The UP Forum July-September 2019 Vol. 20 No. 3

the UP Forum Elena E. Pernia Editor in Chief

Frances Fatima M. Cabana Art Director

Celeste Ann L. Castillo Managing Editor

8 Space Age Spine Surgery for Filipinos

2

Tech, Plant-based Products Shown at NIH Conference

5

From Computers to Communities

8

Flora B. Cabangis Copy Editor

Celeste Ann L. Castillo Stephanie S. Cabigao Frederick E. Dabu Andre dP. Encarnacion Jo Florendo B. Lontoc Khalil Ismael Michael G. Quilinguing Arlyn VCD Palisoc Romualdo J. Mikhail G. Solitario Writers/Researchers

Peter Paul D. Vallejos Layout Artist

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9

Abraham Q. Arboleda Misael A. Bacani Jonathan M. Madrid

14

Photographers

Nena R. Barcebal Databank Manager

J. Mikhail G. Solitario

Forum Online Website Administrator

Fighting Leptospirosis with a Local Vaccine

12

UP-led International Team Discovers New Human Species in the Philippines

14

IUCN Red-listing of Tawilis Reveals Advocacy of Philippine Scientists

16

Alicia B. Abear Michael R. Basco Roberto G. Eugenio Tomas M. Maglaya Cristy M. Salvador Administrative Staff

18 Math + Culture for Indigenous Peoples

18

In Systems and in Health

22

This Doc Sees Dead People

27

Cover design by Peter Vallejos, UP MPRO. Back cover photo by Misael Bacani, UP MPRO.

UP Media and Public Relations Office University of the Philippines System, UP Diliman, Quezon City Trunkline (632) 8981-8500 local 2550, 2552, 2549 E-mail: upforum@up.edu.ph up.edu.ph

Some models of the spine and tools used in minimally invasive spine surgery at the University of Philippines Manila’s College of Medicine. Photo by Bong Arboleda, UP MPRO.

CONTENTS

In this issue of the UP Forum, we chose to reprint feature articles that were first published under the Profiles and Breakthroughs section on the UP System website, highlighting just a few of the ways that UP researchers, faculty, students, staff and alumni contribute directly to the well-being of communities and the public—through scientific and medical research, through volunteerism, and through outstanding public service.

In this sense, this issue of the Forum is a tribute to the UP Community’s commitment to the principles the University stands for: honor and excellence harnessed in compassionate service to country and humanity.

Elena E. Pernia Editor in Chief

Space Age Spine Surgery for Filipinos Andre DP. Encarnacion

S

Read Online

Sitting in the UP College of Medicine’s Department of Anatomy, Dr. Rafael Bundoc began by explaining how a big part of his mission was to change the attitudes of Filipinos when it comes to spine surgery. Spread out in front of the orthopedic surgeon as he spoke were his tools—silver streamlined instruments of various lengths. These instruments, and how to use them, held the key to the future of his discipline in the country, Bundoc said.

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R

While he is up to the challenge, Bundoc does indeed have several minds to change. The idea of having your spine operated on is a dreadful thought for patients and doctors alike. This fear was born in the 1960s and 1970s, when spine surgeries were long, bloody affairs.

2 0 1 9

“In the past it was very dangerous,” he said, “because you go down to the spine, which is a very deep part of the body. To open it up is very bloody and of course, there’s the idea that you might get paralyzed because you have your nerves there. That’s really scary.”

However, Bundoc insisted that technological advances have mostly made these scary scenarios a thing of the past. In their place, we now have a set of tools and techniques that make up Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (MISS). MISS allows doctors to get a threedimensional view of your spinal area and the ability to operate on it directly, while leaving only a tiny incision.

This not only makes surgeries more precise, it also allows patients to recuperate faster. It also dramatically reduces hospital stays for patients, and the resulting expenses.

As one of the pioneers of MISS in the country, Bundoc is committed to showing both colleagues and patients that this new world is one worth discovering. And as the chair of the 5th ASEAN Minimally Invasive Spine Surgical Techniques (MISST) 2019 Congress, he also now wants to show the world that the Philippines can be a leader in using these techniques to improve countless lives.

2

The UP Forum

Space Age Spine Surgery for Filipinos

Five ailments When talking of innovative surgical techniques, an obvious question might be: what conditions do they treat? Bundoc says there are five fundamental conditions that afflict humans throughout their lifetime: trauma, congenital deformities, infections, neoplasms (cancers), and degenerative conditions.

Bundoc said that of these five, the most common he had encountered affecting the spine are: trauma, infections and degenerative conditions.

“We see a lot of trauma now, especially now that we have so many motorcycles. We treat these minimally invasively because we don’t want to worsen the injury.

You already have a massive wound and we don’t want to give you another one.”

