Pandemic snap!

graphics by: Jeri Latorre & Hanz Salvacion

written by: Sam Peniano & Nyrene Paranga

Last March 10, UP Diliman suspended classes and non-essential work in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and restricted access to buildings was implemented right away in the university’s College of Science (CS).

CS laboratories and offices resumed operations months later on June 1, following Metro Manila’s shift to general community quarantine (GCQ). The shift ended an approximately three-month Luzon lockdown or enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) placed to curb the pandemic.

Several weeks before the lockdown, the Institute of Chemistry (IC) Research building was still bustling with day-to-day activities—research assistants (RAs) carrying paperwork, delivery personnel unloading parcels, and a herd of students clad in lab gown marching to an instrument room.

Starting June, there were new day-to-day norms across all buildings within the College of Science—a pause for temperature reading, a sanitation routine at the entrance and, in some buildings, the lack of familiar colleagues to bump into in the hallways, only printed arrows guiding the one-way clockwise foot traffic. Beyond the visible protocol changes, the challenges of lockdown aftermath amid a still-uncontained pandemic were just beginning.

In the post-ECQ period, the first six weeks after GCQ declaration, researchers in CS returned to face modified work arrangements, strict working guidelines, and a race to catch up on delayed research projects affected by region-wide work suspension placed on March 15.

Ongoing projects were delayed for at least four months, according to Dr. Ricky Nellas, CS Associate Dean for Research, Innovation, Development, and Enterprise (AD RIDE). Laboratory operations were suspended during the ECQ; in addition, after the ECQ, only a maximum of 50 percent of the personnel are allowed to physically report to work.

The UP Diliman Post-ECQ Guidelines recommends campus units to identify which of “essential” and “priority” work requires physical presence in offices and to implement workfrom-home arrangement when possible (e.g. attending to manuscripts, reports, and other administrative tasks).

Various directors from CS institutes stated that all research projects have been affected in some way. For institutes with studies involving field work, the Marine Science Institute (MSI), for instance—not only the lack of workforce in the CS premises has affected these projects, but also the travel restrictions across the Philippines.

Before the pandemic, around four to seven out of the 22 sections of the MSI would send researchers to work at field locations such as the Benham Rise, the Kalayaan Islands, Batanes, and Tawi-tawi all year long.

“We’ve only successfully gone to [the] field three times—all of them involving going to the UPD-CSMSI Bolinao Marine Laboratory. Bolinao, Pangasinan allowed work a month earlier than NCR,” Dr. Laura David, MSI Director, said. She also mentioned concerns on the lack of existing studies on the susceptibility of divers to COVID-19.

“Overall, the ongoing crisis has led CS researchers to request for project extensions, for recalibration of work plans and deliverables, for realignment of budget, and for extended deadline of report submissions,” Nellas wrote to Scientia in an email correspondence.

Months worth of delay may cause major setbacks on science projects that are granted funding on time-bound contracts. An estimate of 500 research assistants are working on various projects of research institutions in the college. In 2018 alone, the college amassed 1.65 B of total project funding from various agencies including the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

The UP Diliman Post-ECQ Guidelines required all workplaces within campus to conduct temperature screening before entry, to suspend the use of biometric scanners, and to install alcohol dispensers and foot baths across all workplaces within campus. The campus-wide guidelines were implemented under Administrative Order No. FRN-20-052 dated May 13.

CS implemented specific safety protocols such as limiting the number of staff (usually a maximum of four) in a laboratory room and reducing each staff’s physical attendance to only two to three days per week. Social distancing, wearing masks, and constant sanitization of facilities were also observed.

On July 20, Dr. Giovanni Tapang, the Dean of CS, announced the extended implementation of Post-ECQ Guidelines to July 31 along with several amendments. The college regulated access to its premises to curfew hours of 8 P.M. to 7 A.M. Staying overnight was allowed within the limit of one authorized personnel at a time.

Returning workers were required to accomplish a Health Checklist and Health Screening Form to conduct self-monitoring of symptoms, exposure, and travel history prior to going to the campus. According to the CS Post-ECQ Guidelines, personnel who are residents of areas with “high-density of COVID-19 cases” should not physically report to work.

