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Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Istorya sang Pandemya Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars Published by Panorama Printing Press Lopez Jaena Street, Jaro, Iloilo City, Philippines © 2022 Philippine Science High School Western Visayas Campus All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced, distributed, retrieved, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Cover Design by Danelyn Hope M. Laniog Book Layout by Mr. June Mar C. Tejada

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Istorya sang Pandemya Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

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Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

he past two years, 2020 and 2021 were definitely historic years, not only of the country but also of the world. As Covid-19 pandemic hit

and placed everyone under the New Normal, life has been challenged in all its facets – personal, professional, and social. It made us cope with life through the great wonders the digital and virtual world can offer best given the limitations set by the pandemic. It has been exciting to explore this new world, in the New Normal, but it was definitely challenging, frustrating, and difficult to many. Each has a story to tell - stories of highs and lows, loss and gains, tears and fears, and stories of falling down and rising up. There’s just so much to tell and to share and so much to know and learn; thus, this book project, Istorya sang Pandemya, is indeed one fitting avenue to capture all these significant moments in history. My great appreciation and congratulations to those who initiated this Book Project, led by Dr. Carlito Cerbo, with our School Paper Advisers, Ms. Marie Therese Lourdes G. Ledesma and Mr. Roden P. Pedrajas. My

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

gratitude also goes to our Sci-Link and Banaag editorial staff, all the storycontributors, our students as well as to our professional editors, Dr. Maria Diosa Labiste and Dr. Pearly Jade Embajador. You all have made this valuable gift for PSHSWVC possible on our 30th year, this 2022. May the stories in this book inspire the readers to soar higher and to explore further, amidst the challenges of life and time. With a grateful heart, we can learn from the past, live our lives fully in the present, and prepare for a better future. May God bless us all!

DR. SHENA FAITH M. GANELA Campus Director PSHS-WVC

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

am delighted about the publication of Istorya sang Pandemya that documents the COVID-19 experiences of the students of the Philippine

Science High School - Western Visayas Campus (PSHS-WVC). This initiative does not only become a compendium of real-life experiences but also an inspiring chronicle that teaches resilience, fortitude, determination, responsibility, and selflessness at the time when fear, chaos, and confusion have been affecting millions of people and upending lives worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic has allowed us to develop our own artillery to act on a personal and collective manner towards our survival. Our safety and well-being have been confronted by an invisible threat, but we have chosen to rise above difficulties. Besides our desire to stay alive, our moral and spiritual strength has helped us to cope and to thrive with dignity and humility.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Life’s struggles and challenges make us stronger. They expose our vulnerability, yet the same vulnerability bolsters our spirit to endure and to take wiser actions to enrich our lives. Moreover, the pandemic is a great teacher that can deepen our values and guide us in making decisions. The struggles, challenges, and success stories of the young ones during these trying times echo a voice of hope and passion necessary to be efficient and effective future leaders of their immediate communities. I congratulate PSHS-WVC for coming up with Istorya sang Pandemya. This is another best practice worth emulating that other PSHS campuses can learn from.

DR. LILIA T. HABACON Executive Director Philippine Science High School System

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Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

or almost two years now, people are adjusting to a new normal, our new way of life. Lockdowns, social and physical distancing, wearing

of face masks, working from home, virtual learning, quarantine, isolation, and teleconsulting have been adapted as modalities during this time. Thanks to the scientists, the shakers and movers in the world of science, we already have the vaccines and medicines, constantly being developed, to combat the COVID-19 virus. These have brought hope to a world darken with fear. However, the emotional, physical, social, economic, and other challenges which confront people as individuals and as a community also need to be addressed. lt is in this light that I commend the Philippine Science High School Western Visayas Campus for initiating a book project idea, Istorya sang Pandemya which looks at the other side of science, our humanity as persons with feelings. The stories as told by the students of PSHS WVC

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Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

will impact our understanding on how the young minds of PSHS students, respond to the challenges brought by the pandemic. Their stories will be interesting not only from a human-interest point but also on how our system can meld science and the humanities in the development of future leaders of our country. Congratulations to everyone in PSHS WVC! Mabuhay.

FORTUNATO T. DE LA PEÑA Secretary Department of Science and Technology

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Introduction

Ultimately, the greatest lesson that COVID-19 can teach humanity is that we are all in this together. ~ Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Going for more than two years now, this COVID-19 pandemic has brought the entire world into a period of uncertainty and fear. Everyone around us was affected in many ways, of varying gradation. When it hit the Philippines in the early part of 2020, Filipinos panicked. The news we received from different forms of media platforms created a doomed scenario on the severity of COVID-19 virus to its hapless victims. As the world grappled to understand the virus and raced against time to produce the necessary medical solutions, the country was in chaos on how to deal with the onslaught of an imminent crisis. Soon, the statistics of COVID

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

cases, number of deaths, hospital beds utilization rate, etc. showed a scary trend of an impending doom. Then, “normal” life came to a halt. The “new normal” set in. Classes were suspended. Schools closed. Students on a “lockdown.” And the rest was history. Pandemics are significant periods in our history. Looking at the timeline of pandemics, there have been a number of pandemics that changed the course of history impacting the political, economic, social, and cultural aspects of our lives. COVID-19 pandemic wrought havoc worldwide and the Filipinos were not exempted from it. Just like in the past, during these pandemics, stories thrived on how people lived and survived the period. It is through these stories that we found humanity’s core values and principles. There are stories from leaders, game-changers in controlling the epidemics. There are stories from those whose work involved documenting events of the past, the historians. Elsewhere, stories are told, retold, passed on, from one generation to the next by ordinary folks. Some are documented and preserved, while the rest are lost along with the forgotten past. This is the reason why we have this book. We do not want that their stories and their experiences about the COVID-19 pandemic will just be part of the forgotten memory of their generation. From their tales and thoughts, we can get a glimpse of how they view this pandemic from their perspective as teenagers, as students, and as Pisay scholars. Simple as it may be, they

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

bring profound meaning about their lives and their existence amidst this period of uncertainty. As an educational institution, we learned a lot from them. The PSHS-WVC is celebrating its 30th Foundation Anniversary this year. Quite untimely that it is supposedly a joyous celebration for the entire community, just like many Foundation Days in the pre-pandemic time. What we can only do is to reminisce about those days when community gatherings were not restricted, mobility is unlimited, and everyone is just happy to celebrate. Three decades of existence, championing excellence and service to the people through science education, PSHS-WVC has still a lot to thank for despite this pandemic. Our existence represents our resiliency as a people, as a community, and as an educational institution. This book is our way of giving back to the community and to the nation, our humble contribution to the preservation of our memories of a major historical event of the century. It is a window of the past, once this pandemic is over. This is our bridge that connects the past, present, and the future of our community. This book project would not have been possible if not without the support of the editorial staff of our school’s official publication, SciLink and Banaag. They provided additional stories to complete the entire project. We would also like to acknowledge the assistance given to us by

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Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Dr. Maria Diosa Labiste (editor for the stories in English), Ms. Pearly Jade Embajador (editor for the stories in Filipino), and Mr. June Mar Tejada (layout designer). Most especially, our gratitude goes to the PSHS-WVC Management Committee, headed by our campus director, Dr. Shena Faith M. Ganela for approving our budget request for the publication of this book. What we aspired to happen during the Humanities Celebration 2020 for our Istorya sang Pandemya Storytelling Competition has become a reality. This is our gift to the community during this 30th Foundation Anniversary celebration. To our student-writers, thank you for sharing your stories.

Marie Therese Lourdes G. Ledesma, Sci-Link Adviser Roden P. Pedrajas, Banaag Adviser Dr. Carlito A. Cerbo, Jr, Team Lead Istorya sang Pandemya Book Project

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Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Table of Contents Message of the Campus Director...................................................... iv Messsage of the Executive Director................................................. vi Message of the DOST Secretary....................................................... viii Introduction.................................................................................... x Preface..........................................................................................xvi Coronacation............................................................................. 2 It Would Be Fine, They Said............................................................ 10 My Last Year in High School During a Pandemic........................ 16 The Girl with a Yellow Dress............................................................ 22 A Garden Without Light................................................................ 27 Life in Quarantine.............................................................................. 34 Only Angel..................................................................................... 38 A Sorrowful and Regretful Life........................................................ 43 It’s Okay to Not Be Okay.............................................................. 47 Living by Chances........................................................................... 55 An Internal Piffle............................................................................... 62 Facing It.......................................................................................69 Isekai’d to the World Within............................................................. 74 What if............................................................................................ 81 COVID-19’s Butterfly Effect.......................................................86 Random Thoughts During Quarantine.................................... 91

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Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Covid-19: A Pandemic that Changed my Life.................................. 96 A Thief, A Tyrant, A Teacher.......................................................... 101 Istorya sang Pandemya.................................................................. 105 Stuck, for Now................................................................................. 110 What Matters...................................................................................... 115 Premonition.................................................................................120 Istorya sang Pandemya............................................................ 131 My Year 2020................................................................................... 137 My Story So Far 03 December 2020................................................ 142 In Between....................................................................................149 Quarantine-borne Sentiments......................................................159 Under the Basement......................................................................... 164 ML During the Pandemic........................................................ 169 Metamorphosis.............................................................................. 175

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Preface The stories that we’ll tell ourselves, once this COVID-19 pandemic is over, are perhaps a mixed bag of sadness, sympathy, solidarity, and selflessness. They could be stories built around events, on some nuanced interpretations of milestones such as birth, dying, and surviving the virus. Others could be around sacrifice, love, and concern for the needs of others. This latter frame of stories would be abiding because as we go through the two years under a pandemic, and perhaps another year more, we realized that despite mandates of isolation, lockdown, and social distancing, which are the safety rules designed to keep us apart, we haven’t stopped wishing for physical closeness and warmth, and, in fact, extended them whenever we could. Since March 2020, the series of lockdowns imposed by the government, to stem the surges of COVID-19 cases, have offered us a chance to consider our relationship with usual people and ordinary objects that surround us. With much time in our hands to reflect on such bonds, it is not surprising that they become significant as symbols of a continuing pandemic. For example, a pet, garden, a

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Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

song, or a hobby holds a special place as a thing or an act that can carry us throughout our day. If we look back on the days of various levels of quarantine, which defines our lives threatened by the virus, we tend to associate some objects and people with routines and emotions that we developed, as we wait out the world to return to what it was. Thus, if we’re asked to tell a story, or recall a moment, we turned to routines, objects, and people, as symbols that shaped our living in and through the pandemic. This book, which is a collection of stories of students at Philippine Science High School-Western Visayas, provides a range of examples of how objects, people, and habits become affective forces and significant experiences during a crisis. Told in fresh, mostly in first-person voice, the narratives reveal how uncertainty, sickness, isolation, and death affected the lives of young people that were sometimes ignored by adults busy with the practical side of living. The decision to lessen the risks and increase control and surveillance during the pandemic had fueled age-specific restrictions, such that persons under 21, later 18, years are not allowed to go out, especially during the first three months of lockdown in 2020. At that time, a quarantine pass assigned to each family is often given to a male adult and not just to anyone. Teenagers and the elderly were considered at-risk groups by authorities, but it is not quite clear,

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Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

especially to young people, why is it that they are put at risk of or what risk do they create for others. It’s not that these risks cannot be rationally explained, medically or otherwise; it is just that they were not communicated well to young people who need to possess accurate and science-based information. Instead, the pandemic’s concomitant risks were used to frighten or cow young people to immobility and panic, as what some of the stories in this book conveyed. Such conditions had increased anxieties, uncertainties, and fears on their part, making some young people timid and withdrawn. The news media and social media that became valuable sources of information about COVID-19, offered less help in dealing with the “othering” of the youth. The stories and posts from politicians and medical experts amplified the narrative that differentiates them from the rest. For example, the term “pasaway” (unruly), which refers to those who defy quarantine rules, could be associated with someone who is desperate, thus the poor, or has the energy to flout the rules, thus, a young person. Online learning is difficult during the pandemic, as the stories in this book have shown. The assumption that young people are techsavvy, therefore they will take to synchronous and asynchronous learning like ducks to water, is false. The constraints of digital divide and abrupt shift to online and blended learning have affected the education of students. They may have adjusted later but they have

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Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

problems focusing on their lessons, easily got tired, and surprised to see themselves floundering. It appears that the old rules of learning were so frayed that they won’t apply to a paradox like “if they can watch Avengers: Endgame for three hours and two minutes, why can’t they work on their assignment/listen to a lecture for thirty minutes?" Students shifted to remote learning as their parents lost their jobs and as their family members contracted the virus or suffered its health effects. In other words, it is difficult to attribute the flagging interest in learning to remote instruction alone. Perhaps what the pandemic has disrupted or denied to young people in remote learning were the warmth and support of their peers — friends and classmates - that the adults in their families and the virtual exchanges on social media cannot replace. Thus, many of the stories in this book started with a scene of saying goodbye to friends and classmates on March 13, 2020, a Friday or the last day of school, or two days before the whole country was placed on a lockdown. Still, the kids are all right overall, and I am not saying this in a cavalier way, but because indeed they tried to cope, cheered their friends and classmates, helped their siblings and parents, supported various advocacies in their communities, and also improved themselves. They are not to be dismissed as shiftless or privileged brats because they have also done their share in making the world livable during a crisis. They were very much aware that the

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Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

government failed them and the many during the pandemic due to corruption, incompetence, and abuses that led to sickness and deaths of vulnerable groups. These acts and critiques are conveyed luminously in the stories in this book. One may miss those facets because the writers were talking about their pets, baked goods, computer gaming, a mother’s garden, or school requirements. However, if we closely read their words, those tangible ordinary objects communicated how they sense, feel, respond to, and remember the times of the pandemic. I have learned so much from reading and editing the stories in this book. Seeing the world through young people’s eyes is refreshing. Not only that it helped me endure yet another lockdown due to the omicron variant of COVID-19, but it also affirmed what many of us believed all along — that young people have what it takes to bring us out of this crisis and therefore we should listen to them. -Ma. Diosa Labiste, PhD

*Ma. Diosa Labiste, PhD, is an associate professor in the University of the Philippines, Diliman. She was a former community journalist based in Iloilo City. Her son, Atty. Frente Sur, was a graduate of Philippine Science High School-Western Visayas Campus.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Photo Credit: https://tinyurl.com/mu43xdj3

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Coronacation By Zaphia Celisse C. Sorongon Grade 9- Beryllium

“One last hug,” I said as I hugged my best friend for a while before we parted ways. When I went back to the dorm, I found my roommates already packing. I almost panicked as I realized that I only have less than an hour to fix my stuff and pack my bag. “We’re still going home together, right?” I asked Andrea, one of my roommates. “Yeah,” she replied. I opened my cabinet and frowned at the mess, mentally scolding myself for not cleaning up earlier. I hurriedly shoved a few things in my bag and fixed my closet. I was pretty sure that I forgot 2

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

to pack some valuable things, but I ignored it because. I had other problems to deal with. I suddenly remembered something, and I swear that my heart stopped beating. Did I sign a leave pass? Oh no. I dashed downstairs. I scanned through the papers looking for my name. If I forgot to make one, would the dorm manager finally kick me out? That has happened quite a few times. These thoughts ran through my head while I searched for my leave pass. I was relieved to find the pass signed by the dorm manager. I took it and went back to my room to finish packing. Then we went out and called a taxi. The ride home with Andrea was pleasant but I had mixed feelings. I was happy about the break we were to have that perhaps will last for a week or two. We talked about a lot of things, weird random things. We got off our stop and parted ways as my mother picked me up. I plopped onto my bed as soon as I finished dinner. I missed my room and the small comfort it gave me every time I came home. I rolled over ‘till I lay on my back facing the ceiling. The lack of sleep from many nights of staying up late while doing school projects eventually hit me. In a few minutes, I fell into a dreamless sleep.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

A few days later, I received the news about the nationwide quarantine and a thought immediately crossed my mind: we’re not going back to school anytime soon. I was happy but also annoyed that I would be stuck at home. I was thinking about my hoodies, jackets, and extremely important plush toys I left in the dorm. While I spent the time glued to my phone, I wondered how we would continue going to school in the pandemic. I began to adjust to life at home. We live in a compound with two houses next to each other. I live in a blue house next to the pink house that my aunt owns. However, there are at least more than ten people in our compound every single day, and I am not happy with it. I would wake hearing my grandmother cursing the dogs for destroying something or for just being around. “Why are you here? Where’s the other pair of my slippers? You-” “Shut up!” I yelled as I sat up, interrupting her one-sided conversation with whichever dog this time. Hearing me speak, either my grandmother or my mother would tell me that I should be awake already since it’s late. Or my grandmother would just continue cursing the dogs. Both outcomes were not that pleasant.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

The first thing I would do in the morning is to freshen up then get on with my phone. I usually skip breakfast but sometimes I have a slice of bread or some cereal. After lunch, everything is sort of peaceful, depending on whether my grandmother is awake or not. I’d spend my afternoon sleeping again or on my phone. After dinner, I do the one thing I love doing, which is feeding the dogs. “Chuckie!” I yelled for my favorite dog. He receives more attention than the rest because I like him more than the others. He has his own spot to eat where the other dogs can’t bother him and steal his food. My cousins would come over and have a sleepover in my room every night. With the number of times they have a sleepover, they practically live here. I would tease them about paying their part of the bills. Nights are spent watching movies, doing random crazy things, or just hanging out. I was finally able to go out after three months of being stuck at home. If I had to stay home any longer, I would have gone crazy. I went to my dentist to get my braces adjusted. I felt giddy about going out and I stared at everything in awe. Is that the road? It looks grayer than the last time I’ve seen it. Are those humans? Woah! I thought childishly. I noticed that a lot of people are outside, some of them not wearing masks. Shouldn’t they be staying at home? Wow, I’m in awe of their bravery; note the sarcasm. I was only out for half a day, but it was enough for me.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

In three months, a lot happened. I grew distant from my friends although I kept in contact with only a few. My sleep schedule was practically non-existent. The only constant thing is waking up around 10 am. I developed a few hobbies and skills. I spent an hour or two everyday knitting small creatures that I gave to my younger cousins. I would keep the ugly and not-so-well-done ones just because I loved them more than the rest. I started to do digital art although the first results were horrible, but I persisted. In the afternoon, we would go out to the grassy field at the back of the compound and just play around until the sunset. I was anxious when the school announced that dormers can now get their things but only adults could do so. What’s the problem with that? Well, I left my stuff in disarray and My closet was a mess. The day my mother left to get my stuff she wasn’t too happy with the state of my things. It took me three hours to get rid of all the things I didn’t need and organize the rest in my room. By the time I finished, the mess in the dorm moved to my room. Since we didn’t get to finish or even start the fourth quarter of the school year, we had bridging sessions. They said that it’s optional, but I know that my mother won’t allow me to skip it.. So, did I really have the option?