Of the infections, the most common he sees is tuberculosis of the spine. Today, with minimally invasive techniques, he and his colleagues need not split open a person’s back to drain the pus from the spine.

“Now we just have to make a very small hole, and we’re able to drain the infection.”

page 4

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9

Dr. Rafael Bundoc of the University of the Philippines - Philippine General Hospital (UP PGH) Department of Orthopedics. Photo by Bong Arboleda, UP MPRO.

The UP Forum

3

Space Age Spine Surgery for Filipinos

page 3

But hands down, the most common and what most people associate with spinal problems are degenerative conditions, specifically slipped discs and stenoses. “Our population is graying,” Bundoc says. “Filipinos are living longer and, as we age, we develop lots of spine problems.” For him, the thought of opening the back of an already aged person is a traumatic experience that no patient should go through. Hence, minimally invasive techniques can be both an effective and a dignified solution.

Bundoc explains how the problem evolves in the case of stenosis. “You have a canal in your spine,” he says.

And like most other canals in nature, the size of the channel eventually decreases as deposits build up on the bone, in this case, calcium. “Your bones and your ligaments get thicker, and when your spinal cord gets compressed, your back hurts. You can’t walk, and your lower extremities hurt.”

Millimeters So how does a spine surgeon like Bundoc solve a problem like that? He walks us through a typical surgical process from beginning to end.

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R

First, after the room has been sterilized and the patient’s back has been scrubbed, a radiology technologist takes a fluoroscopy, a special X-ray of the area to be operated on. After this, and once the patient has been duly anaesthetized, surgeons like Bundoc make what is called a ‘‘stab incision,’’ or a very tiny cut on the back just big enough to fit a specialized endoscope only a few millimeters in diameter.

2 0 1 9

This scope is connected to a camera system that ends in a set of monitors that allow Bundoc and his colleagues to have a three-dimensional view of the pathology and its surrounding structures. By inserting other very fine instruments, like the pituitary rongeur, a surgeon can then deal with the problem, such as the removal of vertebral discs or bone spurs.

“If you’re going to operate on just a small area, why not direct your attention to just that small area? So other structures can be spared.”

After the surgery, there is virtually no bleeding from the tiny incision made on the patient. Typically, only a single suture is needed to close it; and for patients with good skin, Bundoc says a Band-Aid may suffice.

“Then the patient lies down for around an hour to rest.

Afterwards, they get up and go home.”

Taking only about an hour, the surgery is a far cry from past procedures where patients needed to recuperate in the hospital for one to two weeks. “We even needed blood transfusions, maybe 1-2 bags. These days we don’t even prepare blood anymore.”

4

The UP Forum

Changing minds While the marriage of engineering and medicine has allowed spine surgeons like Bundoc to perform what previous generations might call miraculous operations, it has not been easy for developing countries like the Philippines to train enough specialists to meet demand.

The cost of the surgery remains the most significant barrier. Getting a complete set of tools like the ones Bundoc uses (for which he had to borrow money to acquire) can cost upward of P9 million. Moreover, getting fellowships to master the techniques requires many months of staying in developed countries like Korea, which can be too much for a young physician.

This is the reason Bundoc was excited about the 5th ASEAN MISST in Manila. With help from local government agencies and the North American Spine Society, the convention brought speakers from 21 countries and four continents to Manila last June 26.

The primary focus of the event was mentorship.

Notably, the first two days were a cadaveric workshop, where younger colleagues practiced their techniques on cadavers, ensuring that they can gain mastery there before moving on to the real thing.

For Bundoc, the next generation could not come any sooner. “Take Korea for example,” he said. “They have a population of 58 million, and, would you believe, around 4,000 spine surgeons. We have a population of 110 million and we only have around 140 spine surgeons. That’s not enough, we have to train more.”

Bundoc noted that 70 percent of all consultations in an orthopedic or neurology clinic are for complaints of some sort of back pain. “And of that 70 percent, maybe 30 percent are candidates for surgery. That may not sound like a lot, but in a country of 110 million, that is a lot of patients.”

“And that’s just for the back,” he continued. “If it gets worse, you get weakness of the legs. And how can you work, much less go around if you have weakness of the legs because of a spine problem?” Sometimes the only solution is to have an operation. “And for those who need it, MISS is heaven-sent.”

Scan to learn more about the 5th ASEAN MISST: 5thaseanmisst.org.

The 2014 version of the RxBox. Photo from the NIH-UP Manila.

Tech, Plant-based Products Shown at NIH Conference

T

2 0 1 9

Frederick E. Dabu

Read Online

The 21st anniversary conference of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-University of the Philippines Manila (UP Manila), held in partnership with the UP Manila Technology Transfer and Business Development Office (TTBDO), focused on the objective of turning health research into innovative products, policies and solutions for the benefit of society. It was held in February 2019 at the Bayanihan Center, UNILAB Inc. complex, Pasig City.

