Davao City councilors visited the UP Mindanao campus on 05 March 2021 to discuss the proposed city hospital. UP Mindanao chancellor Prof. Larry Digal welcomed councilors Dr. Joselle Villafuerte, Atty. Antoinette Principe-Castrodes, Pamela Librado-Morata, Javi Campos, and Conde Baluran. DOH officials Cleo Fe Tabada and Divina Sonido, public safety head Angel Sumagaysay, Enzo Villafuerte, and respective staff members also attended. Campus architect Ellen Dorado located the site on the campus map, to be flanked by the Center for One Health and the College of Medicine. The officials shared updates and discussed the needed actions and visited the site at the southwestern edge of the campus near the Sports Complex.

The Davao De Oro Provincial Government, led by Provincial Governor Jayvee Tyron Uy, inaugurated their COVID-19 testing lab located in the DDO Provincial Hospital Montevista on 05 March 2021. Philippine Genome Center (PGC) Mindanao director Dr. Lyre Anni Murao, associate professor of the UP Mindanao Department of Biological Science and Environmental Studies, attended. PGC Mindanao trained the personnel assigned to operate the lab and will help develop the manual of operation and provide technical assistance when needed during lab operation. The lab will also serve as an extension lab of the PGC for research into infectious diseases and become part of the network of the Mindanao Health Initiatives. (Photos courtesy of LAE Murao)