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

I had to wake up three hours earlier than I normally do. Thankfully, we didn’t have to turn on the laptop cameras, which means that I didn’t have to look presentable. The bridging sessions were hard; modular learning is hard. I couldn’t focus on reading the modules as the words would blank out. I would end up doing nothing although I told myself that I could try again later. Luckily, I survived through it and got my grades higher, making me a part of the dean’s list or DL. The first week of the new school year was all about introductions and orientations. I had to introduce myself again for the nth time in my life. I didn’t listen that well during the orientations. I had to admit that in some classes, especially the morning ones, I fell asleep. The second week came, and it felt like hell week. There were more subjects to deal with, and the deadlines started appearing. Wait, I can’t do all of this! It’s the new normal which I must accept, In

the

middle

the

first

quarter,

the

hashtag

“#PisayGiveUsABreak” went around social media. The workload and the modules were too much to handle. I was surprised when Pisay gave us a week of break after we finished the exams. To me, it didn’t feel like a break because I had projects to do and deadlines to beat.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Throughout the pandemic, I have changed a lot, I like how I spent my nights alone and in peace after I asked my cousins to stop coming over for sleepovers. I have a three-foot-tall teddy bear sitting in the corner of my bed, as if watching me every moment. At least, if I ever cry about being alone, I could remind myself that I’m never truly alone.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Photo Credit: https://tinyurl.com/ykjbzmvx

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

It Would Be Fine, They Said By Fritzhel Ann O. Fernandez Grade 10-Tau

It was a fine day until the world descended into chaos as the COVID-19 pandemic happened. I recall that on March 13, on the last day going to school, our class gathered around and sat on the floor while listening to the public address system announcing that the entire country will soon be placed on a lockdown, Other countries will go through the same, Then, as the bell rang, we bade each other goodbyes and even joked about whether we will survive. Our teacher assured us that we will be safe at home. From the jeepney, I took a once last glance at my school where above the grey clouds loomed, casting an eerie feel over students and teachers rushing to get a ride home,

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Being stuck at home is bliss, The first thing I did at the very beginning of the nationwide quarantine was nothing. I did nothing until I did something. I lazed around on my bed and stayed up late in the night. My dog, Dougal, was very jubilant since that I’m at home every single day. We took walks and played tug of war with a rag to whittle the hours away. To entertain myself, I read books that I never finished before. My siblings annoyed me but, other than that, and some nagging chores, I was fine, and my life went on as usual. Little did I know that pleasant things do not really last, There were power outages in our neighborhood and the summer heat was unbearable, as if baking us into brown potatoes. By night, the breeze came blowing softly but it was not enough to cool the air. In darkness, we heard the sirens of government trucks patrolling the streets that were blaring with orders for us to stay inside our homes. “It would be fine,” they said on the radio. “Are you sure about that?” I said to myself while taking a spoonful of salted rice soup my mother had cooked. Our food supplies were running out and my parents cannot leave for work. So how the heck are we going to survive? On radio, the government said it would help us by giving food and cash assistance to those affected by the pandemic. We waited but nothing came. “Never mind,” I said

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

to myself. I was angry over the fact that the poor are the priority, but everyone is affected by the pandemic. My heart cried out loud, “We’re all poor anyway!” I cried in my sleep thinking about the difficulties my family was going through. I fell asleep as my tears dried and as the sirens blared on the streets. People feared that the virus was going to kill them. However, I thought that hunger will get us first before the virus. My mom tried to comfort me when she saw me looking so glum, “Pray,” she said while patting my shoulders. And so, I did. I prayed that everything would be alright, despite the circumstances. Raising my head, I stared at the black sky dotted with faintly glowing stars and the full moon. “It would be fine,” they said... Well, it did become fine when the relief came, and everyone was given a supply of food and other necessities. From top to bottom, the pantry was now stocked with cans of sardines and meatloaf. Our rice stock and water supply were replenished. Hallelujah, my prayers have been answered! I kind of wish that they could keep on giving more. Oh well, better to have them than getting empty handed. The good stuff did not end there, the lights came back. The entire

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

neighborhood rejoiced. I made myself clear to not give up on myself and keep on moving forward. It was now the start of online class as a 10th grader. Did I feel any joy that school was back? To be honest, yes but actually no, it’s a bit of both. I pondered on how different it is having class online. No clue. Was it easy? No, it did not get any easier. While my classmates are glad to see each other (one joked to say that we did survive), we weren’t so obliged to do an overwhelming amount of work the school had dumped on us. It gets worse when you attend class and find yourself sleeping through the lecture. And things took a sudden turn one night. I found my dog under the table, laying on her side seeming to be asleep. Nothing unusual until I found blood spilling from her mouth. My dad carried her body outside and didn’t return until early morning without her. She was suffering from internal bleeding; it could be that her organs were failing due to the fact she was very old. She has been with us since I was little, and my siblings were even little. I shed no tears that night. I’ll never forget the good times we had with her. Today, it was now the second quarter. I wrote some things in my little notebook I got as a gift from last Christmas year 2019. I wrote some reminders on my homework and crossed out the ones I’ve finished. Since I completed most of my assignments, I should take a break.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

What should I do now? Watch a movie, play some video games or browse the internet? Start reading A Song of Ice and Fire after the final Harry Potter book? Perhaps draw something on my sketchpad. Or maybe write about some dreams that will soon be forgotten or soon to flourish? I’ll probably be the next J.K Rowling or the better! Whatever I’m doing right now, I know that everything’s going to be alright. It would be fine; it is because I said so.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Photo Credit: Mary Khezyll A. Galvan, Grade 10 - Photon

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

My Last Year in High School During a Pandemic By Ghelai Marie F. Tolentino Grade 12-Euclid

Who would have thought that we would live through an endless cycle of staring at the computer screen for hours in a day? I felt like a pendulum swinging back and forth until spent. For almost nine months of quarantine, I tried my best to use my time doing important things like studying for college entrance tests and trying out new hobbies. As days passed, with little to no improvement in the condition of our country under a pandemic, I slowly lost the motivation to fulfill my responsibilities and the hope that this pandemic, with its attendant problems, will be gone soon. This pandemic has brought about the worst and best possible events that happened to me, but I can say that the worst outweighed the best ones.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

On March 13, I woke up at 6 a.m. and walked to school wearing a mask. Although there were reported cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines, there was still no decision to place the country in a lockdown. I took a quiz in Economics that morning, listened to Sir Mark’s lecture, then talked with my friends. We planned to go to Bakerite in the afternoon after class, as we always do. Then reports started trickling in that the country will enter a lockdown soon. Most teachers said that the lockdown will happen, but we might be back in school in a month or so. However, we doubted that. From a normal school day, the day became an emotional one. Students of Batch 2020 pretended to have a graduation in the hallways as a joke because they were thinking they might not have a proper graduation due to the pandemic. Who would have thought that it would be the case? Suddenly, my mother in Aklan province called, asking me to go home immediately. She sounded alarmed and worried that her voice also made me anxious. I informed my fellow Aklanon students that we should go home immediately because the mayor of Iloilo City announced that the city will be on lockdown on Monday, or three days later. We said our goodbyes and hugged each other while joking that we won’t be seeing each other for a while. We never thought that “a while”

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

would mean almost a year. I hugged each of my friends, both from my batch and the graduating batch, while we were in tears. I arrived home safely. At first, I got to relax since I didn’t have to think about doing any school requirements. I talked with my friends through Messenger and occasionally would go on Google Meet and play games with each other. I was able to pick up my past hobbies like dancing to Kpop, playing video games, drawing, boxing, reading, and playing the ukulele. I tried other pastimes like cooking, working out, and joining online groups. I was still thinking that we were still going back to school by April, but President Duterte announced an extension of the lockdown. I was still able to do my hobbies with more time on my hands, but then the lockdown got extended for another month, and then another, and eventually, it became uncertain when the country would ever go back to normal. When the school year began, I moved up to Grade 12. I thought it was an abrupt move because I did not deserve to move from the previous grade since I did not do my best in the 3rd quarter that was covered by the lockdown. However, I got a message from Sir Mark: “you did well.” It was only then that I appreciated myself and my effort. Our class entered Grade 12, the final year of our high school, with a lot of anxiety because we will be taking college entrance tests soon. However, with the pandemic, my future is uncertain

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

I became more worried over my college education and my career path. I was not alone in this because my classmates felt the same. As we are in our last year of high school, we should be spending more time together— at parties, birthdays, hangouts, and the like. It broke my heart that it has been a long time since I hugged my friends. As the school year started, I motivated myself to submit my work usually a week before the deadline. I usually worked on my assignments the whole day. However, I noticed that I became slow in digesting the lessons from the printed modules and from online lectures. I can’t explain it but somehow, I sensed a slowness in the way I tackled schoolwork. This led me to start procrastinating. I sat in front of a computer screen every single day till my energy drained. I stopped doing the hobbies I used to love during the start of the early months of the quarantine. Whenever I wake up, I already feel tired and drained. It appears that I was submitting mediocre output or work below my expectations. My mental health has been affected although I am open to my family and friends, so we can help each other in coping with our situation as the pandemic continues. When will all of this go back to normal? Why did we let this be our new normal? Who really is to blame for the state of our lives? As an adult now, I tried to keep my eyes open to things happening in our country.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

It seemed like the virus was not the main concern of those sitting in power because of the poor response they mounted to the pandemic. I did my share of helping those in need. I donated money , signed different petitions, and helped young people voice out our concerns. That is the least I can do as a “scholar ng bayan.” One of the most important lessons I

learned from this

pandemic is no matter what race, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or kind of person you are, every one of us is affected. And yet, the adversity challenges us to do better and help each other. It is my final year in high school, and it makes me sad that we had to spend it virtually. It was not what I expected, especially since I have been studying in the institution for almost six years now. I miss the people I spent those years with, and I am still hoping to see them again soon. I will surely do my best in order to graduate despite all the problems during these difficult times. Padayon kita!

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Photo Credit: https://tinyurl.com/yft694z9

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

The Girl with a Yellow Dress By Nicolle Angela V. Subong Grade 11-Rigel

There once was a girl in a not-so-faraway place whose world frazzled with a “Happy Birthday.” She woke up with a smile and eye bags, but nothing could stop her from being gay on her day. As she pulled up to school in her yellow dress, she couldn’t help but wonder, “Why does everything seem like a mess?” She looked around and saw fellow students looking tired and distressed. Maybe it was the project or the research to be done, or maybe it was the doom that was soon to come. As the birthday greetings came and the gifts were given, the school requirements were done, and everyone seemed all right. But at noon, the announcement came: “Classes are canceled, lockdown will soon happen.” And so came the whirlwind of unexpected events, 22

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

the girl’s smiles were replaced with tears that kept falling. Goodbyes were exchanged and good wishes were said for this little mess to come to an end. But did that little mess end? Frankly, it went from bad to worse like a thread that got caught. Vicinities were forced to close, and no one could get a glimpse of the outside world for a couple of months. It began slowly, with a simple avoidance; every invitation to communicate, she didn’t take the chance. She merely sat and slept, and soon became a prisoner of her own pace. She thought, “It’s okay, I can do this tomorrow; it’s not like I’ll run out of time to borrow.” Soon the tomorrows became next weeks and next months, until everything she wanted to do were left undone. She asked herself, “What is wrong with me? It seems like I’m not the person I used to be?” The questions kept coming, she doubted herself a lot; did she really knew herself, or was it all a lie in which she got caught? “I don’t want to play music, I don’t want to sing again, I don’t want to write or talk with my friends. Everything seems hopeless and worthless to do, why should I put some effort when there’s nothing to look forward to?” She landed on her mother’s lap wailing, little did her mother know that her daughter was slowly cracking like an iced lake. Everything seemed so cold and cheerless, everything was filled with darkness and loneliness. And slowly, the girl’s yellow

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

dress turned vapid, flat and boring, the sole reason for her existence was suddenly gone. Every day was a constant cycle with no interaction, like an ironically comfortable prison. Trapped within the four walls of her own home, the deafening silence seems unbearable; she deserves to be at peace. It grew louder as each day passed, and sometimes she thought, “Should I get to rest at last?” “Ah, school! Are you here to save the day? Have you come to keep the monsters at bay?” It didn’t answer, merely kept silent, and dumped her with an onslaught of activities and requirements. “Well, this is fine. It’s better than nothing. At least right now I’m looking forward to something!” And so the girl kept on the hop, from dusk till dawn, alongside the roosters crying and the dogs howling. At first it was joy, for she was finally seeing worth, but of course in this banged-up world, all the setbacks started manifesting. “There’s no rest! There’s no time! I’m back in the cycle I’ve dreaded since I was nine! All the requirements and all the tests, oh no, it’s like a cultural reset. What should I do? I haven’t experienced this since six months ago! I feel like a failure, I feel so incapable!” All these thoughts ran through her head, and the girl went back to the slump where she started.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

But came a little ray of sunshine, a sweet fairy who handed her a dime. “Wish upon this little girl, and you will heal with time.” And heal, she did, albeit slow and sometimes deceiving, the sweet fairy coaxing her with words so relieving. “You’re valid, it’s alright, everyone has different plights. You can feel sad and lonely, no one will blame you for you’re just a young lady. You’re figuring things out, and it may seem scary, but we are all here to help you grow up safely.” Oh, and how lovely those words were, that’s all she needed to hear. It’s alright to feel these things, there’s nothing to fear. So, what if you fall? You can always get up. You can always brush off your knees and stand up. Don’t think of what they say, who are they to judge you? You are the judge of yourself; that no one else can do. It’s okay to be behind, it’s okay to be not fine, if you keep going, and until now, that fire is alive.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Photo Credit: Mary Khezyll A. Galvan, Grade 10 - Photon

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

A Garden Without Light By Ma. Andrea Leonessa V. Ruel Grade 9- Beryllium

A dim light illuminated the once dark and cramped room, but it was quite bright for the half-awake Maria. Half-awake was an overstatement because she was never asleep in the first place. After minutes that seemed like nerve-wracking hours of tossing and turning from one corner to another of her narrow low-quality mattress, she finally decided to just open her eyes and then her smartphone, as if by impulse. She tapped the screen for the Messenger chat icon and checked the messages which she hoped to have been there in the first place. The iconic ting of the messenger app reverberated around the thin walls of her room as the messages flooded in. She was hoping that her parents wouldn’t hear it, or their neighbors, at 3 a.m.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Minutes passed and not a sign of her parents waking up, she then read the messages of her chat group where she was not actively participating, and giggled at the jokes and the gossip her friends exchanged with each other. After reading a total of 313 messages, she deliberately clicked the unread button on the group chat options. It became a habit for her to do so because she doesn’t intend to respond to their messages and doesn’t want them to know that she was missing out. Before the quarantine, she was the odd one out of the group. She hardly went out with them, scarcely seen in their group photos, and barely understood their private jokes. Her ready reasons were: she felt uncomfortable going out, she disliked being photographed, and she never had a knack for understanding jokes anyway. --In the morning, Maria planned to make it a productive day. She played life-simulation games online, as if deluding herself that she can gain control of her life. However, after twelve hours of playing, she was getting so dizzy that she decided to do something different for a change. The sun was up, and it penetrated the walls in their house, heating it. She wanted to venture out because the so-called General Community Quarantine was lifted. She could enjoy the more relaxed medical rules before the number of COVID-19 cases go up again. 28

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

But she has nowhere to go because crossing the next municipality is a “no no. There were cafés but they are expensive, so a visit is not worth it. She decided against going to her friends’ because she had a falling out with many of them. In the end, she left the house but only a few feet away, to go to her mother’s garden that is blooming with chrysanthemum, morning glory, and begonia. The flowers were swaying with the breeze that sunny day, their colors deep when the light struck them. Her mother became a plantita during the quarantine. She cultivated the garden and ended up calling the plants her children. The garden made their house cheerful. Maria liked her mother’s breezy garden that she would spend hours among the flowers. When she returned inside the house to rest, she checked her phone and was surprised to receive a Messenger notification although she had muted all the group chats she signed up with. . She might have been added to a new group chat, thus she got a private message. The new group chat was formed by a teammate of hers in an innovation contest that required research. They exchanged messages. --“Your hair has gotten longer!” “Hehehe. Yours too…”, Maria replied. 29

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Perhaps, it was because it has been ages since they were able to talk face-by-face (more of screen-to-screen), but Maria had trouble thinking about what to say even as her friend was chatty. They joined a Zoom meeting for a progress check of their research. The innovation contest preoccupied her that she sometimes forgot. Her gloomy thoughts. Her teammate asked her about a lot of things like what she had been doing these past months, how’s her wellbeing, and how she was coping. Maria answered back briefly and ambiguously, never explaining them because she finds it strenuous to do so. “Maria, has quarantine made you feel different?” “What?” “Like it made days where you feel so low more frequent.” “It made nights longer too.” “Right? All this isolation has left me alone with my thoughts. Now it’s hard to sleep at night and stay awake in the morning, ” said Maria.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

