath of Office in induction ceremonies held on 8 February 2020 with Professor Larry N. Digal (left-most), ex-officio trustee representing UP Mindanao as its Chancellor, serving as Inducting Officer. The trustees are (left-right) Sebastian L. Angliongto, chairperson, John Gaisano Jr., vice-chairperson, Atty. Marie Dinah Tolentino-Fuentes, president, Anacleto Guevarra, vice-president, Atty. Charmaine Valentin, secretary, Atty. Marie Glenn Cedeno-Sorila, treasurer, and Maria Belen “Mabel” Acosta, Joel Laserna, ex-officio trustee representing UP Alumni Association-Davao as its president, and Corazon “Zony” Reyes. Not in the photo is trustee Dr. Celia Castillo, auditor. The UPMFI was created alongside UP Mindanao in 1995 to support UP Mindanao faculty development, provide scholarships to students, and promote academic programs that are responsive to the needs of Mindanao.

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