Among the “future products,” laboratory-tested technologies, and innovative solutions featured were: virtual reality applications for phobia therapies; electronic medical record systems; and medicines derived from Tsaang gubat, Ulasimang bato, Yerba buena, and Akapulko herbs.

Keynote and plenary speakers during the day-long scientific conference discussed the many processes, factors, lessons and examples concerning the theme, “Lab to Life: Translating Health Research for Filipinos.” Their presentations encouraged meaningful collaboration among research institutions and study groups from various disciplines, government agencies and corporations in order to impact national policies, protect intellectual properties of researchers and institutions, improve existing products and services, and promote advancements or new solutions that are commercially viable through innovations in research and technology transfer.

The UPM-TTBDO describes YANIG as “a virtual reality application designed as an alternative way of exposing patients with earthquake-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to their stressors.”

This application for Android mobile devices can simulate earthquakes with intensity levels ranging from 4 to 10 and allows the therapist to customize the parameters of the virtual environment and auditory cues to settings that are appropriate to the patient’s conditions.

The UP Forum

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R

YANIG: A Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Earthquake-related PTSD

5

Tech, Plant-based Products Shown at NIH Conference

VRETA: Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Agoraphobia VRETA is an application designed to supplement treatment for patients with agoraphobia, the irrational fear of being in open or public spaces which is a type of anxiety disorder. According to the proponents, the program provides “exposure therapy” using virtual environments, reduces the time and cost of finding a suitable public place, and can generate a progress report after each simulation. It also protects the person’s privacy.

AVRET: Acrophobia Virtual Reality Exposure Treatment AVRET is a program designed to help therapists treat patients with acrophobia, or the irrational fear of heights. Like the YANIG and VRETA applications, AVRET provides a virtual environment that the therapist can customize for the patients, allow more privacy at less cost, minimize the risks posed by the outdoors, and generate progress reports after each simulation.

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R

RxBox and CHITS “RxBox is a multi-component program designed to provide better access to life-saving health services in isolated and disadvantaged communities nationwide.”

It includes the continuous development of “a biomedical device, the Community Health Information Tracking System (CHITS—a pioneering electronic medical record system) and telemedicine, and their integration and eHealth training of rural health professionals.” Around 160 government primary care facilities use RxBox. CHITS is a secure and interoperable EMR capable of transmitting electronic reports to the Department of Health (DOH) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

Around 180 public health centers are using CHITS.

2 0 1 9

Tsaang gubat leaves. Photo from the Facebook page of the Department of Health.

Tsaang gubat for stomach problems Tsaang gubat leaves are prepared and drunk as tea to relieve patients’ stomach problems and loose bowel movement. The NIRPROMP developed the Tsaang gubat tablet as a safe and effective medicine for relieving abdominal pain and for treating mild to severe gastrointestinal or biliary colics within 30 minutes to 1.5 hours.

The Tsaang gubat tablet is the only clinically proven herbal medicine in the Philippines to address gastroenteritis, diarrhea, and gallstones.

The National Integrated Research Program on Medicinal Plants - Institute of Health (NIRPROMPIHM) of UP Manila also showcased some of their research products sourced from Philippine plants and herbs.

Akapulko leaves. Photo from the Facebook page of the Department of Health.

6

The UP Forum

Tech, Plant-based Products Shown at NIH Conference

Ulasimang bato for treating hyperuricemia, gout Traditionally, Ulasimang bato or pansit-pansitan leaves have been used as a decoction to treat gout, arthritis and urinary tract infections. Clinical trials conducted by the NIRPROMP show that Ulasimang bato relieves the patients’ joint pains and decreases serum uric acid levels within two to seven weeks of continuous oral intake.

This product is available in 500 mg tablet form.

Yerba buena for pain Yerba buena, an aromatic herb also known as mint, spearmint or marshmint, has been taken as a tea for headaches, toothaches and arthritis. NIRPROMP’s clinical studies prove the Yerba buena tablet formulation to be safe and effective in relieving moderate to severe pain, including post-operative pain.

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R

Ulasimang bato, also known as pansit-pansitan leaves. Photo from the Facebook page of the Department of Health.

2 0 1 9

Akapulko for treating fungal skin infections NIRPROMP’s clinical tests prove the Akapulko lotion to be safe and effective in treating Pityriasis (Tinea) versicolor or fungal skin infections.

Pharmaceutical companies are invited to produce, manufacture and distribute these products in the Philippine market.

The UPM-TTBDO may be reached via email: ttbdo@post. upm.edu.ph.

Yerba buena also known as mint leaves. Photo from the Facebook page of the Department of Health.

The UP Forum

7

From Computers to Communities J. Mikhail G. Solitario

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9

Chad during a solidarity program in commemoration of the September 1 Lianga massacre. Photo from Chad Booc.