“I never expected you to feel like this too.” “I never expected it either! But believe me, everyone has felt this way, they just experienced it differently. And knowing that a lot of us are all in this together, I’m sure we can get through this.” Somehow, a creeping comfort slid up to Maria’s back after their exchanges. A smile slowly crept on their faces. “Yes. I’m sure we can, ” Maria said. --After her morning classes, Maria headed to her mother’s garden and asked if she could water the flowers. Surprised, her mother handed her the watering pot, albeit reluctantly When bridging classes had started and digital piles of modules were waiting to be answered, Maria tried to have a little time for herself each day. Oftentimes, he was in the mood of tending her mother’s garden. While watering the plants, she heard a ting from the phone in her pocket, so she checked the message, which was a funny meme in their group chat. She chuckled and typed in a reply. Her mornings have been a lot better since then. She wakes up early now and tries her best to sleep early though she is always ready to pull an all-nighter. 31

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

She regularly watered her mother’s blooms which include chrysanthemums. Doing so is meditative. She would think about her quarantine experience, her insecurities, the innovation contest (which turned out to be postponed for the year), and her friends. All of these made her feel lighter despite the difficulties of living during a pandemic. She thrives like her mother’s chrysanthemums.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Photo Credit: Mary Khezyll A. Galvan, Grade 10 - Photon

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Life in Quarantine By Thomas Nathan T. Hautea Grade 9- Lithium

It has been nearly eight months since the quarantine has started, leaving the world in a state of confusion and perpetual state of lockdown. The experience of a lockdown was a memorable part of my life. I stayed in my bedroom most of the time, in the house my family had recently moved in. Most of us probably had some idea of how the COVID-19 pandemic would develop but the only problem was that it became larger than anyone would have imagined. My life during

the

quarantine season was relatively simple and more fortunate than 34

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

what other people have.. This does not mean that the time I spent was wasted , it was in fact the exact opposite. I made sure that I was productive. I studied and improved myself physically and mentally. I easily adapted to the situation because I am an introvert. I enjoyed the solitude and peace that I experienced in my home. It was refreshing because there was hardly any distraction, and I could perform the various tasks I wanted to do. To pass the time, I read novels and played video games, as well as discovered new hobbies and interests such as listening to music and some new songs. I bonded quite well with my family that was also supporting me throughout. When the school year was about to open, I went through a bridging program. I was able to prepare for the start of the school year that shifted to online classes. Online learning required adjustment on my part but I tried my best. Even as I was getting slightly stressed with all the assignments to be submitted, I decided to push on. I did not want to get discouraged because I knew that other people have it worse. I wanted to stay productive and improve myself continuously. I also learned many things from studying and have even found out many things about myself that I never knew before because I never had much time for self-reflection. Online learning has really kept me on my toes and is a unique experience that taught me how to properly manage my time and

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

avoid procrastination. This learning experience also gave me the rush of adrenaline that I submitted my work way before the deadline. That made me feel good about myself The pandemic caused a lot of suffering around us, but it has given me positive lessons and takeaways that will surely inspire me to keep on going and appreciate life. For example, it has taught me about the determination and adaptability of humanity, so that no matter what life throws at us or how cruel it might be, we will continue to move on and thrive in new environments. All of what I just said is what I ,and hopefully many others, have learned while living in the lockdown due to the pandemic that has no end in sight.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Photo Credit: https://tinyurl.com/39ehm4ep

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Only Angel By Ma. Helaena Lhola D. Alontaga Grade 8 - Champaca

For most of my time in quarantine, my life was uninteresting. I would slack off, talk to my friends, eat my heart out, to cope with loneliness. I listened to music and watched videos because I realized that I no longer had any hobbies. I slept late or early in the morning because I was terrified of the dark and some intrusive thoughts while lying in bed. I’d repeat that cycle, day after day, which, for me, is what a normal teenager does. When online classes started, I had to add attending class and doing my assignments to my oh-so busy schedule. However, there was one recent event that became my most unforgettable experience throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. 38

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

It happened on November 17, 2020, at around 1:00 a.m., when I was asleep. When I woke up that morning, I went about my day normally, until about lunchtime. Your aunt passed away earlier; I was told. I shrugged it off. I didn’t quite process the information until much later. Was it because of shock? Denial perhaps? I’ll never know then. Whenever people bring up the topic of death, I can never comprehend why it made them uncomfortable. . In the end, we all turn to dirt and dust, so why bother sulking around? When I found out about my aunt’s passing, I refused to think much of it. I uttered a couple prayers and told myself that she was in a better place. I think that was the moment I understood what I could never understand, or never wanted to understand. That was the moment I finally began to fear death. Well, maybe not dying itself but more like dying alone, like she did -- dying without knowing if you’ve been forgiven for all your wrongdoings, like she did; dying without any closure, like she did; dying without knowing how much you meant and continue to mean to the people around you, just like she did. There were so many questions left unanswered, so many words left unsaid. It all happened so fast. I couldn’t believe she could

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

just call us and talk that night, then leave this world a couple hours later. I still can’t. Whenever I see COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise on the news, I would feel pity for the victims and everyone affected of course, but I don’t spend sleepless nights thinking of them. It wasn’t until it happened to someone I love that I truly understood the agony of the victims’ families. We weren’t just mourning my aunt’s death, but we were also worrying about the welfare of her partner, their children, and their companions. All of them were put at risk. The area I grew up in, the entire place was put on lockdown. People I knew had to be brought to facilities to get treated. Children that tested negative still had to join their parents and guardians in the isolation centers because no one could take care of them. No matter how much we want our relatives to stay with us, we cannot because we have immunocompromised individuals in our household. It saddens me, knowing that I can’t do anything to help. Days after my aunt’s passing, I started to blame the hospital she was in because she was allowed to undergo dialysis without a mask. When she had a cardiac arrest in the ambulance, which was clearly an emergency, I was told that there were issues in the

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

emergency procedures. She didn’t make it to the emergency room on time. It made me so exasperated that all this could’ve been avoided. I know no matter how mad I get, no matter how many times I say it was their fault, I could never bring my aunt back. Did I continue blaming the institution though? Yes, and in some odd way, it eased my suffering. What vexed me even more was the fact that when news outlets reported the death of my aunt, they said that she didn’t die of COVID but of an underlying medical condition. It was unbelievable how people disregarded her passing but also the people grieving. It pissed me off that other people claimed how she died. I don’t think they knew how much that hurt my family. I’m still jolted and overwhelmed by my aunt’s death. If only we knew it would

happen so soon, we would have shown

her compassion and patience. I pity the affected families when they found out they had contracted the virus. In the first few weeks after my aunt’s death, I didn’t grieve. However, that’s all I seem to be doing these days. I find myself drifting back to these thoughts: Did she think of me during her last moments? I wonder if she knew how much I treasured her. I always thought about when I would see her again. I do hope she sees her niece and guides her every day.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Photo Credit: https://tinyurl.com/mryrf99e

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

A Sorrowful and Regretful Life By Maria Cassundra D. Romero Grade 8- Champaca

Ever since President Duterte placed the country under d Enhanced Community Quarantine, on March 15, 2020, we seldom go out for fear of getting infected by COVID-19. The first few months passed quickly. Most of the time, I had nothing to do: I wake up, eat my breakfast, take a shower, do my chores, play with my phone, do chores again, prepare for bed, and sleep. With too much time to spare, I quickly got bored. However, I didn’t bother to do something productive, except for some school requirements. Last July 2020, my grandfather on my father’s side, living in Cainta, Rizal, got sick and showed flu-like symptoms but he took it lightly. Later, after taking the swab test, he was positive for COVID-19. A tricycle driver, he must have been exposed to passengers carrying 43

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

the virus. Since my family and I are staying in Iloilo, all we could do was support them financially and emotionally. My dad’s siblings in Manila were doing their best to ensure that my grandfather had the medical attention he needed. However, it took five days before my grandfather was brought to the hospital because health protocols had to be observed. My dad has been calling even the Department of Health national office, informing authorities of the condition of my grandfather who was alone in the house. My grandfather struggled through the COVID-19 infection. No one was allowed near him, not even my aunts who were frantically calling the local government of Cainta to bring my grandfather to the hospital for treatment, When my dad called, my grandfather would only say hello and nothing more. I seldom saw my dad so worried and scared but he was also angry because he couldn’t do anything because he was in Iloilo while my grandfather was in Manila. On the sixth day, when my grandfather was brought to the hospital, the virus had already spread in his lungs. He has grown weaker and only managed to wave at my aunt at a distance. In the hospital, time was running out for him, and he never recovered. The nurse who attended him told my aunt that my grandfather was so proud of what his children had become. When he

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

drew his last breath, struggled to say, “I love you, my children.” My grandfather died without any member of his family at his bedside. There was no wake because, as part of the health protocol, he was to be cremated right away. My dad, since he is the eldest son, started a video call with the whole family both abroad and in Manila informing everyone of what had happened. That probably was the longest night of his life. The family gathered a week later for prayers after some members of the family were tested negative for COVID-19. It was a difficult time for our family. COVID-19 took the life of my grandfather, just as we thought that he could recover. The feeling of regret and the pain of losing a father, husband and grandfather was overwhelming. Our family has seen the horror of what the virus can do While we were mourning, we also felt the warmth of love. I could see my aunts and my cousins smile behind their facemasks. Sadness has brought our family closer and made us stronger to face life’s adversities.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Photo Credit: Mary Khezyll A. Galvan, Grade 10 - Photon

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

It’s Okay to Not Be Okay By Blessy Marie A. Alibo Grade 12- Euclid

We could make fun of those new year predictions or zodiac sign readings, which claim to give us a glimpse of how our year would turn out. There were even social media accounts which posted about the most random things that would happen to the world in the year 2020. However, life is full of uncertainty. We live through that each day, not knowing what exactly will happen. Uncertainty is not something that we can figure out or take control of. Living in uncertainty may sound frightful, but it is what we have always been doing throughout our lives. What if something extremely uncertain and totally unpredictable thing happens, such as a pandemic?

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

No one had expected or exactly predicted that the COVID-19 pandemic would happen. The immense scale of uncertainty that this pandemic has brought upon us has taken a toll on different matters concerning humankind. Its duration remains unpredictable as the COVID-19 virus continues to spread in many countries, affecting the economic and social conditions of many people. It also affected our own wellbeing, in more ways than one. March 13, 2020-- the day when my life started to be upended. It had the usual Friday mood, filled with anticipation and rush to finally go back home, to my hometown, for the weekend. I was rushing to finish a Humanities paper with a partner when it was announced that there will be no classes until March 18, Wednesday, of the following week. There were rumors that Iloilo would soon be on lockdown, so I was anxious to get home as soon as possible. When we started leaving, we were even joking about being home schooled throughout the rest of the school year, something which I found amusing but actually quite possible. I was quite surprised and relieved while thinking that it was just another long weekend to enjoy, and that the spread of the virus would be easily controlled. How foolish of me to have thought of it that way. Arriving at the boarding house, I packed my things to be brought home for the “long weekend,” including my gadgets and a few pieces of clothes. I traveled to the seaport and was able to secure

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

a ticket for the last scheduled trip via fast craft. As I took a seat in the waiting area, I noticed how packed it was , which was normal during Fridays. Despite the news about an emerging pandemic, only a few bothered to wear a mask, including me. I started feeling anxious and uncertain of what was about to come. The first few weeks of quarantine, around the last week of March until April, were manageable. I had all the time in my hands. and I planned out the things that I’d like to do to be productive inside the house. I cleaned my room, organized my clothes, and even tried out new hobbies such as taking care of plants and making coffee. I stayed on social media to entertain myself and find out new things to work on. I was somehow relaxed and at peace that time, but this didn’t last long, much to my dismay. The months of May, June, July, and August were difficult for me. After a few weeks of quarantine, I found myself to be in a state of pessimism, as my thoughts were always filled with hesitation and doubts and that this pandemic would end soon. My days blurred into sleeping, eating, hobby seeking,

movie watching, and, on

exceptionally gloomy days, life contemplating. It came to a point that I shunned entertainment and productivity. My mindset changed into finding ways to cope with difficult and unknown circumstances

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

that were beyond my control. This COVID-19 pandemic has brought a lot of challenges and unfortunate occurrences in our family. I lost a few people who were very dear to me. Feelings of helplessness and loneliness took hold of me and I had no escape. I tried my best to stay sane by connecting with a few friends and family members through digital means. I focused on studying and preparing for my college application. Academics has often helped me get through emotional and mental stress. It became controllable ever since the new school year started in 2021. It may not be the healthiest coping mechanism, but it became my escape from the more harmful strain this pandemic has brought to my wellbeing. Being busy with lessons, indulging in books, and writing notes were all seemed very sanative. Living through a pandemic is not something that has been taught in school. It is also not something that would normally be a part of anyone’s bucket list. This occurrence is rare and has been extremely disruptive. Each day has been filled with uncertainty and wondering thoughts of what, when, why, and how. What am I supposed to do during this time? When is this going to end? Why is this happening? The pandemic heightened the uncertainty over our family’s financial and economic stability, as well as on my personal relations, and my physical and mental wellbeing. As humans, we naturally crave for security and safety that we find comforting.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Personally, I want to feel safe and have a sense of control over my life and my activities, in order to reduce fear, stress, and anxiety. I believe that academic work provided me with that false sense of security and assurance that everything was still under my control, and that I should not be crying and living each day with constant fear. It, indeed, helped me get through the past few months. However, I know deep inside that this is not the long-term solution. I am still not okay, but I am trying my best to be okay. I did not imagine my last year of being a Pisay scholar to be like this. I imagined myself to spend each day of the school year with excitement, despite the anticipated stress and heavy schoolwork. However, it has been nine months since the lockdown started and I am left with no choice but to learn and grow accustomed to the drastic changes that were disorienting. This pandemic has resulted in physical, mental, emotional, financial, and educational strains. Physically, it has limited my ability to travel and work on things outside our home which made me feel trapped. Mentally and emotionally, it has caused me to feel lonely and helpless since there has been little to no interactions with my friends. Random thoughts and feelings of fear and sadness have not been uncommon. Financially, it has had me worrying about the stability of our family, whether our resources would be enough until the end of this pandemic. It also made me think critically over my

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

career goals. In terms of education, I have not been able to fully harness my capabilities and knowledge due to the distractions and unfamiliarity with the new form of learning, which is done through modules and online consultations. As the pandemic continues, I have learned a lot of things. I realized that not all of us are capable of coping with this new hardship that no one ever

expected to happen. We have our

individual differences and we do not exactly have the same level of tolerance when it comes to dealing with uncertainty in our lives. When the feeling becomes overwhelming, doing some entertaining activities and communicating would somehow help . It is important to remember that each of us are not going through this on our own; many of us are in the same boat. However, it is inevitable that things may become uncontrollable and overwhelming, no matter how hard each of us try to deal with them. This is totally normal. Facing uncertainties in life makes it easier for us to overestimate the possible negative outcomes that could happen, as well as underestimate our capabilities to cope with these happenings. Living through pandemic uncertainty at present is definitely not easy. However, its occurrence, and the many possible outcomes that come along with it still give me hope that someday soon , everything will be back to normal, and everything will somehow be okay. Somedays, we may feel like we are getting the hang of it. On other

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

days, we may feel worse than the previous days. Sometimes, it is okay to let ourselves feel how we truly feel, without having to find ways to alleviate the mood or situation. Some things are just out of our control, and we are left paralyzed from taking further actions to overcome them and feel better. It is okay to not know what to do. It is okay to ponder over the thoughts that have been circulating inside our heads. It is okay to feel hopeless and sad during this uncontrollable time. It is okay to not be okay.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Photo Credit: https://tinyurl.com/bdfnn7pz

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Living by Chances By Carlos Manuel C. Eusoya Grade 9-Lithium

The chances of a smile beaming from my quivering face, at least once during this quarantine, is at 18.43%. That’s lower than the probability of undergoing a sleep disorder but higher than the chances of rolling doubles on two dice. Come to think of it, I used to visualize Coronavirus as a dispensable threat: the simple hazard a civilization has faced before. The chances of humanity vanquishing it was near 90 percent. I miscalculated. As soon as COVID-19 appeared, quarantine was imposed.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

The Pisay Hymn was sung in a subtle melody. That day, March 13, 2020, heralded goodbyes as the academic year was brought to an abrupt close, leaving many to wonder how the future would turn out. I had never fancied borders. They obstruct social linkages and relationships. They constrain us, be it academic or personal. They petrify our ability to enjoy the serenity of the outdoors. Still, knowing I could renew family time and indulge with recreation I have lost consoled me. I could take up some hobbies. Harmony and rhythm flowed out of the guitar’s strings and filled our house. As the ink from the black pen filled the paper, and phrases of mystery, fiction, and adventure were brought to life. It felt like I was a necromancer, reviving dead talents and searching for new ones. In the afternoons, I would be in our backyard with my siblings and cousins stepping on tall grasses. The probability of me knowing the moon has risen is 6.92%, lower than the chances of extracting iron ore in the mine. Probabilities make life intriguing oftentimes. While it can’t discern absolutes, it certainly can fascinate minds. Sure, it won’t

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

give a definite answer to ”What’s for breakfast?”, as it can only see the numerals. It can perceive glimpses of intricate calculated ciphers and digits dancing elegantly on the grand puzzle of life. “What’s the chance of skimming the whole text of Beowulf just before the deadline befalls?” 78.9 percent. “What are the odds of me opening a social media platform today?” 22.2 percent. “What is the probability of me sticking to my hobbies, like a moss clinging to a rock of opportunity, even when online learning has abruptly started?” 1.9 percent, which is lower than the chances of contracting cancer yet higher than the odds of a comet hitting our town. If only hobbies do last forever. If only they were more than testaments of impermanence. If only my mother’s affectionate quote – “Each simple ounce of joy totals a pound of happiness in you” – turned out to be more factual than it seemed. The guitar now stood alone in the grimy shed. The pen yearned to be held dearly while its ink wishes to leak out and forge fictional worlds once more. The grass whimpered with the wind, missing the

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

reverberation of our giggles. The odds of a single foot being placed on it again was about 12.98%. Meanwhile, in our house, keyboards kept clanging until evening. Chores and recreation gave way to learning. Opening the inbox, joining a videoconference, encoding paragraphs on Word – these had been my three monotonous routines throughout weekdays. Perhaps my mother saw the trepidation by digging deep into my psyche. She spoke to me one night, telling me how I could use a day in our farm. The farm is not a place I frequently visit but I enjoyed it. Piglets are captivating critters while the chickens provide a comic relief from the stress of the abstruse quarantine. The fauna and flora can lift one’s spirit while the expansive hills are alluring. I acceded to my mother’s request. But the scene I saw was dreadful. The people I met there were anxious even as they looked like somebody who lacked food or was hungry.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