Service laboratories including the MSI, the IC and the Institute of Biology (IB) temporarily suspended external services.

Meeting deadlines and advancing progress on projects continued to be halted by the global pandemic. Limited working conditions inevitably come with various challenges depending on the nature of laboratory procedures involved.

An RA from IC described how a lab procedure that used to take around only five days may take up to three weeks in the post-ECQ period. Laboratory procedures involving extensive reaction time (e.g. 24 hours for one reaction) cannot be performed consecutively in a twoday work schedule, causing succeeding reactions to be rescheduled to the following week. Some research workers also experienced working overnight at the institute to make significant progress in projects.

Furthermore, returning workers endure health risks, travel limitations, and the lack of add-on insurance for COVID-19, as noted by Nellas.

Several frontliners have voiced out such grievances to gain the attention of their institute administration. According to Dr. Ian Fontanilla, Director of the Institute of Biology (IB), frontliner maintenance personnel expressed concern over exposure risk and difficulty of walking the long distance between home and work. The commute risk was just an addition to the risks of COVID-19 exposure from cleaning the institute facilities.

To reduce exposure while traveling, the working days for frontliners were reduced from six to three consecutive days, forming two groups, “MTueW” and “ThFS”. The personnel were also provided goggles, masks, gloves, temporary sleeping areas for workers who lived far, and briefing on Post-ECQ guidelines and policies on safety.

Research projects involve various paperwork such as procurement processing, receiving deliveries, and outsourcing services. In the middle of the pandemic, laboratories and offices also faced communication difficulties. For instance, research workers who outsourced assay services from external institutions faced difficulties in getting contact with those offices regarding their samples.

Besides these, the processing of documents needed in administrative tasks face delays because of the restricted access and the need for decontamination. Some RAs experienced salary delays when documents were halted by the lockdown.

Existing technologies and the adaptability of UP Diliman to e-transactions had eased some challenges of processing documents, but legal limits still caused lags.

“Government rules also require hard copies of documents with liquid signatures. Getting people to sign these documents and bringing them to the required offices also take time, and unnecessarily put people at risk,” Dr. Fontanilla stated.

Despite the various constraints, some CS researchers are eager to return to work on their respective research projects. Not only graduate students have returned to the college premises for laboratory work. Shaina Cervera, a recent BS Chemistry graduate, finished her thesis laboratory work during the post-ECQ period.

When NCR shifted to GCQ, Cervera braved a nine-hour trip from Isabela to Quezon City with only one stop-over to spend about fifteen days working in the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory at IC. One of her motivations was her aspiration to become a doctor.

“I really wanted to graduate this semester, especially because I’m about to enter med school this coming school year. Not finishing the experiment would mean no manuscript and no graduation for me, so that would delay me for a year, and I don’t think I can afford to waste that much time knowing the long process of being a doctor,” Cervera explained.

Performing experiment trials for her undergraduate thesis with reduced workforce was not an easy feat. Cervera encouraged other thesis students to “only do lab work and go to IC if [they] really need to,” to bring complete lab PPE, to go straight home after working hours, and to bring packed food and water.

At MSI, the admin continues to get several requests from research workers to be allowed to report to work, according to David.

“Masipag at dedicated talaga ang researchers ng MSI,” the MSI director said. However, they have to limit access to a maximum of fifty percent of the workforce, in accordance with the university’s safety guidelines.

The CS administration plans to gradually increase the manpower of the college under GCQ. At the same time, according to the Office of the AD RIDE, research units intend to (1) “proceed with experiments and achieve promised deliverables”; (2) “proceed with onsite activities if needed”; (3) “cautiously proceed with field works if given permission from UPD, LGUs, and national government”; and (4) “continue writing manuscripts, proposals, and reports.”

However, UP Diliman once again closed its offices on August 4 following the national government’s announcement to place NCR under Modified ECQ (MECQ) from August 3 to 18. The UP Diliman Post-ECQ Guidelines was temporarily suspended.

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