Category: NEWS & EVENTS

Tourism can still be done during this pandemic, for as long as health and safety protocols are observed.

This is according to For. Roberto Cereno, UPLB’s ecotourism expert, at the sixth edition of the webinar “Living dangerously series” of the School of Environmental Science and Management (SESAM) on Sept. 24. 

In his presentation entitled “Ecotourism beyond the pandemic: picnic after the panic?” For. Cereno lamented that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the tourism industry worldwide, with US$730 billion recorded loss in tourism exports.

Officials of the University of the Philippines (UP) Mindanao and the local governments of Davao del Norte witnessed a milestone in their collaboration agreement with the turnover of a COVID-19 testing facility by the builder Maer Summit Konstrukt Company to the end-user Davao Regional Medical Center (DRMC) in ceremonies held on 27 August 2020, in the Davao del Norte Provincial Capitol in Tagum City. Mr. Dino Mae Suelto, the Managing Partner of Maer Summit Konstrukt, presented the certificate of turnover to DRMC chief Dr. Bryan Dalid in the presence of the project partners. 

Chancellor Fernando C. Sanchez, Jr., formally endorsed  on June 30, 2020 to the UP Board of Regents the proposed amendment on the guidelines for the Enhanced Hospitalization Programme (eHOPE) drafted by the UPLB eHOPE Committee.

The eHOPE is hospitalization benefits coverage for faculty members, research, extension, and professional staff (REPS), and administrative staff of UP.

The School of Environmental Science and Management (SESAM) co-organized a virtual symposium on Sept. 18 to provide experts a platform to discuss the Manila Bay dolomite project.

Of the speakers, two were UPLB professors – Dr. Rex Victor Cruz of the College of Forestry and Natural Resources and a former chancellor of UPLB, and Dr. Ma. Stella Tirol, dean of the College of Development Communication – who joined government officials and geologists at the virtual learning event.

On 11 June 2020, the UP College of Nursing (UPCN) received the good news that it was re-designated as a World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Leadership in Nursing Development from 2020 to 2024.

In the next four years, the College will work to assist the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office to provide technical assistance to Member States in building the leadership capacity of nursing and midwifery workforce, in strengthening training in nursing, and in developing e-learning resources in community health nursing and chronic care.

Is wildlife a friend or a foe in the COVID-19 pandemic? This is what the Master of Environment and Natural Resources Management (MENRM) program discussed during the Let’s Talk it Over (LTiO) Lecture Series on 17 September 2020 and live-streamed via the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) Networks.

Dr. Consuelo Dl. Habito, Chair of the MENRM program, opened the webinar with the introduction of the three speakers. The first was Prof. Phillip Alviola, associate professor and bat ecologist at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) and curator at the UPLB Museum of Natural History. Prof. Alviola discussed current knowledge about potential zoonotic viruses carried by Philippine bats, where he shared results of bat virus research conducted by UPLB and University of Tokyo from 2007 to 2020. Their published results on viruses from Philippine bats include coronavirus, hantavirus, reston ebolavirus, gammaherpesvirus, and pteropine orthoreovirus.

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The second session was led by Mr. Emerson Sy, herpetologist and consultant at TRAFFIC – a non-governmental organization on wildlife trade. Mr. Sy focused on pangolin consumption, where he narrated instances of pangolin trade and trafficking, and its link to COVID-19.

“Despite legal protection accorded to pangolins, poaching and trafficking occur on a huge scale globally [with] an estimated 895,000 pangolins trafficked globally in the last two decades,” shared Mr. Sy in his presentation.

He pointed out that animal abuse and mishandling have caused zoonotic diseases, such as SARS-COV-1 in 2002 and MERS-CoV in 2012. According to Mr. Sy, although studies have shown that Sunda pangolin is likely an intermediate or direct host of COVID-19, coronaviruses are known to have multiple intermediate hosts.

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The last lecture was delivered by Dr. Juan Carlos Gonzalez, professor at UPLB and 11th director of the UPLB Museum of Natural History. Dr. Gonzalez discussed pandemics and wildlife in the anthropocene, where he related the first two lectures to emphasize the role of humans in pandemics.

“It’s easy to blame a bat, but is our wanton destruction of nature and the traditional habitats of species responsible for the pandemic gripping the world right now? Experts concur that the loss of biodiversity, mainly because of humans, is directly connected to the spread of deadly diseases like COVID-19,” shared Dr. Gonzalez as he quoted John Vidal, journalist, author, and former environment editor of The Guardian newspaper.

Dr. Gonzalez also talked about anthropogenic transfer of zoonotic diseases and its impacts on an already restricted-range, small population of threatened endemic wildlife.

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An open forum moderated by Dr. Habito was held on the last part of the LTiO. Viewers’ questions were raised via UPOU Networks chat box, YouTube comment section, and Facebook comments section. A total of 2,883 views in the three platforms were recorded during the webinar.