I was awfully disturbed. The probability of me bellowing out to go home was at 50%. It’s just a coin flip. I can’t say yes or no. I still can’t give an “absolute” response. As soon as I got back home, I contemplated. All this time I seized hobbies not to help others, but for my own enjoyment. I stressed myself out on academic work but for personal satisfaction. But my mother’s words still resonate. “Each ounce of joy totals to a pound of happiness.” I’ll modify it. ”Each ounce of joy you see from others totals to a pound of happiness in you.” There’s a certain affinity to it, one that asks me to do something. This pandemic has been such a huge challenge to hurdle. The indomitable bonds we forged in the smithery of social communities were shattered. The resources and commodities others desperately need are running out. Generosity and philanthropy are obscured by greed and egomania. A week passed and we went to the farm, bringing some goods for the people there. They gathered around us, and many said their sincerest gratitude. The harmonic conversation and laughter lifted the once downhearted farm. Many came to join us.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

I would remember well that day, when because of our help somehow it stopped their desperation. As I begin writing this piece, my mother approaches me and stares tenderly. “Will you be smiling now?” 100 percent – an absolute answer. A smile beamed from my face.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Photo Credit: Mary Khezyll A. Galvan, Grade 10 - Photon

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

An Internal Piffle By Lena Cleofe C. Maniba Grade 8-Sampaguita

Tapping her phone, she checked the time – “it’s ‘11:30 p.m. and I should probably sleep now.” However, she scoffed to herself: “What’s the point in waking up early anyway? It’s not like there’s school tomorrow, I have so much time with me.” She went back chatting with her friends late into the night. She had a fascinating conversation of memories they have had before the pandemic. Those were good times. She thought as she grew sleepy but instead of falling asleep, her mind was filled with some ubiquitous thoughts about scenarios, possibilities, and some turn of events.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

When her mind calmed down, she grabbed her phone and the lucent screen says it’s 12:43 a.m. Again, she told herself: “What’s the point of waking up early anyway? Like I said, there’s no school tomorrow, I have a lot of time in my hands.” She got up at 10:26 a.m. for breakfast that was waiting for her. While she was eating, her dog sat beside her. Despite being close to midday, she still thinks that having breakfast was a great start for the day. It crossed her mind that while she was talking a lot to her friends, she couldn’t help but feel out of place and embarrassed when she burbled about what she felt and what she wanted to convey. Thus, she mostly keeps them to herself. She can’t blame them though because she presents her ideas in a rather abstract manner. ‘What do I even get out of telling them my ideas?’ She snapped out of her thoughts and finished eating while also throwing bits of food to the dog. She had moved into her sister’s room which will give her more privacy than sleeping in her parents’ room. She bonded quite well with her sister whose personality is different from hers. However, her sister inspired her, hence she took the time to look at herself.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

She thought about her past actions and how they could be done differently and how it would affect the here-and-now. The butterfly effect must have entered her mind again, into her thoughts that were branching out and overlapping one another, until her head turned static. The imaginary thoughts and memories were mixing up that she got confused which ones were real memories and which ones were the imagined scenarios. Ding ding ding! She was jolted by the loud alarm so she got out of bed and found her phone with the message: “4 PM GO OUT.”. She wore a word-scribbled red jacket, put on her earphones as she walked past the gate and toward the walking path but suddenly felt something was missing. ‘Crud’ she stops her track. “My mask,” She went back for her a pink floral mask. Her dog wanted to join her, wagging its tail before bolting out toward the walking spot on the never-used bridge beside her home. The songs she was listening to were looped, as well as her walking cycle on the bridge. She likes walking and breathing fresh air while looking at the shamrock lime trees, and the marigold tint of the sky covered by wisps of feathery fluff. All the bad thoughts were pushed away as she was imagining her fictional world with the fictional characters she created, and the stories she made up from the

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

songs she listened to. While thinking about her imaginary world, she looked over the river and toward the sunset ‘It’s so much bigger out there’ she told herself. Ding ding ding! Her phone screen shows “5:30 PM GO HOME.” She called out to her dog and they went back to the house. It’s been more than a month since online classes have started. From having too much leisure time, her life now is filled with stress over the succession of modules that seemed endless. But at least it was at her pace, and she was happy about doing her schoolwork. As her sister said. “Without work, leisure time is meaningless.” She worked on the essay for Values Education. She never really liked how sappy the subject could get. ‘But that’s the point? ’ she reminded herself. She stopped typing and took a break by scrolling the Messenger to check for class announcements. In her friends’ group, there were more than 100 notifications, ‘Annoying’ she pressed the ‘leave group‘ button after what felt like the fourth time. The girl received a notification from one of the people in her friend group after a while. She’d describe the person to be emotional but caring. “Hey, can I talk to you? Pls

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

don’t block me”. “I feel like you’ve been ignoring us all?”. “I’m here if you need me”. ”If you don’t, I’ll give you space”. “But talk to me okay…”. “Love you”. Her response wasn’t as caring and nurturing as her friend’s messages: “I’m fine! You must be overreacting aha!” “It’s okay I’m just worried hahaha sorry I overreacted.” She regretted giving a curt reply to her friend, ‘That wasn’t a very nice thing to do,’ she said although she also laughed and ridiculed the conversation inside her head. Ding ding ding! “4 PM GO OUT”. She groaned hearing that alarm everyday. She turned off the alarm and lay down on her bed, thinking. She thought of her characters she created and how they reflected a side of her. Each character in each universe she had created dealt with their respective conflicts. “Maybe I make these characters as a coping mechanism. Maybe I make characters with similar characteristics and conflict to me, but unlike me, they face their trials and tribulations rather than brushing it off and hiding from it. Character redemption arc maybe?”

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

The next day, she was off to the bridge but without her dog this time. She wore an oversized Harvard hoodie, the color resembling matte coins, and donned the same cherry blossom colored mask. She went to the bridge without an alarm to remind her about going out. Just like the previous times, white cotton pieces roamed freely above while a gradient of tangerine and honey surrounded the sunset. She talked out loud to herself, “You can’t always live in your imagination, and I know that. Instead of imaginary self-improvement, how to turn it into a reality.” “I might not completely change from this but I’m happy with who I turned out to be. I know some people wouldn’t agree with this ‘new’ me, but why should that matter?” She calmly closed her eyes. “And I now know why that onerous static happens. It’s because I don’t let out the thoughts, and that soon they piled up over time.” Silence was broken by the pleasant chirping of birds. And as the sun was about to fully set, she thought of one last thing to herself before heading home. ‘Maybe someday I’ll let my mind out when this is over.’

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Photo Credit: https://tinyurl.com/mr2692rj

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Facing It By Kris Elaine T. Ysulat Grade 8-Champaca

This pandemic affected us so much. We are so new to this ‘new normal’. I am writing this while I am here at home, sleeping and eating a lot while others elsewhere are dying and suffering because of this pandemic. I felt so bad and sad whenever I have time to think about everything that is happening. I know that this crisis has brought us lots of misfortune and sorrow. We feared for our safety thus we followed the quarantine protocol like wearing facemasks and face shields and staying at home unless it is necessary to go out. We faced a lot of problems and challenges every day.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

During the first few months of quarantine, which started in March 2020, I had a lot of time to reflect about everything –including my actions and decisions. I regretted not having spent more time with the people I met at Pisay and making the most of our meetings. I cried lots of times because I missed my friends and relatives. I missed the comforting presence they gave me and the fun times we had together. While on lockdown at home, I had problems relating with my family. I know that my family wants the best for me, but I personally think they should also listen to me and not think of themselves as always right. Whenever I tried to explain my side, they would say that I have lost my respect for them, and they are ashamed of my behaviour. It’s a good thing that my friends listened and understood me. I also have a cat and whenever I see him, I feel a lot better because he makes me feel that I am not alone. I also discovered people that inspired me, like the girl group TWICE. I like their music because of its beautiful melodies and heartfelt lyrics. We had a bridging program before the school year opened, and it kind of shocked my body and mind because, for months, I haven’t exercised them both. I was having a hard time adjusting to the lessons, and so were my classmates and batchmates. My teachers must have been having a hard time too. The program went on for a month and it was helpful. 70

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

September came and we started our online class that we found hard and stressful for us. I felt that my body was slowly getting weaker, probably from all the school tasks and requirements I had to comply with. There were quizzes which I can’t cope with because I spent most of my time doing other school requirements. Learning was very exhausting and tiring. After all the stress that I experienced, we were given a break in school and that helped me so much. I had a week to catch up with sleeping and some other assignments. However, during the break, storms and typhoons battered some parts of the country, leading to loss of lives, animals, and homes. I cannot help but be affected by the news, so I shared the links to donations, updates , and calls for help on social media. I also prayed for the victims of calamities. The second quarter of the school year went on well because the workload was lighter. I felt good because I did some of my tasks ahead and submitted them early. I eventually went back to my normal pace. I still have chores and responsibilities at home, but my studies are more important for me. Around us , the pandemic is still felt, and I realized that the government is not competent enough to deal with the problem. If

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

only it had imposed a travel ban earlier. I read news of government officials violating safety protocols and they were not even held accountable for their actions. However, when ordinary citizens were at fault, they were immediately fined or jailed. I just felt mad and frustrated because as Filipinos deserve better leaders. The world is experiencing a lot of suffering right now and that is unfair to say that my problems are worse than those of others. I know that all these will pass. Even though we think that all these problems are insurmountable, we should have faith in God and in ourselves.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Photo Credit: Mary Khezyll A. Galvan, Grade 10 - Photon Istorya sang Pandemya: 73 Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Isekai’d to the World Within By Raymond T. Borres Grade 12-Ptolemy

Dull. Gray. Bland. Life under quarantine seems to revolve around these three words. It is as if we rotate on our own axis and repeat whatever we do the day before, in short, a rut. But then I realized that I am quite lucky to feel this way amidst the pandemic that killed nearly 50 million people. Who would’ve thought that a virus could plague the Earth with the advancements in technology and medicine? No one! Except perhaps for those paranoid people that seem to think anything can happen. Honestly, I have to say that I am quite lucky to be alive, sane, and have time to be able to do what I want, for as long as I follow the health restrictions and guidelines. A new decade. I thought to myself, it’s a new year, a new me, a new life, so I should start the year 2020 right. I came up with

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

a different set of new year resolutions that would mold me into a better individual. Yet like most people, I never bothered to heed those new year resolutions. I kept on doing the same things: doing schoolwork, submitting assignments, and enjoying life. I continued working on our research and yet on another research on mosquitoes that was submitted for a contest. Although I still did not anticipate the pandemic to affect my life completely, I was quite aware that it was not “just another outbreak” but something that could potentially be devastating. Come March of 2020. News about the pandemic has been constant and the number of COVID-19 cases have been rising in the country. Classes in the country’s capital have been suspended and we were just waiting for ours to follow suit. Whilst interviewing one of my classmates for a case study, I heard that the upperclassmen sang our alma mater’s hymn for the last time in their high school life because they will be “graduating” early. I sympathize with the look on their faces as if they lost a friend without being prepared for it. On March 13, 2020, our class was suspended indefinitely. At this point, I expected that the school year would be suspended entirely, but some of my friends and classmates were hoping to return to school after a few weeks or months. During the start of the quarantine period, I was having an existential crisis. “What is my purpose in life?” “What can I do amidst

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

the pandemic?” I tried to be as productive as possible during the quarantine while maintaining a schedule that I never followed before due to lack of self-discipline. I minimized my use of social media and messaging apps. I’ve always wanted to learn something new that I could use in the future such as learning how to make video games or a new language. I started searching for lessons and webinars on the internet to learn programming and speak Japanese. Another thing that I wanted to do was studying for the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) and the College Entrance Exams (CETs) since I will soon be a senior in high school and I want to learn ahead and pass the exams with flying colors so to speak., I started taking free online courses and read available ebooks on the internet. I also joined free CET reviews hosted by certain organizations and kept studying every day. Since the lockdown was a break from all the heavy schoolwork, I wanted to enjoy my leisure time by playing video games with my friends. I followed this schedule until we won in the research competition. The latter gave me an opportunity to go back to school and leave the house after three months to rehearse for our presentation. However, after doing the presentation, I felt relieved that it was over but at the same time anxious thinking “when will I go out again?”, “When will I be able to go back here in school and live my high school life as before?” Will life ever go back to normal? Or do we have to cope with the new normal?

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Once again, with the free time that I had, I was getting quite addicted playing video games, among them Valorant, which I played with my friends throughout the night until the break of dawn. We kept on playing every day until we asked ourselves why are we were doing it instead of being productive. Then we decided that, to make this quarantine worthwhile, we should work on something that could help in managing the pandemic. Thus, we joined the HackBFS Ideation Challenge. The challenge was all about a summer ideation pitch for high school and college students to create innovative projects using blockchain technology. Our idea was to incorporate blockchain technology into contact tracing systems which would make it efficient whilst maintaining the data privacy of the individuals involved. We named the system Alpas which is a Filipino word ‘to break free,’ This name is reflected on how the application is designed to work: it can help people break free from the shackles of the pandemic but, at the same time, for us or those behind the pitch, we can break free from the never-ending rut we faced. We entered the competition under the team name Vertutiant and waited. It was a surprise that we won HackBFS Ideation Challenge as the best high school team. We were awestruck and gob smacked by the results of the competition since we did not really expect to win! Winning this contest made me realize that despite the pandemic, I can still do things that I want and come up with novel ideas to help alleviate the current situation.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

The feat of winning the challenge is similar to our engagement with three inquisitive Japanese students who were eager to conduct experiments with us here in the Philippines. However, their plan was hindered by the pandemic. Unable to travel to the Philippines, they worked with us to organize EDULOP Project Re: TaNarau. We were able to run the event with nine recipients for five Saturdays. We conducted the entire event virtually and even while the school year has already begun. With the heavy workload from the requirements plus the responsibilities of organizing this event, we were still able to push through with the project. We were grateful to have received positive feedback from the participants. Soon after, I helped organize another event entitled Patupad: Becoming an Outstanding Young Scientist. My experience in organizing online events became handy when I assisted students from the lower years. The activity entailed organizing webinars for students from other campuses of the Philippine Science High School system. To be honest, I was not prepared to organize an event with such a scope. But after a whole month of preparation, the event was quite successful, and my networks widened. However, when I read the feedback from the participants, I was quite upset because not all comments are positive. However, I learned from their constructive feedback, and I am confident that I can surely do better next time.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Dull. Gray. Bland. These words foreground our lives during the pandemic. However, the mix of emotions, the uncertainty, and the lessons that we learned whilst in quarantine surely has made us become better and resilient persons. The pandemic gave me a chance to know myself better and test my capabilities as an individual and as a young science scholar. Isekai is a Japanese word that means a different world, but it could also be Isekai’d, to mean being transported to a new world. During this quarantine I felt like I was transported into a world with no horizons and the only limit to overcome is myself. Whatever the situation is, we must not forget our goals and dreams. I know you can do it! Just believe in yourself and explore the world within you!

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Photo Credit: Mary Khezyll A. Galvan, Grade 10 - Photon

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

What if... By Frealean Faith M. Engallado Grade 12 - Archimedes

COVID - 19 brought upon a sudden change in our everyday lives. Everything happened so fast. I thought I was coping but, in truth, I was left behind. As people continued with their lives, adapting and accepting the situation they are in now, I was living in my own world. I was denying the fact that everything wouldn’t be the same anymore. At the initial part of the lockdown, I didn’t realize how COVID 19 would impact me. I had this mindset that COVID 19 is just a temporary problem and scientists could immediately find a cure. That was a naive way of thinking but it was what I kept telling myself. To be honest, I was kind of happy that classes were cancelled 81

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

(Oh, how much I regret thinking that now). I was delighted that I could finally take a break from everything. As I was previously busy with schoolwork, I could use an early summer break without doing anything productive. I became lazy (Again I terribly regretted this). I spent most of my time playing video games, watching movies, and escaping from reality. The start of the school year was a wake-up call for me. In a blink of an eye, I am already in Grade 12. This was the period when I started to reflect as I was hit by the fact that soon I will be graduating. I realized that I spend most of my time doing nothing during the lockdown. I didn’t learn anything. Even though I have a lot of goals in life, I didn’t really try to be better. I was so wrapped up with my “rest” and “freedom” that I slowly lost my reality. I had this mindset that I should do whatever I want in the meantime because as soon as school starts, I wouldn’t be able to have time for myself. But that was just an excuse to be lazy. Not only was I indifferent but I was also ignorant. I thought I was saving myself from the worry of the outside world when I was just running away from reality. In fact, I even ran away from my birthday. Yup, I was indifferent during my 18th birthday. Before COVID 19, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to celebrate my debut or not. Before I could make my decision, the lockdown occurred, thus

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

I wouldn’t be able to celebrate. In the beginning, I was thankful. I have always been indecisive because I believe that the world decided for me that maybe I shouldn’t really celebrate it. But I was wrong. One month after my birthday, one of my close friends held a small celebration for her debut. She already planned her debut years ago thus I feel sorry for her because she couldn’t celebrate it the way she wanted to. However, attending this debut made me realize how amazing and touching the ceremony was. Even though I was happy and proud of her, I was struck hard with regret and sadness on my part. And only then I realized how much I wanted to have a celebration. When all these feelings dawned on me, I realized that it was too late as COVID 19 is not ending soon. The future is still unknown. Even if I do plan for a late celebration, I do think I can celebrate it before my 19th birthday. This seriously brought me down and gave up on celebrating my debut. As these feelings piled up one after another, I began to see the impact of COVID 19 directly. I realized that I wanted to be free. I am an introvert, staying in with limited interaction is in my comfort but the more I stay at home, the more I overthink. Overthinking was just as draining as schoolwork, but I am doing both at the same time. With the looming academic work and preparation for graduation requirements, I indeed lost time for myself. I realized that during the summer, I was just lying to myself when I thought the time

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

I spent was dedicated to me when in fact I was just wasting it with unmemorable activities. I even procrastinated my college application thinking I have all the time I need but I was wrong. By the time deadlines are fast approaching and I can’t even find some important certificates. I know I should have taken responsibility as everything was my fault and I was just using COVID 19 as an excuse. Too bad I realized all of these too late, but this is just a starting point in my life. I found myself under all my insecurities and regrets. Thus, I hope I can make it better and prevent this mistake from happening again in the future. Overall, COVID 19 put me through a roller coaster of emotions. I realized a lot of things in between and learned more about myself. I got to discover what I truly want and reflect on my mistakes. I wanted to end 2020 on a high note with a positive outlook. Despite everything that happened, I wanted to be optimistic and hope for the best. The future is always unknown, but I believe that everything happens for a reason. One of my favorite songs goes: “What if Your blessings come through raindrops What if Your healing comes through tears What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know you’re near. What if trials of this life are your mercies in disguise?”

