Author: Padayon UP

The UP Resilience Institute’s (UPRI) Research and Creative Work team has developed a policy sourcebook of the government’s policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Managing the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines: A Policy Sourcebook consists of two volumes. Volume I covers national issuances while Volume II, which will be released at a later date, will focus on local government policies.

This policy sourcebook is an evolving work that will be updated monthly as part of UPRI’s contribution to the efforts of the UP COVID-19 Pandemic Response Team and in pursuit of UP’s mandate as a public service university. It is meant to help and inform the public, students, scholars, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in the intersecting fields of public health, disaster risk management, and crisis governance by providing an accessible and comprehensive annotated list of COVID-related policies in one document.

In his talk, “COVID-19 and the Heart”, the eighth installment of UP’s STOP COVID DEATHS webinar series streamed on June 12, Permejo said these medications should be used with caution and extreme care in patients with preexisting cardiac issues who have contracted COVID-19. These drug therapies are linked to QTc interval prolongation, which may lead to arrythmias, including life-threatening torsades de pointes.

Mayor Arlene B. Arcillas of the City of Santa Rosa, Laguna and Mayor Rex T. Gatchalian of Valenzuela City narrated how PPP enabled their local government units (LGUs) to conduct targeted testing, establish the needed isolation facilities and diagnostic laboratories, and distribute more relief goods in these critical times.

The two talked about their COVID-19 management strategies during the Center for Strategic Planning and Policy Studies (CSPPS) Policy Webinar Series on June 29.

UP Manila (UPM) College of Medicine (UPCM) Dean Charlotte Chiong said, “We need to be self-reliant in testing, prevention, and treatment.” This was her statement after being asked by PhilHealth Board Director Susan Mercado to comment on the country’s independence in the fight against COVID-19.

Chiong was a guest speaker in the eighth installment of UP’s STOP COVID DEATHS webinar series, “COVID-19 and the Heart,” of which Mercado was a co-host, along with UP Manila National Telehealth Center (NTHC) Director Raymond Sarmiento. The episode was streamed live on June 12, the 122nd anniversary of Philippine Independence.

UP Tacloban turned over to the local government of Jipapad, Eastern Samar 231 sacks of rice (@ 10 kilos), 10 liters of alcohol-based hand rub, and 350 3-D printed face shields on 21 June 2020 for distribution to residents. The donation was delivered with the assistance of Navara Nation Philippines-Eastern Visayas Chapter.

A molecular epidemiologist from UPLB explained how pandemics, such as COVID-19, are caused by declining biodiversity.

Dr. Mary Grace B. Dacuma, an assistant professor at the Animal Biology Division of the Institute of Biological Sciences, discussed this during the third leg of the Biodiversity and Resiliency Webinar Series of the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) on June 19.

Dr. Dacuma, a PhD holder from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, shed light on the concept of pathogen spillover, or the transmission of the agents of infectious diseases such as virus, to humans.

The UPLB COVID-19 Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory (UPLB-CMDL) received today, June 29, its certification as a molecular laboratory that can perform independent testing for COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) by Realtime PCR from the Department of Health-Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (DOH-RITM).

Along with this, it was issued a license to operate for the year 2020 by the DOH Health Facilities and Service Regulatory Bureau.

More leaders of higher education institutions (HEIs) in the country are sharing their respective ideas and experiences in this time of COVID-19 pandemic using a platform that UPLB has initiated. On the third leg of the UPLB Graduate School’s (GS) Zoom webinar series entitled “Reimagining higher and graduate education: business as usual or new normal?” on […]

Davao de Oro Governor Jayvee Tyron Uy, UP Mindanao Chancellor Ρrof. Larry Digal, Davao de Oro Chief of HospitalsDr. Ferdinand Soberano, Ρhiliррine Genome Center Mindanao Director Ρrof. Lyre Anni Murao sign the Memorandum of Agreement for a COVID-19 testing facility in Davao de Oro. (Ρhiliрpine Genome Center Mindanao)   The University of the Philippines (UP) […]

It is the artists and artisans their turn at trading their works at the University of the Philippines Baguio (UPB) Oblation Grounds with an arts and crafts fair dubbed “Mandëko Kito, Artisans Market” scheduled every Monday and Tuesday 9:00am-12:00nn starting June 15.

Convenor of the activity, UPB faculty member Dr. Analyn Salvador-Amores said the activity will cover a month-long period or up to July 15 and is an offshoot of the farmer’s market being held in the same venue from Wednesday to Friday.