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Photo Credit: Mary Khezyll A. Galvan, Grade 10 - Photon

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

COVID-19’s Butterfly Effect By Kirsten Dianne G. Delmo Grade 12- Ptolemy

They say a flap of a butterfly’s wings can cause a hurricane. What once seemed like a minor phenomenon can surprisingly have a tremendous effect on society, and in this case, our history. Likewise, it was frightening that the COVID-19, something so small (both literally and figuratively), can bring so much chaos and disorder. Early in 2020 there were reports about the novel coronavirus, but many ignored them, thinking that it would be contained in China and eventually die down, maybe a few months after. No one has anticipated the negative effects of the virus in the world—it’s like one domino trampling over the next, setting off a chain of dreadful events. During the start of community quarantine, staying at home seemed like a breath of fresh air. I finally got to take a break from

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

all of my responsibilities in school and my organizations. I thought it would all be over in a couple of months. ’The days passed by and, at the end of the first month, things took a turn for the worse. Almost all countries went under lockdown as the COVID-19 cases just kept rising. I’ve lost all hope of ever going back to the way things were because the lockdown won’t be over any time soon. Life under lockdown was quite unusual. Being confined within the same walls, waking up and having the same pattern over and over again, my perception of time became somewhat distorted, as if the hours went by so slowly and yet the days went by so fast. Wandering aimlessly around the house and not knowing what time or what day it is, it is as if I am a prisoner in my own home-- shackled to the same routine every day. It felt as if my life came to a standstill and all of my plans were put on hold. I even wondered if I would be able to go out again. People say that you won’t know the true value of something until it becomes a memory. As an introvert I never knew how much I would miss being surrounded by friends and family to feel the warmth of their hugs. Now it has all become a memory-- laughing with classmates, eating lunch outside, and going to the mall with friends. I can’t imagine how hard it must be for people who live alone, and going on months without meeting people, and wanting that which the pandemic prohibited: the human touch. Fortunately, this pandemic happened during the digital age which is a boon to social distancing. There are technologies that enable us to interact with others. 87

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As I scrolled through the sea of posts and articles on social media, I came upon a story about a man who made a makeshift mask and face shield out of a coconut shell. This man needed to go outside but couldn’t afford to buy a mask. I guess this shows that although I’ve had my fair share of woes living in this ‘new normal’, some people have it worse, especially those who are struggling to survive. I realized how privileged I was to have a roof over my head and be well-provided with my basic necessities. I began to ask myself, am I doing enough to help out these people in need? Since 2019, I’ve started doing my fair share of community work -- from volunteering to be an outreach officer for a non-profit tech organization to helping small feeding programs and story-telling activities within my local community. Being a volunteer was something I genuinely enjoyed. I made friends with the children. Organizing community activities gave me a sense of purpose and my experience during the pandemic merely heightened my passion for it. As if a spark was lit inside me, I was active in helping people during the pandemic. I volunteered via the internet. I signed up for organizations and helped organize online fundraisers, workshops, webinars, and donation drives. After one major activity, I kept on volunteering thus, setting myself up for possible burnout. I bit off more than I could chew that I had a hard time juggling my volunteer work and my schoolwork. However, I didn’t want to 88

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leave the groups because some communities really needed help. Despite having sleepless nights, it was all well worth, given the impact I was able to generate. COVID-19 may have more casualties than those reported in the news. Aside from those who were actually infected by the virus, poor families and individuals who were not prepared for this pandemic have suffered. Despite all these, hope should remain. What the concepts like the butterfly effect and the domino effect represent are their relevance to our times. They can show how COVID-19 emerged and escalated. They are also fitting metaphors of how doing small acts of community service can make a difference and generate impact.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Photo Credit: Mary Khezyll A. Galvan, Grade 10 - Photon

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Random Thoughts During Quarantine By Jason Santino T. Advincula Grade 12-Archimedes

One Hundred Years of Solitude. Before the pandemic, this book was my favorite. I love it so much, I’ve read it thrice.. I do not know what it is, but something about the book makes it stand out. Perhaps it’s the characters. No, the setting. The storyline? Of all the things in all its greatness, what stuck with me most about the book is its title. A hundred years of solitude. Just the thought of it sounds so unsurprisingly sad, and even solemn in a sense. I’ve always thought, what would living through a hundred years of solitude feel like? The alarm clock blares. 5 AM, 5 AM, 5 AM! I was still sleepy enough that I could ignore it. 5 AM, 5 AM, 5 AM !!! Another broken alarm clock. I stood up, just barely. Another morning I must get through. I sat by the window, hoping that by some miracle, the sun wouldn’t come up. The sun then replied by shining straight into 91

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my eyes. Worth a try. I made my way downstairs. As usual, the cat runs away from me. At least the coffee maker was eager to see me. As I sat by the television, sipping the coffee and staring into nothing in particular, the anchorman’s voice seemed to muffle. The same words, the same tone, the same melancholic air about his voice. I couldn’t listen even if I wanted to. Just another quarantine morning. First class. What is he talking about? What are they talking about? I understood nothing. My ears felt biologically incapable of hearing. Minutes pass. Then hours, then weeks, then months and finally, the first class is done. It is here that I made a life changing decision of not attending the next classes. I make my way through the day. I say that as if it were a challenge. Days played out the same way. I went down, have lunch. Same spot. Same food as yesterday. I looked outside, and saw this one bird that without fail, came and said hi. Slept through the afternoon, woke up having accomplished nothing. Opened K-hub just as the day was about to end, saw the deadly lines, added them to the list. Listen, I could talk more about my day, but I know you would want to hear it about just as much as I wanted to talk to you about it. Night time, we go now.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

1 AM. The night was long. Nights are always infinitely longer than the days but tonight seemed different. It’s raining again. The sound of the raindrops blends perfectly with Sinatra playing in the background. I sat across the laptop, module tabs scattered all over the screen. I cannot seem to work. Why can’t I work? Maybe it’s the slow wi-fi. Maybe it’s the overwhelming amount of school requirements. Maybe it’s the uncertainty of everything, how you’re torn between thoughts of everything and nothing at the same time. I don’t know. I no longer know. I’ve gone past trying to answer these questions. I can no longer work. I made my way to the balcony. The stars are pretty tonight, not a cloud in the sky. Looking at them, I realized why the title of the book struck me so. It is only now, in these quarantine times, that I have truly felt solitude. It hit differently. I felt the walls of the room seem so infinitely distant. Mere minutes passed and I felt I’ve lived and died one thousand times over. Solitude hits differently. It’s not hell, it’s worse. Hell couldn’t come close to just one day of solitude. This story does not have redemption. Nothing to cheer you up. I hate to break it to you but that is just the way things are. The sooner you accept things, the better. The only bad thing about ending the day is the fact that when you wake up, you’ll have to do everything again. One day of solitude after the other. A hundred years

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

will pass before you know it. If there’s one thing that the quarantine taught me, it is that you should not conquer solitude. Instead, learn to live with it. Find comfort within it. Don’t fight the current, just drown. And once you’ve drowned for long enough, you’ll learn to breathe underwater.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Photo Credit: Mary Khezyll A. Galvan, Grade 10 - Photon

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Covid-19: A Pandemic that Changed my Life By Illysa Marie D. Moso Grade 12-Ptolemy

I have never experienced something so

inconspicuous,

widespread, and deadly as the COVID-19 pandemic. A day in February 2020 was supposed to be an ordinary day for me as a student in PSHS-WVC. I attended my classes, listened to lectures, and joined the school-related activities. Everything seemed ordinary until I overheard the teachers seriously talking about the new zoonotic disease in China.

Since I was not the type of person to

fancy news as gossip, I was not very inclined to start a discussion about what I heard with people. That night, over supper with my family, the radio news said that there is an emerging disease, which caught my parents’ interest. We discussed it briefly but brushed it off as something insignificant. I thought that doctors could manage and cure the disease, thus, there is no point in worrying. I was too naïve. 96

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As the days passed, I realized that the problem was not quite simple because the disease was starting to spread inside China and then to other countries. The Philippine government’s solution was to implement the travel ban on some countries with a relatively high number of COVID-19 cases. During the lunch break, my friends and I discussed the travel ban. I was quite passionate about my belief that the Philippines should also implement a travel ban with China because the latter was one of the high-risk countries for COVID-19. During our conversation, I suggested to one of my friends that he should wear a mask, but he dismissed the virus as a small-scale problem, an assessment that I do not support because the virus has already entered and started spreading in the Philippines. Pisay students have started wearing masks while discussions regarding Covid-19 were ongoing. I thought that COVID-19 could be handled until one afternoon when it was announced that classes will be suspended for at least two weeks. The announcement surprised me because I was still working on my English paper in the classroom but the sound of the graduation song and the PSHS hymn in the speakers caught my attention. I was confused until I saw some Grade 12 students wearing graduation caps and gowns participating in a hastily organized graduation rite. Indeed, Covid-19 had enough power to end the school year three months early.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

When Iloilo City was placed on a strict lockdown on March 20, 2020, I stayed at home for most of the time, waiting for the end of the 14 day-suspension of classes, until I realized that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. Days turned to weeks and weeks to months and yet I was still at home. At first, I was quite glad having a break from school until the lockdown started disrupting my normal activities such as going to the malls every weekend to shop. The good part was I didn’t have to wake up early when our school shifted to remote learning. However, there was no summer vacation or swimming. I was not able to spend time with my friends and celebrate my eighteenth birthday, the kind of debut that I wanted to have, due to the pandemic. It felt like I was inside a glass cage wasting away while life goes on. With the pandemic, people started adapting to the changes, also known as the “new normal,” to survive, and to build some normalcy and stability in their lives. Whenever my family goes out, we have to wear masks, face shields, and use hand sanitizer upon entering an establishment. Restaurants have limited customers and require social distancing. Online shopping became popular because not only it provided livelihood for those who lost their jobs, it is also a safe way to buy goods. Another activity that sprung up was the barter system, where people exchange food and other goods with

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

other people who may need them. No money is used in the exchange, which is fine because many people lost their means of livelihood during the pandemic. While the lockdown affected us all, it also led to useful pursuits like collecting plants as a hobby, leading to the emergence of plantitos and plantitas.

The Covid-19 made me realize how resilient humans can be. The pandemic has also revealed the flaws of humans and governments. During the quarantine, news about bodies of water becoming clearer and biodiversity increasing showed how our actions affected nature. I believe that COVID-19 was a result of our unbalanced relationship with nature. However, while unexpected, the pandemic showed us the way to a better, healthier and secure way of life, not at the expense of other living beings.

Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

Photo Credit: https://tinyurl.com/yckhsp69

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A Thief, A Tyrant, A Teacher* By Altair Mizar M. Emboltura Grade 11-Sirius

Every tick and tock of the clock made my heart beat faster as the deadlines for my academic requirements drew nearer. Suddenly, a power outage occurred for the third time of the week! I screamed in frustration as I went to my “alternative learning spot,” a place in the middle of a dried paddy field where the strongest yet still unreliable signal for mobile internet connection could be obtained. After minutes of enduring the sun’s scorching heat and the slow internet connection, I finally submitted my requirements, feeling relieved yet anxious at the same time. I knew that clicking that ‘submit’ button was only a temporary victory since I have to face more battles soon — This, atop of experiencing constant stress and anxiety throughout the pandemic, is my story — just one of the countless narratives of

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how students struggled in this global crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed itself to me in many forms. Among these, three ideas became prominent. This invisible enemy is a thief, a tyrant, and a teacher. Just like a thief, the deadly virus stealthily snuck into our society and stole millions of lives, jobs, hopes, and dreams. It even robbed some of us of our humanity, apparent in the rampant occurrence of prejudice, abuse, and discrimination amidst the pandemic. Due to high economic costs, inadequate resources, and generally being unequipped in the abrupt change of the learning system, this pandemic stole students’ chances to accessible, equitable, inclusive, and quality education, and opportunities to thrive, bond, and learn. The pandemic not only exposed itself as a thief but also as a tyrant. With a tight and suffocating grip, this cruel and oppressive ruler controlled and limited our lives. Most students were bound to a monotonous cycle of eating, studying, and sleeping. However, many still faced the threat of contracting the virus as they had to work to survive and to fund their education — revealing the ugly truth that we are not sailing the same boat in this storm. Tyrants and thieves are both cruel beings — we don’t want them in our world. But whenever there is darkness, there is also light. Despite the tons of challenges that our world has experienced, this crisis still taught us significant lessons that we should never

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forget. It taught us to be adaptable, resilient, magnanimous, and compassionate. Furthermore, it magnified the infinite potential of the youth in creating waves of positive change in the community. These are all evident through the increasing number of student-led projects, advocacies, and organizations, especially on online platforms. The COVID-19 pandemic has indeed significantly redefined every aspect of our lives and our society. Furthermore, it created new obstacles on our path towards sustainability. May we always remember that together, we could protect ourselves from this thief, overthrow this tyrant, and learn valuable lessons from this teacher.

* This essay won First Place for Altair Emboltura during the SEAMEO TROPMED Network 55th Founding Anniversary Essay Contest for Students in 2020.

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Photo Credit: https://tinyurl.com/49ech83s

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Istorya Sang Pandemya By Mikhaela Gabrielle S. Tremucha Grade 8- Gumamela

It was Friday, March 13, 2020, where everything began. At that point we all didn’t expect a one week break to stretch for five months. I regretted celebrating the break that extended to months as soon as terrible news kept springing up, particularly on COVID-19 cases going up each day, 1,000 after 1,000. Seeing individuals dying and front-liners endlessly fighting the virus in the news and social media, had me stressing over what’s to come. In the first few months, all that was occurring to me was fine although it was quite boring too. I was simply completing my remaining requirements for the school year to get higher grades. I was preoccupied with social media, doing chores at home. I was living my ordinary teenage life chilling and watching some Netflix movies and K-dramas.

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Everything changed in May, or around two months later, when my mother said that my Lolo, who is very close to me, passed away due to pneumonia. I was shocked, simply dumbfounded, and in disbelief but when I saw my mother crying, I realized that it was true. The last time I spoke with my grandfather was 14 days ago through a video call. At that point, when I saw my family crying, I broke down too. My Lolo’s demise was the lowest point of my life. There were nights that I simply cried and hyperventilated until I calmed down. My emotional wellness was terrible. I turned to prolonged use of Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, and Snapchat, day in and day out. Suddenly I started to get envious and jealous of what some pretty, thin, and amazing young ladies were posting on social media. Why can’t I be like them – with small waists, great style, pleasant, cute smiles, adorable, and simply pretty faces. I was getting insecure and went on self-loathing until I stumbled upon this video on YouTube discussing body positivity and accepting one’s flaws and imperfections. The video reminded me about my old self who was confident and simply couldn’t have cared less about others’ opinions about me. I have resolved that everybody is beautiful in their own way and that each of us has the right to be loved and appreciated. This is easier said than done,

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The truth is, I was truly not that consistent in getting back my confidence. There were other issues that

caused me to lose

my self-esteem once more. When school returned, I noticed that I was not motivated enough to accomplish my schoolwork although I simply drove myself to do it. I began to have anxiety attacks, where I was shaking, couldn’t breathe, and palpitating inside my room. There were times that I would simply stare at a wall at 2 a.m. while thinking whether I ought to do this school module or simply rest and finish it tomorrow. My mother was exceptionally worried that she remained by my side all the way through. I was raised in a Christian household so my mother advised me to renew my faith.

I did, and indeed it worked for me that I

became more driven when answering the learning guides which I suddenly found easy. Another incident struck our family and this time, it was my mother. She was hospitalized and almost died there. I couldn’t take the examinations on the first day of the quarter exams. Fortunately, the teachers were considerate and understanding about what I was experiencing on that day. In some instances, it’s alright to feel vulnerable regardless of whether you might be viewed as the toughest of warriors. I simply

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couldn’t take the examination that day. However, from that point onward, I picked myself up again, reminding myself of my inner strength and my ability to bounce back. Since the onset of the pandemic, I lost a few friends yet gained some new and great ones. It’s true what they say about friendship: when you’re at the bottom of your life, true friends will remain. I have friends who stayed with me despite what happened, and for that I was truly happy. It is important to look at the positive side of everything and discover genuine happiness and strength. . You can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it. The effort you exert is up to you and nobody can do it for you. Lastly, I can say that I am currently happy, proud, and certain about myself. Cherishing yourself is the initial phase in accomplishing anything. Be glad for yourself and the individual you have become.

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Photo Credit: https://tinyurl.com/2p8s6zan

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Stuck, For Now By Maria Zyka J. Yamog Grade 12- Ptolemy

One day, they told us, we’ll be gone from school for just a week. What a relief! – that’s what everyone said. Everyone rejoiced because that was such a timely break and I also thought that’d be perfect for when I could use some rest. But soon, that week became months of distress. The first weeks were fine, and I didn’t really mind that they were such a bore. It was an amazing time spent with my introverted soul. It was all fun and games, oh was I so happy. That is, until we faced an untimely death of my aunt, a second mother to me. She had cancer, a sickness not new to our family. Since

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quarantine kicked off, we took care of her at home. We fed her, bathed her, tried to make her feel better, but not long after, the heavens had decided. It made me aware of how much she had suffered and that, to me, was life changing. It was my first time watching someone stop breathing. Five of us were praying, holding her, trying to save her. But I knew it was too late, she had already crossed the gate. The events afterwards weren’t any easier. We held the wake at home, and we lacked the manpower so I couldn’t cry, for I had to be strong. I had to make sure that nothing would go wrong. Then there was the much sadder burial. The quarantine made it even more difficult than usual. Some were lucky to show up, but many others could not. Not even our grandmother was allowed to see my aunt. We were 20 at the ceremony, cut in half at the cemetery. Grieving itself was sad, grieving without family was just bad. It was heartbreaking and frustrating to be that helpless. After that, I withdrew from the world. Every single day brought bad news and mess. I deleted social media and decided to

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take a rest. My heart just could not take any more of the ugliness, I started to really spend time with my family at home. Although most of that time, it was just myself in my room. Still, it was comforting to be alone, and it remained that way for a couple of months. And for a while, I was at peace, and free of my usual rants. But school was calling back, I couldn’t escape forever. I had to face the world again, so I collected my willpower. The test came when online classes started. It wasn’t easy, but nobody said it would be. At first, it seemed fine, nothing that I could not manage but after some time, it was taxing because it was too different from what we were used to. While before, we had our teachers and classmates around us, now, we are left to do everything by ourselves. I mean, the support system we built is no longer there and I didn’t know if I could continue. My face always had a frown; I could sense that I was on the verge of breaking down. However, the heavens gave me a reason to continue because of the birth of my nephew. My nephew is a Godsend blessing for me, and the one good thing that happened during the quarantine. When classes had started, I had a great start and I’d accepted responsibilities. I took the learning to heart while I convinced myself that I could do all of these to ensure my success in the future,

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I was so pleased. I was also helping my mother, who is a teacher, because she needs my support. I understood the difficulty teachers go through to continue teaching during the pandemic. Every week, there were many papers to be printed and distributed to their students and it didn’t help that the money came directly from their own pockets. My enthusiasm for school also waned. I was losing sleep, skipping meals, and missing deadlines, I felt burned out and I cried. However, I reached out for help by texting my sister. Immediately she called me and asked how I was. No words came out, I just cried. She told me, it’s okay, take your time, cry it out. What’s the problem? I have no easy answer because the setbacks have all piled up All the disappointments put me in a mind trap. But after pouring all my heart out through that call, I realized all I needed was a very good cry after all. Now I’m still in the same place that I wish were a lot better. It seems this learning setup will remain for the rest of the school year, or until the pandemic is still around us. I don’t know how it ends but I hope things will go back to the way it was before and I will be seeing my friends soon. It’s like a bumpy river ride, steering along the rocks but I know I’ll find my way out into the sea.

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Photo Credit: https://tinyurl.com/2p88p4v2

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“What matters?” By Franciz Lovely L. Tiania Grade 12- Archimedes

This is a question Lovely would now ask herself. “If I weren’t this, would I be that? Would it really matter?” One might assume that since her family is well-off, they would not be greatly affected by the pandemic. But they were. The lockdown had caused business and services to close to reduce the spread of the virus. Although it is for the greater cause, her family was disheartened by the government’s decision because running a restobar was the main source of their income. It is the same establishment that fed the family, and the same one that sent the children to school. While most people feared contracting the virus, the family was more concerned about where to get the money to feed eight adults and two children. Does this matter more than being infected and paying 115

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hundreds of thousands for hospital bills? This dilemma preoccupied the family through the first few months of lockdown in 2020. Later, and with lesser restrictions, they were able to reopen the restaurant but with limited capacity and less products to sell. It was not the same as before. The family would be lucky to earn a few thousand pesos for a day. Lovely became a server and cashier because the restaurant was understaffed. Moreover, they cannot afford to pay the salaries of the staff. From 6 am to 9 pm, Lovely would take orders, answer calls, sell candies, and serve the food. Every time the government doles out the pandemic financial assistance, known as the Social Amelioration Program, she would run out of change for a thousand-peso bill that was used to pay for a 15-peso worth of soda. However, she kept her cool because having a day’s income is more important that fretting over it. The coffee business the family started during quarantine was booming and the main barista was Lovely. She had to wake up at 6 a.m. to grind and brew coffee for customers who drop by half an hour later. She also makes iced coffee at 8 a.m. for the two regulars, sits at the cashier, and then makes iced coffee again for five people at four in the afternoon. When she returned to school, the business continued.

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While running the coffee bar, Lovely attended her classes, answered her school’s modules, participated in writing a group research paper, and joined in other projects. There was not any dull moment in her life. She would say to herself, “Hey at least I get 200 pesos every Sunday, that’s what matters” which will then be spent on snacks the following day. A comedy, she thought. Here’s how Lovely narrated her week. Weekdays and six in the morning, she would try to open her eyes, felt a sting and some tears but she brushed it off as normal eye problems. She would wear her glasses that needed replacement but she could not afford to buy a new pair and her parents refused to buy her a new one. She gets ready, changes into more presentable clothes, a Boracay shirt she bought in 2014 and jersey shorts from school. She goes to their coffee shop to grind the dark roasted beans to a coarse texture, and puts them in the filter, adds some water to the container and waits for the coffee to fill the air with its aroma, unmistakably strong and freshly brewed native coffee. At 6:30 the regulars who were jogging started coming in. Lovely asked for their names and handed them their customized mug with their names on it and the store’s logo as well. It’s a marketing strategy that cultivates customer loyalty. But Lovely must remember names, it’s John, not Toto, for example.

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By 7:50, her alarm goes off, signaling the start of either a class or the flag ceremony. She would open her laptop, join the online meeting while serving the customers. Her day ends at 9 p.m. when he locks the store and starts working on her assignments until past midnight. Her online or synchronous classes took place on Wednesdays and Fridays, so her mother allowed her to leave the store to join her classes. However, sometimes, in the middle of a class discussion or a long exam, her sister or father would come barging in and shout, “Love, one iced coffee !” She would shout back that she had a class ongoing but by then, she was already distracted. Out of frustration, she said that her science long exam could have been better. Her frustrations, anger, panic and all other negative emotions also piled up. She wanted to push through with running their food business because that was what fed her family for the past 18 years and sent her to school. She tried to find the good and positive side of things and understand the bigger picture. Juggling her personal and academic life was not easy; she barely finished all her tasks in school and for her family. But she did try anyway. While she had moments of frustrations, she did not let it get the best of her.

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Photo Credit: https://tinyurl.com/bdensr39

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Premonition By Rikka Grace O. Sombiro Grade 11 - Sirius

On the days leading up to the year 2020, all I could see on my Facebook and Twitter timelines, as I browsed through every single of my friends’ posts, were people celebrating the coming of a new year, a new decade. Just like each year that had already passed, everybody was hopeful that the change in the numbers on the calendar meant that everything in their life would magically change and turn out well. However, anxiety crawled beneath my skin every day as we drew closer to 2020. Like everyone else, I was hopeful for the new year, but deep down, I knew that something was wrong. In my mind, I couldn’t see any possibility of 2020 going well at all from what I read about the mishap of an airplane, or a raging wildfire that devoured everything in its path. In fact, 2019 had been full of wonder for me, and I knew that it would be too good to be true if that stayed 120

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around. With the overwhelming thoughts inside my head, the sinking feeling in my stomach wouldn’t leave. The terrible thing was that my premonitions came true. In January, the first case of COVID-19 in the Philippines was announced. My friends’ immediate reaction was to buy a pack of face masks and to distribute them among our group while we waited for the Dinagyang concert at SM City to kick off. We talked about being scared of what would happen, or what this virus meant for ourselves, our friends, and our families. However, around that time, not many people were worried about the threat of the virus, so while my mother sent me to school with a face mask every day, my contests and school requirements only continued to pile up and made me more worn out than ever. As the months crept in, however, the situation only got woeful. Everyone anxiously waited for the declaration of a lockdown that they knew was forthcoming. \Slowly, plans and events started to either get postponed or canceled. The prom kept getting moved until it just wasn’t possible to hold it anymore. It appears that everything that my batchmates and I worked hard for in the previous months went down the drain. An important awarding ceremony got canceled, so my fellow awardees and I wondered whether our achievements were even ever acknowledged at all. Everyone’s research studies for

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the year had to be discontinued because they were neither practical nor feasible. My parents frantically booked a flight for my brother and sister so that they could come home from Metro Manila before anything dreadful could happen to them., This meant that they had to pause going to school. My other brother’s high school graduation was supposed to be two months away, but everybody knew that it wouldn’t happen. Lines of worry etched on my mother’s forehead, as she made calls to cancel our summer vacation to South Korea that we had been looking forward to for a long time. For me, the most painful part of it all was receiving the news that the Metrobank-MTAP-DepEd Math Competition had been canceled for the rest of the season. I dedicated 10 years of my life to it, and I spent months training -- staying in school until 8:00 PM everyday -- at the expense of my schoolwork. I lost when I competed the previous year thus, 2020 was my only chance to redeem myself. I could never walk away from my lifelong dream of being sent to the National Finals twice. I didn’t even know what to answer in my exams the next day, as I had spent the whole night beating a dead horse and the next morning, sobbing, mourning over what could have been. Everything in my life was on its last eggs. Indeed, on the day the lockdown was declared, my emotions overwhelmed me. I broke down in the arms of my closest friends in

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Pisay because of the possibility of never seeing or being with them again. Then, for the rest of the day, I felt numb and lifeless, like I was only listlessly going through the phases of living without a thought in mind. I only started feeling better when I went on my last adventure with my friends and the guy I liked at the time. Bakerite -- that was a good place to end the journey, right? However, the sadness and anxiety kicked in and attacked me from every corner, making me feel like there was nothing to really live for anymore. Then, there I was, two weeks later, celebrating my 16th birthday, alone and disgruntled while feeling trapped with my thoughts. I did try to smile, at least because my family was together but at the same time wondering where and how my life had taken such a gigantic shift. I was slowly losing myself. Despite losing many important things in my life, however, I felt like I had no right to despair because the pandemic presented problems for other people that were far worse than what I was experiencing. More people were getting infected each day. Frontliners were worried for the safety of their loved ones. Poor people were disproportionately affected by the pandemic, as they do not have access to face masks let alone food. Other families’ resources were slowly running out, especially with the country losing around half of its workforce. Suicide rates took off due to the deteriorating mental

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health all over the country. People were dying. How could I pity myself for simply losing normalcy in my life? To take my mind off the guilt, I shifted my focus onto other things. This was when my journey to self-discovery began. After all, quarantine was the perfect time to have epiphanies. At some point in quarantine, I realized that I deserved better than what I had settled for. While talking to the guy I liked at the time, I noticed how much he humiliates me for my body, subtly or explicitly. It reached the point where I was already losing the love and appreciation I held for my body. I knew that he was aware that I used to struggle with body dysmorphia but he’s inconsiderate. I tried to ignore his comments but he already goes beyond the normal limit. Thus I decided it was time to let go of him. I was not going to allow him to step on my dignity anymore. Until now, I regret nothing other than ever liking him. Then one day, my sister forced me to exercise with her. She was bored in quarantine, and it became her goal to lose weight healthily, but she felt like she needed an exercise buddy. With the help of my older brother’s girlfriend, who knocked off training plans for us, . we sprawled our exercise mats and weights on the floor every day. Running became a part of our daily routine. Soon, I noticed that I could perform physical activities I would have never even thought

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of doing a few months ago. I was amazed that my waistline was starting to get thinner, my arm muscles becoming more visible, and my body mass dropping several kilos. Working out felt good, and I was happier. It even led to my sister and I becoming closer than ever. I didn’t stop there. A few years ago, I suffered from depression, and it led to my loss of interest in books. This summer, I tried to get back into reading because it was where I used to find the most love, so I pulled out all the books on our shelf that I had not read yet, and I indulged with each one of them with vigor. Day and night, my nose would be stuck on my books; I simply could not stop. My renewed passion in reading transpired in a better mental state, and I was starting with a clean sheet before everything went wrong. I signed up with several charitable organizations because I wanted to promote my advocacies and help others reach their maximum potential. In one of my organizations, I, together with my classmate, Altair, even led the Ahog Bulig Project, which procured and provided relief goods and school supplies for the residents of Brgy. Zaldivar, Buenavista, Guimaras who were affected by the oil spill in July 2020. Under this project, we organized a national Call of Duty: Mobile Tournament and Balud: Virtual Concert for a Cause to raise funds. Thankfully, the project turned out to be on track, and the residents were delighted to know that there are people who care for them.

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Amid the pandemic, I also tried not to falter academically. For every grade that wasn’t 1.00 in the 3rd Quarter of Grade 10, I took a one-time assessment. Thankfully, I passed all the examinations and significantly increased my general weighted average. Aside from this, contests kept popping in at my doorstep. I had to mentally challenge myself every weekend, as I further tried to establish myself in the fields of Math, Science, English, and the like. Despite a seemingly thriving life, I had bad days too. Sometimes, I would find myself going back to my self-destructive urge, as I chose to starve myself for several days just to see the numbers on the weighing scale miraculously fall away. I drowned myself in work assigned to me in the organizations I joined. I obsessively studied for my one-time assessments, to the point where I wouldn’t sleep just to review my notes for the nth time, even though the one-time assessments were a few weeks away. Sometimes, if I didn’t win in the contests, I lose confidence in myself and my abilities because I believe that my only sense of worth came from productivity and glory. After a while, I had a really hard time fitting my other activities into my schedule. On a separate occasion, I even cast away in the Student Alliance Elections, which saddened me because it was something I was passionate about, although I was happy for those who won. I knew that they were fully capable of being great Student

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Alliance officers. There were as many bad days as there were good ones, and oftentimes, I just found myself curling up in the corner and crying my heart out but refusing to let anyone catch me in tears to fear that they would sense my fragility. Then, a momentous event transpired: The Outstanding Students of Iloilo Awards (TOSIA) finally held the awarding ceremony. Though we felt sad that it was to be done virtually, still it was commemorative. I was already on a cloud nine when Altair and I got to be the first students from PSHS-WVC to be a part of TOSIA, but it was sweeter when I was given a Special Award for Academic Excellence and became one of the TOSIA Top Circle, the highest award given by JCI Regatta, the awarding body. However, the euphoria from the awarding didn’t last too long. Soon, anger and disappointment consumed me when I heard about how classes were going to be conducted this school year. Online and modular learning were so inconvenient for everyone involved but I don’t support the academic freeze as many students would still be left behind, while the faculty and staff would stop earning a living. The whole situation was neither the teachers nor the students’ fault. I was aghast at how the government dealt with the whole thing stack up. If they’d focused on eradicating the existence of the virus in the first place, or at the very least, reducing its spread to a minimum,

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rather than prioritizing senseless, irrelevant, and untimely objectives such as the dolomite in Manila Bay and the ABS-CBN shutdown, we would not be in this situation right now. I was enraged at the thought that people in government were more willing to sacrifice millions of Filipinos than admit their absurdity and incompetence. Thus, like thousands, or perhaps even millions, of Filipino students, I am now stuck sitting every day in front of my laptop -- my eyes glued to the screen and my fingers pinned to the keyboard. My back is hunched, and pain slowly permeates it every day. I barely know the comfort of my bed anymore, as I find myself every night only taking small naps on the desk. I had been at it for almost the whole day. My left eyelid shakes frantically, as my body screams for sleep, but my mind overrides the natural functions of my body, as it focuses on finishing requirements ahead of time I am burnt out, and yet, I feel that my academic standing is less than satisfactory compared to my personal expectations for my performance. Is it worthy enough to lose myself just to get through school? Throughout this epidemic, I was given the chance to improve aspects of my being, but over time, it has started to kill me inside. They told us that our health is of utmost importance right now, but how can we take care of ourselves when they don’t even give us a chance to do so? Now, the things that get me through life are the

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simple joys, like playing with my dog and volunteering to help with donation drives for typhoon victims. If I am feeling this way despite all my privileges, how about others who are less fortunate than me faring amidst this pandemic? How long are we all still going to suffer before we are just totally worn out? My premonition for 2020 proved to be correct all along, and it scares me because I could not see things getting better for the year 2021. I have hope, but it started to fade away, and for once in my life, I want to be proven wrong.

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Photo Credit: https://tinyurl.com/ychxsw7e

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Istorya sang Pandemya By Batch 21 - 1951

On March 13, 2020, I left school thinking I’d see everyone the week after the break. Fast forward 265 days later and here I am, typing this story from a house I haven’t left in what seems like forever, and reminiscing about my last day in Pisay. If you told me nine months ago that I wouldn’t step foot on campus until graduation (still hoping for a face-to-face ceremony) I would never have believed you. Who would’ve thought that we’d be spending our last year in Pisay away from Pisay? Seems like a joke right, but that’s the reality for Batch 2021—and it’s only starting to sink in. These are unprecedented times full of drastic changes that no one expected. But despite this, I can’t help but be grateful for the

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privilege to even complain about my “hardships” with a working laptop, a decent internet, under a stable roof, and creating an output required by a school that has adapted relatively well to this pandemic. It’s been a struggle figuring out the line between being aware of my privilege and invalidating my feelings—and with everything that’s going on, staying sane has been my priority. I spent the first few months of the pandemic thinking that this was just a short break from school and enjoying my free time, with the company of my, once again, complete family. I did all the things I couldn’t do due to my busy academic schedule—daily workouts, Netflix marathons, family game nights, piano sessions, and long nights with my nose buried in a book. I even started preparing for the upcoming college entrance exams. All this to balance out the anger and frustration that filled me whenever I’d hear about the terrible things happening in our country and around the world. A month passed, then another, and another, until the new school year was about to begin. The “productivity high” I kept chasing slipped away from me as I struggled to adjust to learning from home. Those first five months passed by quickly, as if the summer break, my 18th birthday, OTAs, and bridging sessions were all wrapped up in a neat little bow—except it wasn’t neat, it wasn’t little, and it wasn’t a pretty sight even with a bow on top. Regardless of everything that happened, whenever I’d look back at those five eventful months,

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they’d always feel like a mere week. The pace continued to quicken and before I knew it, it was already Christmas—just kidding, it was September, and that was officially the start of my final year in high school. I began the new school year on a high note, eager to make a difference and leave my mark during my last year in Pisay. My days, nights, and mornights were spent balancing my responsibilities and academic requirements, starting a new research study from scratch, spending time with my family, and still trying to get that much-needed me-time. I was exhausted but motivated. The tasks I accomplished per week gave me a sense of fulfillment especially when I knew that I was making a difference in the lives of my fellow scholars and that I was working towards my own goals in life. But in perfect 2020 fashion, everything started going downhill. The lack of sleep got me, the mountain of requirements has never seemed to lessen, and jeez, my butt suffered the most. It got to a point where I couldn’t sit for more than 30 minutes straight, because my butt got so sore from the endless hours sitting in front of my laptop, desperately trying to finish everything on time. Yes, I’m serious, and no, it doesn’t end there. Beyond the butt sores, back pains, and terrible eye bags, my emotional and mental wellbeing also took a turn for the worse.

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The uncertainty of things started to get to me as my sense of purpose started to dwindle. The goals I set for myself no longer motivated me. It got to a point where getting out of bed and interacting with my family was already a win for me. Everything was just overwhelming and without the physical comfort of people other than my family. The endless schoolwork and heavy workload took so much out of me that by the end of the quarter I was so drained. I slept through most of the Pahuway break, caught up with TV shows, spent more time with my family after having been busy for weeks, regained a bit of my drive and motivation. But the break, like everything else in 2020, passed by quickly, and suddenly, another quarter had officially begun. The second quarter came with a surprisingly light workload, but then again, anything less than the first quarter would be welcomed by all scholars and teachers alike. You’d think that with fewer requirements it would be easier to get through the weeks, but that wasn’t the case because with the second quarter also came what I call the “second quarter blues”. Imagine just barely surviving the first quarter, and now you have to do it all over again WHILE counting down the days ‘til Christmas and soaking up the fact that 2020 is coming to an end. The first quarter drained so much out of me that by the second, my motivation was at its lowest. I no longer felt like I was learning, and I started doing my requirements just for the sake of

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it—compliance over quality. I would get small bursts of motivation from certain tasks but with the requirements once again increasing and college application deadlines fast approaching, I no longer have the luxury for selective productivity. So here I am now, writing this story at 3:00 in the morning, in one of the 90 tabs currently open begging me to quickly wrap this up so I can get back to my research and other requirements demanding my attention. I’ve spent these past nine months desperately searching for a purpose to keep going. This pandemic is bigger than us. Bigger than the surplus of school requirements, the lack of social interactions, drastic changes in plans, and our personal problems. It’s impossible to accept the new normal when millions of Filipinos are suffering due to our government’s incompetence, corruption, and rampant politicking at a time of immense need. So no, this isn’t a story of how I became a victor of my circumstances or how I overcame the challenges of this pandemic. This is simply a story— one of the many that deserve to be heard. Here’s to hoping the next words will be better than this.

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Photo Credit: https://tinyurl.com/yc8zx3sh

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My Year 2020 By France Matthew T. Aguilos Grade 12-Archimedes

The year 2020 was the year when I planned to do better things for myself, to redeem the 2019 “me.” No longer a minor in 2020, I expected new beginnings and opportunities as well as a better version of my 2019 self. I don’t know how I should fulfill such wishes because it is evident that 2020 has been a disaster not just for me but for all of us. The year started with a hopeful beginning, despite the outbreaks of novel coronavirus reported abroad, specifically in Wuhan, China, where people are found to be infected with a new strain of coronavirus. It was then called the Novel Coronavirus or NCov, but soon established as the Coronavirus 2019 or COVID-19. Cases of infection rose everyday, spreading from one country to another.

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Citizens should expect their state leaders to do something to prevent the virus from infiltrating their countries, but unfortunately, we live in the Philippines, and that alone already speaks for itself. At the start of the year, although news media have reported on the virus and its possible effects if it reaches our country, I was already planning for my first ever Dinagyang experience in Iloilo City, to celebrate my “coming of age ” or when I crossed the threshold to being an adult. As the days passed the virus was able to enter the country after a handful of cases were reported on the last week of January 2020. However, the national government was showing no urgency about this matter. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the global outbreak of the pandemic. Here in Iloilo, classes were suspended on March 13, 2020, which happens to be a Friday. That may be a coincidence but who knows? Back then, everyone in Pisay were confused and somewhat happy that classes were suspended for the time being. No one expected this pandemic to last this long and are required to adjust to the so-called “new normal.” Cases of COVID-19 patients are dramatically increasing as days go by and it alarmed the local government since medical facilities can’t handle the surge of patients. This prompted the local

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agencies to implement health regulations to minimize the spread of the disease. At this point, I can say that my family is privileged enough that we can still sustain our daily needs amidst the crisis. And yet it does not make me feel happy that while I am enjoying the food on my plate there are families out there who have financial problems and are also vulnerable to the virus. Classes were resumed in Pisay in October 2020, with modifications to fit with the new normal. We resorted to online learning where we meet with our teachers for monitoring and for asynchronous learning from the modules provided. I can say that the first quarter served as a test to measure our capability to adjust with the new set-up. A lot of adjustments and considerations were made for the learning strategy to work. Admittedly, I was having a hard time separating school from home since there is no physical indication that I am at school or at home. Answering modules and learning guides isn’t my cup of tea, but I have no choice but to overcome these challenges. I pushed myself to comply with the requirements and tried harder on outputs that are required of us. “Survival of the fittest’’ is what best describes the situation we found ourselves in. It is up to us if we want to be the victor rather than a victim of our own circumstances. I believe that I could overcome adversities in life but I am not, in any way, glorifying the struggles as the basis for success.

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I believe that the pandemic will soon come to an end, and we will be back in the days where there were no COVID-19. I can consider this nine-month lockdown as a lesson and as an experience, although saying that leaves a bad taste in the mouth, given the suffering around us. With the pandemic, we learned about the value of the lives of others and this lesson couldt could guide us, like during volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, typhoons, drought, poverty, unemployment, human rights violation, and many more. Caring is an imperative if we care about our future. With the new year coming very soon, since it is already the Christmas season, I hope that whatever happens to us in the future will all be good things, because we’ve had enough of the bad ones. Let us set our personal desires aside and wish for a better ending for this year. Again, 2020 was full of unfortunate events but we can still change it before the year ends to bring a happy ending. The fight we started won’t end in 2020, but will be carried on in the years to come and renewed every new year.

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Photo Credit: https://tinyurl.com/2ks45cmd

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My Story So Far 03 December 2020 By Julia Duane J. Selibio Grade 12- Euclid

I am no writer. I was only asked, so I would only tell. This is not a story of resiliency. This is my story. On March 13, 2020, or Friday the thirteenth, an announcement was made on the suspension of school for two weeks. Yes, I was happy; I felt a spark in my heart and considered the break a blessing. After weeks of sleepless nights and skipping meals, I finally have a break! I was in the middle of rushing and arranging our research project and preserving our sample, but deep down I was happy. I was looking forward to ten hours of sleeping. Little did I know it would be the longest and the most restless break I would ever have.

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From two weeks turned into a month, then two months, three months, and more. Long breaks scare me. A week or two would do but months of involuntary isolation, with not much work to do and not many people to talk to, meant I would finally get to deal with myself -- the one person I avoid and the reason I bury myself in schoolwork. The fear of dealing with myself could drive me insane. March felt fine, on the first week, because I got to rest my mind because even sleeping already felt like a luxury. However, the rest of that month went downhill as feelings of anxiety and fear rushed through my mind. COVID-19 was spreading quickly, putting a barangay in our town on a total absolute lockdown, with no one going out and coming in. As supplies of food, facemasks, and rubbing alcohol became low, their prices went unreasonably high. Water delivery services were even barred from entering our village. As COVID-19 cases rose exponentially, it felt like the beginning of an apocalypse. My family was affected but we kept our sentiments to ourselves. I was having some obsessive episodes by April, and they lasted until May. I felt withdrawn but I will not elaborate on these.

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These episodes were the coping mechanisms that I developed just to avoid facing myself. I cope by finding a different version of me, which is the on-top-of-the-world-happy although there was a shadow lurking inside. Yes, happy, but no good at all. In June, I started my fix. I started reading (which was one of the best decisions I made!) and planting – both natural therapies and metaphors for my development. Like a plant, I was barely moving, but I was growing. I made a schedule, followed it strictly, then realized I was starting to be “me” again. The “me” who I do not know if I will love or hate. But it was “me”, myself, and that was enough. Nonetheless, my June was productive, and maybe that was my definition of happiness. July slowly pulled me into reality – the Pisay reality. Months of doing nothing took a toll on me. I forgot how to settle in school again. Then, August came, followed by September. I was gladly accepting several roles, but then, they started to overwhelm me. Loads of academic work just came nonstop. At first, I thought it was just me. I even blamed myself for not being able to adapt with the remote learning environment. I had several responsibilities at home too, so I am like a juggler whose arms were too tired but could not stop. I was relieved when I found out that other students felt the

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same way too. At least I was not alone, and it was normal for students like us to feel that way. Luckily, the school made some adjustments. October…November…December… It has been nine months, yet this pandemic has not ended yet. Writing a story about an unfinished journey is as good as the government’s pandemic response – it is not rosy. However, I have to keep going, just like everyone else. What follows is my story, but this is not all about me On March 2020, when Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) was declared, I got my long-awaited break, but others were not too lucky. Millions were restless, jobless, homeless, and starving. While the rich were hoarding supplies, the poor were helpless. When ECQ was extended from April until May this meant that more people were growing hungry. People have started begging for some spare coins online. The OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) were stranded in airports. Thousands suffered and may have died, not because of COVID-19 but of hunger and desperation.

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It was in June when the country started to recover but it was also the time when human rights abuses ensued: red-tagging, illegal detention, homophobia, corruption, blatant maltreatment, and so much more. Eventually, I stopped reading the news for my peace of mind, which probably was one of the heaviest and most selfish things I have done. It quite helped but I could not turn a blind eye on suffering. It pained me not being able to do anything, so I started getting involved. You knew all these too. What did you do? July pushed me to the hard reality. The government has done poorly to help its citizens during the pandemic. The bar was so low that some citizens would still lick the boots of some officials so to speak. The rich started partying. The poor stayed home starving. Doctors, scientists, and other professionals were disregarded by government officials. I started to question whether it is worth trading leisure for intense education just to serve this country. Then, August came, followed by September, October, November, now December – there’s no progress whatsoever. Nine months of living under the pandemic gave me waves of realizations about myself and my surroundings. Although it was

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arduous, I finally learned to love myself. As soon as I hit rock bottom because of schoolwork, I stayed there until I finally made amends with myself – the one person I tried to avoid all this time. Love saved me, as well as love and concern for others This is not a story of resiliency because resiliency could be an excuse for incompetence. And yet it is resiliency in a different way. This story leads to that path.

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Photo Credit: Mary Khezyll A. Galvan, Grade 10 - Photon

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In Between By Faye Andrea V. Encanto Grade 12- Euclid

When I hum the melody of “Heart of Glass” by The Blondies, I am taken back to a time of unsettling peace and uncertainty. It’s the time when I was running away from things that quietly tormented me but at the cost of not being with people. It’s the time that I will never forget because the world stopped, and not only for me, but for all of humanity. The events of that fateful March 13, a Friday, continue to chill me to this day. I had been sick, and I had not been that sick for as long as I could remember. I hesitated to go to school because I felt weak and there was also news of the coronavirus spreading around and infecting people. It was truly the worst possible time to get sick, but I went to school anyway. Perhaps it is because there was an

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English case study draft we had to submit that day or the fact that I really didn’t want to miss a day of school. However, I cannot help thinking now that I might have sensed something was wrong. Once inside the classroom, I started to feel guilty. It dawned on me how selfish I was because by going to school unwell, I could potentially spread whatever illness I had. I decided that after taking our English test I will go home. That day was inexplicably full of noise, more than usual, and I could feel some tension rising as the day progressed. It felt as though everything was at double speed and people were busy moving about while I was rushing to get my work done. Then it happened that the graduation song blared from the speakers and I went outside to see what the commotion was all about. Joining the crowd that was forming on the stairs, all I remember seeing the crying and hugging from the higher years as they did their graduation march on the hallway in front of the library and the smelly boys’ comfort room. There was an air of sympathy and confusion that fell among the crowd as we silently watched and applauded for the bittersweet scene unfolding before our eyes. It was truly a sad sight, and I couldn’t help but wonder if we were also going to experience the same fate.

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I followed my classmates as they went back to the classroom to get their bags. The classes were suspended, and we were told to go home. We hugged before they left, exclaiming about how miserable it would be if we were to experience the same graduation we have witnessed. I remember collecting my things and hurrying to my father’s car, but not before making a quick stop at the Research Lab to get some of our research materials and saying goodbye to our research head and adviser. Since my father was still not in the car, I rushed back to the third floor where our classrooms were located to say proper goodbyes to my friends. I’m grateful I hugged them tightly. On the way home, I asked my father that we should do an end-of-the-world grocery shopping which ended up having among the goods two packs of rice, canned goods, a loaf of bread and cranberry juice my father had been eyeing as we waited in line for the counter. “Dali na, maguba na ang kalibutan bakla na na” (Hurry up, the world is going to end, buy that now) I said to him. Now, I laugh at how paranoid my father and I had been during that time. However, the thing that made me the most paranoid was my sickness. I was experiencing a dry cough and it was really the

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worst cough I had ever had. I remember looking up symptoms for COVID-19 and seeing dry cough and influenza as among them. I was terrified as I thought of what could happen to me and to my family if I have COVID-19. The following week, on March 16, my father accompanied me to the doctor as my cough was getting severe. While I was waiting for my turn, I remembered an old lady by the cashier mentioning she was from Manila when asked where she was from. I swear I could feel the room tense. At that time, people were wary of those coming from other places, especially Manila as there were reported cases of outsiders carrying the disease and spreading it to their community. The lady, somehow sensing the anxiety among us, clarified that she had gone home to the province weeks before the lockdown. By the end of the appointment, I was given Solmux and an antibiotic which I do not remember the name of. Few months into the quarantine, my father told me that the antibiotic prescribed by the doctor was the same one given to COVID-19 patients according to what he saw from the news. However, I really believe that what I had was just influenza that lasted for around ten days. My mother is an OFW and has been one for almost three years now. My last memory of her near me was like a dream which is kind of true because she left while I was asleep. I was half awake when

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she kissed me and said goodbye. I was beyond ecstatic when she said she was finally going home. “Wait mo anak aprubahan vacation ko April to June” was what she said but come March 12 airports in Kuwait were starting to close and the Philippines was starting to lockdown as well. I remember her and us scurrying for available flights so she could go home but it was too late. Even then, she couldn’t go home right away because she had a check-up on that Sunday, March 15. It was sad, but I take consolation in the fact that she was better off staying in Kuwait rather than here in a time like this. When I said my mother was better off in Kuwait, I hoped it was the same for my aunt. My aunt is my father’s sister-in-law. We were not that close and the second to the last time I saw her she indirectly called me fat, not that I take offense to it, in fact, I found it funny. I knew her ever since I was a child and I had this fear of her because I tended to fight with her son, my cousin, when we were young. I paid no attention when my brother said Tita was getting thin as we saw her pass by our window and passed it off as she was going on a diet. I also paid no attention when, during my grandmother’s birthday on July 29, Tito said she had a disease as my father told me she was getting surgery for it. I only knew about how severe it was when my cousin went over to share some movies and my mother had asked him about it while she was calling me.

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My cousin said no surgery happened. The cyst had already reached her bone. That was September 1, more than two months after I first heard about her illness. I’m not a religious person, but it was for my Tita that I grabbed a rosary and prayed after several years of not doing so. To hear that day that she wasn’t getting better broke me. The next day, my cousin would tell me she died. She stayed in our great grandparents’ house. My uncle was apprehensive of sending her to the hospital with the risk of acquiring the virus. The last time I saw her face was when her own aunts had visited her body and I sneaked a peek through the door. I couldn’t help but think of the questionable things I’ve heard about the situation and how it could have been different if she had been in a different country where the pandemic response was better, and the healthcare services were not as pricey. Despite deaths and existential crises, my days on lockdown were relatively fine. I’m privileged to have shelter, food, clothing, and security during the pandemic and I’m thankful for that as not everyone was as fortunate. My heart went out to the people whose basic needs were not met and who were imprisoned for going out on the streets pushed by deprivation and poverty. Many people who lost their jobs and were not able to provide for their family. It was difficult to listen to the evening news when all you could hear and see were failures and disappointing decisions made by the government

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that continue to pile up. I filled my days watching movies and TV shows and reading whatever I wanted, to detach myself from the mad world outside. I believe the first thing I did during the community quarantine was watch a movie, a sappy romance one at that, which led to another one and many more. The thrill of running was enticing and definitely liberating even when I was not doing it physically but running away from my worries and responsibilities in school. Classes were suspended and I hated the fact that I was enjoying every single moment I’ve been away from school because it allowed me to continue what we had to do, like research. I hated research and I never wanted to do anything with it or be near it again. For a moment, it was only me and the movie screen and nothing else. I remember staying in my bed for a very long time. I lost sense of time and the only thing I knew was if it was day or night. Everything was a blur and I only had “Heart of Glass” to somehow remind me of what it was like during that time, between that day, March 13, and around the end of July when school activities started to ease in. It was like I was stuck in some sort of limbo. I was not entirely at peace because I feared what was happening in the outside world. I was also neither happy nor sad. My brother had the knack of playing the same song repeatedly until he found something better and that was how the song by The Blondies became an earworm that had everyone humming it. Recently, I heard this song again and I

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was surprised by the amount of memories and emotions it unlocked that my eyes welled up. The only way for another person to ever comprehend what I felt was to be me and hear the song in my stead. And there you have it, it’s the only fragment I have left of that limbo which had given me the longest peace I had for a while but also showed me the worst fears of my life. Around the end of June, I started to come to my senses and think of my future. My peers had started to prepare for the upcoming college entrance exams, and I regretted not thinking about it earlier. I was petrified. I didn’t have an ounce of idea of what I wanted to do in the future. Even now, as I write this story, I still don’t know what I want to do with my life. And so, it began. I took out a freebie paper calendar and marked the expected dates for the UPCAT (University of the Philippines College Admission Test) and DOST Scholarship Exam. For several nights, I took up math courses in Khan Academy and worked on my algebra. Numerous online review centers were opening, including review programs pushed by student organizations from UP, but we were quick to register as the slots were filled up quickly. Every day, I took the mock tests and watched tutorials up until the school year started. I’m glad I didn’t spend money on these reviews because we know how it ends.

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I am writing this story in the same bed I had been lying on since the quarantine started. Swamped with new worries and schoolwork, I realize that I could never really run away from anything at all. I still had to do research as much as I didn’t want to. I still had to see that everything that’s happening outside is real and not fiction. I still had to face the fact that the pandemic will not be over soon, and I will also not be meeting my friends anytime soon. I think my fears are about to materialize. On December 4, 2020, the Philippine Science High School-Board of Trustees approved a resolution for the implementation of online classes until the end of the school year. What was just a thought has turned into reality. I am inclined to think that the world hates our high school batch. Nevertheless, this story ends, for now. With only a song to take me back to a time when I felt like having peace was a crime, I came to realize that it’s a crazy world out there and that’s just how it is. It’s up to me how I choose to continue my life.

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Photo Credit: https://tinyurl.com/yr87rzp5

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Quarantine-borne Sentiments By Sean Rafael L. Puda Grade 12-Ptolemy

On March 11, 2020, when the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, I was at school, worrying about my requirements and the progress of my research. I was hanging out with friends and blissfully ignorant of what would happen next. For the next few days, the news of a novel coronavirus rapidly spreading from China had gotten me slightly worried that I might get sick. That turned out to be the least of my worries. Three days later, on March 13, , the school announced that there would be no class for two weeks because the government is enforcing a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus. I have to say that I was delighted to have a two-week break from schoolwork as I was beginning to get burned out. I saw the lockdown as a good chance to recover.

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However, the two weeks turned into four, then four weeks stretched into months until I stopped counting the days. I started to wonder when I could go out again and play in the arcades, meet up with friends, or have dinner with my family. As I pondered what the future might hold, I began paying attention to the three-dimensional space that enclosed around me – my bedroom, with its walls, the ceiling, the floor, and every nook and cranny, which I didn’t notice before. Despite the cracks and imperfections, but I can also see their beauty and purpose. The sense of the space made me realize that I might have also overlooked the value of people because, despite being observant, I might have only looked at the surface or at face value. Indeed, a person is constituted by his or her personality, beliefs, lifestyle, nature, and soul, and only when you spend time with him or her that such facets are revealed, much like how I looked at the details in my room during the lockdown. As the days wore on, I maintained the same routine of waking up, eating, bathing, and sleeping. I was stuck in a rut although I knew that the world outside seemed dangerous and distant. I missed the visits to malls, churches, supermarkets, restaurants, shops, and the crowd. Oh, how I remember the times when I was too slow to get ready because I woke up late and my parents would yell at me because I was the last to get in the car. How I missed deciding which restaurant to eat , what food I would like to order, looking at the items in stores and taking in the ambience of the mall. Before, I just took them for granted because I didn’t think they would disappear without 160

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a warning. The activities I did outside balances what I was doing inside, just like with night and day, light and dark, good and evil, yin and yang -- one cannot exist without the other. My life in quarantine is something I don’t hate, but it feels like there is something missing in my life. This made me think about taking things for granted, and that one should never be careless and foolish to believe that things last forever. The same thing could be said about the value of a person’s life, with the prevailing death and sadness around the world. I started thinking about death or, more specifically, life after death, heaven, hell, and reincarnation. In ancient literature, such as The Inferno by Dante Alighieri, and modern literature such as Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent, the concept of the afterlife has been with us for a long time, and I got really curious whether the depictions of the Bible and other religious and spiritual books were real or only a fraction of what’s real. With the pandemic going on and the many deaths and disasters it brought us, I wondered where the souls of those people went or what is the concept of the soul, and where does a soul reside? I don’t have answers to these questions, but I realized two things: the power of the human imagination and the possibility of an existence that can’t yet be fully explained by science. So, one conclusion I drew was that the afterlife is a site of extraordinary imagination in literature, philosophy, and religious teachings.

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The time I spent during quarantine was monotonous. However, the experience did lead me into deep thoughts about myself, the others, and life in general. It sounds like I knew more during the quarantine, which may be true in a sense, but it seems like I also knew less in the grand scheme of things. The exercise in thinking made me aware of how miniscule my world is, compared to the vast expanse of the universe, but that should not stop me from living the best of my life.

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Photo Credit: Mary Khezyll A. Galvan, Grade 10 - Photon

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Under the Basement By Angel Jude S. Diones Grade 12- Ptolemy

This story is of a young man who lives on the breadline, hiding in his room, and living in his mom’s basement until the age of thirty or until he gets kicked out. At least that’s the feeling I have right now, as I imagine my future out of this COVID-19 pandemic. I ate a lot of junk food and felt spiritless about anything. Let me recall how I reached that point in my life. It was announced sometime in March 2020 that the virus is already widespread and prevented children from going back to school. Everyone expected that everything would return to normal after a couple of weeks. The first week was okay, I was ecstatic because I knew I was behind on all my subjects, and I have to catch up. I went ahead of the lockdown by playing all the games I could have on my

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laptop and didn’t really care about things beyond my concerns. I ignored most people except for my parents and my siblings; I played games on my laptop for four hours, then ate and played again for about six hours, before taking a break to eat and play for six hours more. I bathed only twice or thrice in a week. It felt so good playing for so long since I haven’t touched any games in a while, with all the stress I felt from submitting school requirements. It was almost like I was on drugs. A few days passed by, and I heard that the school year would end as the virus outbreak became a pandemic. Then everyone was taking COVID-19 seriously, especially when most parts of the country were placed under the Enhanced Community Quarantine, the highest level of lockdown declared by the government. Being a rather selfish person, I was ecstatic as I had no more school responsibilities. All I thought was to enjoy every game I played on my laptop as the pandemic heightened and the school year was forced to end. My selfish self appears to enjoy playing games; I was having the time of my life. Eventually, gaming took its toll on me. There were times when my eyes and head were hurting from being awake late at night. The games lessened my social interactions too. After two months, I decided that I had enough of games and should really start interacting with other people. I learned that many

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of my friends who are into gaming felt the same way as I did so we tried chatting with each other. I also started exercising to keep fit and this physical activity made me feel good. I attended the review for UPCAT (University of the Philippines College Admission Test) because I don’t want to fail the exam. To avoid being distracted, I deleted all the games on my laptop because I realized that playing was a waste of time. I just focused on exercising and reviewing, which both gave me a sense of accomplishment. I visited a hospital at one time and saw the effects of the pandemic. The hospital had its first case of COVID-19 and it was almost empty. Perhaps out of fear or some unknown reason, the staff gave me free medicines. After some time, the school allowed “one-time assessment” to improve our grades and organized a “before-school” before classes started. I started talking with my friends again. I wanted to perform well in school, so I submitted my assignments even before the deadline. I worked hard on my research; in fact, I changed my topic several times. However, I did feel bored, despite socializing with friends, probably due to heavy schoolwork and less entertainment. I returned to playing games again and I lost all motivation to exercise regularly.

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It is very hard to keep up with all the schoolwork. I think my decision to indulge in games again was due to lack of motivation rather than a want to excel. It took a lot of willpower to continuously stop myself from playing but sometimes all the willpower went away. If I had to choose another way, I would have tried to balance my life, having less time on games and more time for schoolwork. It is a challenge that I have to take on because I don’t want to live under a basement for the rest of my life.

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Photo Credit: https://tinyurl.com/2p9ypwza

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ML During the Pandemic By Zeddrex N. Navarra Grade 12-Euclid

What day is it? That is a question I asked myself everyday for the past four months. It is now the seventh of July 2020 when I checked my calendar. I woke up to the sound of my aunt scolding my cousin for being lazy, just like any other day. The light morning breeze penetrating the bamboo walls of my bedroom kept me glued to my uncomfortable pillow. Just like any other day during the pandemic, I got up at nine and had my morning coffee and sandwich. Once alert and alive, I started my morning grind in the time sink called Mobile Legends, hoping that someday I could reach Mythical Glory. Today, I am just 169

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100 points short of that dream and as the point reset grows near so does my anxiety. I entered my first game of the day only to be annoyed by a person named WitchDoctor6969 by picking an extremely weak character. I have had a fair share of people harassing me in-game in the past and I am at my critical point. I click the chat button and curse WitchDoctor6969 to rot in the lowest rank and to add to my annoyance he replied to me: et putredo in septima die mensis huius septimi erunt in perpetuum ( . . . and rottenness on the seventh day of this seventh month will last forever (Google Translate) There can be no rational conversation with this man. I played as usual, and as expected we were hammered by our opponents. My bad temper will affect my future games so I stopped playing and just did my chores around the house that day. That night I once again opened Mobile Legends since my head has cooled off. As if destiny had it, a player named 9696rotcoDhctiW became my teammate and as in the morning, chaos ensued ending with 9696rotcoDhctiW telling me “perpetuum in erunt septimi huius mensis die septima in putredo et.” The game seemed like a repeat of the morning’s run. Too tired to be angry, I slept in my annoyance at the Mobile Legends. What day is it? I asked myself when I woke up as I did the same routine as yesterday. When I logged in to Mobile Legends, it was as if fate was tricking me that I got teamed up again with WitchDoctor6969.

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Freaked out, I ask my brother what day it is. It’s the seventh day of the seventh month, septima die mensis huius septimi erunt. I realize that I have been cursed to relive the same again by WitchDoctor6969. None of my actions will have any repercussions, nothing matters. One hundred and eighty sevenths of July later, I have done depraved things that no normal human could have done. There were days where I chose to be good and there were days where I tested the limit of my conscience. I have mastered several skills and memorized the actions of every person that I will use. Nothing matters. Only my experiences are retained. Three hundred and sixty-sevenths of July later, I am a husk of who I am, I have acquired all the skills and knowledge that I will ever want or need yet the curse persists. I continue to wake up to the same uncomfortable bed and look the people whom I have deeply wronged in several iterations of the same day in the eyes. How can I go back? What does any of this mean? Five hundred and forty sevenths of July later, I am desperate to break this gaming curse. I have searched every nook and cranny of the dark web for answers, “killing” myself every day just to shorten each miserable day. There is no light at the end of the tunnel there is no hope, there can only be misery.

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Seven hundred and twenty sevenths of July later, I have accepted my fate. I am stuck in this accursed eternal loop with no end in sight. I traveled the world online using forged documents and I enjoyed every country in the span of a single day. I live every moment and return to society. Seven hundred and seventy seventh day into time and space quarantine, I woke up to the sound of my cousin being scolded by his mother for being lazy, just like any other day. The light morning breeze penetrating the bamboo walls of my bedroom came just like any other seventh of July. I got out of the house and ran to a nearby restaurant where a man was about to choke on his food. I Heimliched him and dashed towards the child who was about to fall from a mango tree. As the kid ran away ungratefully, I continued running to go to every person that I am thankful for, and I do as much as I can in a single day. I opened Mobile Legends and expected to see WitchDoctor6969 again and this time I controlled myself and we were able to win. I went to sleep, once again yearning for the curse to end, for the seven hundred and seventieth time. I wake up to the sound of a drizzle. I jumped up and checked my calendar, it moved! Everything mattered again. Everything has

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consequences. I live to tell you the seven hundred and seventy days that I have lived on the seventh day of the seventh month. Life only moves on until we can be kind to each other. You should relish every passing moment of your life; it could one day stop. And if that happens, just call me.

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Photo Credit: https://tinyurl.com/mpdhyx7w

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Metamorphosis By Arabella Shayne S. Braña Grade 12-Ptolemy

March 13, 2020 is the first Friday the 13th of the new decade and, as some people would say, a harbinger of danger and bad luck. Recalling that day, I completed my research and submitted all other requirements due that day. Later in the afternoon, some students were in tears as those in the higher years were bidding each other goodbye. I shared a hug with some of them while my friends and I sadly watched their hurried parting. As we prepared to leave for home, we happily separated with a “See you next week!” ringing in the air. The onset of the pandemic

was

2019 hence its name.

However, the effects were felt a few months later. On March 18,

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my parents and I were discussing whether we would spend the quarantine in the city or in our hometown. After weighing the pros and cons, including the worst scenario, we decided that it would be better if we were surrounded by familiar neighbors. That night, I remember stuffing clothes inside a duffel bag, which looked like I was going on a 3-month long vacation. I downloaded heaps of videos that I thought would entertain me in the province where the wifi was non-existent. I stayed up late just to sort out my thoughts regarding the quarantine we were about to experience. In the morning, I bade my internet router goodbye and finally faced the truth that we were in a medical emergency. I kept thinking about how bad it could be. I imagined having to save up food and money just to get through these trying times. I imagined our dogs starving because we could not buy them more food. I imagined even contracting the virus and having our entire household on lockdown. I was in full panic mode, but not for long. If there was anything I appreciated during the quarantine, it was the time I spent with my family. Being a Pisay scholar, studying demands so much of my time that bonding with family is sometimes compromised. I only went home to visit my elders, aunts, and cousins thrice the previous year – during the semestral break, Christmas break, and summer break. I could not even make it to their birthdays

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because of my tight schedule. Somehow, the quarantine gave me the opportunity to rebuild my ties with my relatives and establish better relationships. Thus, when we arrived in Igbaras to mark our first official day of quarantine, my anxiety flew out of the window and was replaced by excitement brought by the fact that I could be more of a daughter and less of a scholar. The first few weeks of quarantine were all about preparation. My father insisted on buying food in bulk to sustain us for the entire month. In our kitchen, we had two boxes full of goods which had long shelf-lives, but since we have an elderly and a kid in the household, we could not simply depend on canned and processed food. The adults also made sure to buy fresh meat, fish, fruits, and vegetables from the market when it’s our barangay’s turn to do the marketing. I was grateful that we had the means to purchase what we needed. In this aspect, my family and I were considered lucky. When we have finally settled, I made sure not to waste a single moment that I could possibly spend with my family members. I woke up early to have breakfast with them when normally in the city I wake up at noon. I helped do the chores even though my aunt shooed me away a couple of times. I even went as far as assisting my father cook meals when usually I just sit and wait for him to ask me

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to taste his food. I tried not to be a kid inside the house considering I was almost an adult. Growing up, I was somehow treated like a princess because my late grandfather loved me very much. My cousins would always play with me, and I always got away with chores. As a kid I enjoyed it, but as a young adult it was something to be ashamed of. Thus, I made my quarantine a challenge, which is to grow up by shedding the younger, immature, and lazy version of myself, and replacing it with a composed, responsible, and reliable young adult. I began my quest by cleaning my room. Considering it was empty for a few months, dust and dirt piled up. With my mother’s help, we finished the job in about 12 hours, and we were both satisfied with the outcome. I tried to learn how to cook. At 10 in the morning, I stood beside my aunt or my father waiting for anything they’d ask me to do like chopping onions, garlic, and tomatoes. Eventually, I was allowed to cook curry on my own. My first try was not the best, but I’m glad they enjoyed it. The afternoons were spent playing with my cousin and grandma. Sometimes we played cards, most of the time we roleplayed. There were times when we spent the afternoon sleeping. When the

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sun is not too harsh anymore, my father and I walk our dogs. Near our neighborhood, there is an open field perfect for walking dogs and practicing social distance. With face mask and alcohol for hand sanitation, we took the dogs outside so we could exercise while letting the dogs have fun. My quarantine days did not follow a routine. For a week I remember jogging with some friends in the morning but when I suddenly had a fever, I stopped. I chose to stay at home and do my exercise inside. There was also a week when my mother and I were into baking. We borrowed baking equipment from our neighbors and pleaded with my father to buy us the ingredients. Since my aunt was a baker, the three of us enjoyed our “girl sessions” every afternoon of that week. My father also taught me how to drive although just for a few sessions because he was still working during quarantine. I honestly did not learn much to be able to drive alone but I’m proud that I already know how to check the car’s condition before traveling. My days in Igbaras were filled with different adventures mostly done inside the home. The ladies in the house taught me basic things a woman should know how to do, and I enjoyed every single one of them. Little by little, I was growing, and I couldn’t be happier. I felt more responsible. I was proud of myself for learning things not

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only found inside books or on the internet, but practical things done on a daily basis. The quarantine gave me such an opportunity to learn new things. After about two months, we returned to the city since my mother had to prepare for their online class. I bade goodbye to my extended family, but I took with me the memories and lessons from the time I have spent with them. I made a promise to visit them a little more regularly and as of writing, I am fulfilling that promise. We tell each other just how hard it is to adjust to the new normal and give each other advice. I gain a lot of wisdom by listening to the words of the adults, and deep inside, I can’t wait to finally think, sound, and act like them. This pandemic has also made me realize just how lucky I am in life. I have my parents with me who can provide me with my needs. We have a house to shelter us during the night. We have the means to feed ourselves and others. My parents and I also helped our relatives who are not doing so good. We checked up on everyone and offered support when they needed it. I had an aunt and an uncle who contracted the virus, so we helped them to recover.

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How the pandemic changed me is like growing out of my cocoon. Pre-pandemic, I was a simple caterpillar just trying to survive life. I may have proven my potential as a scholar, yet not fully a mature person. Throughout the pandemic I’ve changed myself. I developed life-skills and learned new things. I discovered wings that were hidden inside me all along. From being a caterpillar, I slowly changed into a butterfly, spreading her wings just like how she spreads love in this pandemic.

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Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

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Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars

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Istorya sang Pandemya: Stories and Essays about the COVID-19 Pandemic by PSHS-WVC Scholars