8

The UP Forum

From Computers to Communities

Read Online

O

One thousand three hundred kilometers from the airconditioned halls of the Batasang Pambansa is an open-air barangay gymnasium jampacked with hundreds of members from a Lumad community. This is where Chad Errol Booc, a volunteer teacher for high school students in the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (ALCADEV), has been staying for almost a week prior to the president’s state of the nation address (SONA). Their community fled the agricultural school, which is also a boarding school, due to continued threats to the peace and order of the area.

ALCADEV was established in 2004 as an “alternative learning system especially designed to provide secondary education to indigent Indigenous youth from the Manobo, Higaonon, Banwaon, Talandig, and Mamanwa” in the Surigao and Agusan provinces comprising CARAGA. Academic courses are taught in a way as to include vocational and technical skills, often rooted in agricultural traditions in their respective communities. The need for establishing schools arose when Lumad leaders realized how education could shield them from abuse. In the past, they were tricked into signing spurious contracts that gave away their ancestral land for a few cans of sardines. It was when the Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur was created, which then gave birth to ALCADEV.

Hailing from the UP College of Engineering in Diliman, Chad earned his computer science degree cum laude and was recognized for his undergraduate research project that he had presented in academic forums abroad. He was cut out for a corporate life just like most of his peers. But exactly five SONAs ago, he joined a rally for the first time and began seeing other realities and possibilities.

Chad became an activist and found himself in the middle of Manilakbayan 2015 on the eve of the killing of the ALCADEV executive director at that time. “I witnessed how the Lumad stood up as a tribe for self-governance and self-determination; how they built and ran their own school without our help, even if we are deemed more educated because we finished college,” he recalls. This encounter inspired and challenged him at the same time; and after graduation, he veered off the corporate track and eventually decided to volunteer in Mindanao in 2016.

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9

He chose ALCADEV because, prior to graduation, he had the chance to integrate with the community for several weeks. It was particularly difficult explaining the decision to his family. But through several Facebook posts and even more hours patiently sharing his firsthand struggles and adventures with his worried family, he finally made progress. His choice appealed to the humanitarian sensibilities of his parents, both active members of their church. Serving the oppressed and marginalized was a value they shared. page 11

The UP Forum

9

From Computers to Communities

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9

Chad poses with his students as they return to ALCADEV after weeks in evacuation. Photo from Chad Booc.

10

The UP Forum

From Computers to Communities

page 9

Agriculture as source code The primary goal of ALCADEV is to empower and equip its students to be self-sufficient and self-reliant, and to rear the next generation of leaders in their communities.

Students are trained to take on leadership roles in communitybased work as future teachers, health workers, agriculturists, and local leaders. Some graduates of ALCADEV are now helping pilot their own agricultural schools in SOCSARGEN in solidarity. The “boarding school” format ensures a more holistic style of education.

Chad remarks, “Agriculture is at the center of each learning area.

For example, in English we teach translation of agricultural terms.

In math, we learn how to compute for the most equitable distribution of yield from the plantations. We also teach basic farming so what they harvest is what we consume together here in ALCADEV.” Chad is currently handling math classes for second- and third-year students and science classes for freshmen. On a typical school day, he wakes up at 5 or earlier to work on the farm with his students and to prepare for classes later that day. Morning sessions are usually spent on academic classes, while afternoons are for more leisurely activities, such as sports, games, and value education workshops.

“Our role as teachers is not confined to teaching; we are sometimes advisers, even doctors or nurses when something happens to them,” Chad confides. “We also schedule engagements outside the comfort of our campus, such as when there are military attacks when we put on the hats of paralegals and human rights workers.” With Chad in ALCADEV are two other UP Diliman psychology and education graduates. He also handles the promotion arm of ALCADEV by establishing the school’s social media presence as a way to advance its advocacy and show outsiders what its around 150 students are accomplishing.

The UP Forum

Debugging misconceptions There are still many conflicting stories reaching Manila on the situation in Mindanao, particularly in Lumad schools like ALCADEV. But when asked what the biggest misconception about his vocation is, Chad replies, “I’m still taken aback when people tell me ‘Wow, what a big sacrifice you’re making!’ when I tell them I’m a volunteer teacher in a Lumad school.” He realizes that what people perceive as a burdensome life has actually felt lighter.

“Now, I’m no longer alone in what I do because we perform all the tasks as a collective. I’m not chained to self-enrichment because I don’t have to worry about paying bills as a corporate slave in a cutthroat environment. In that setup, one can easily lose a sense of purpose. What is all this work for? For whom?” He relates that his work gives him drive because he knows he directly contributes to furthering the cause of an aggrieved sector in society.

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9

His advice to fresh graduates and fellow iskolars looking to volunteer?

Go for it. Immerse and integrate with basic sectors, Lumad, peasants, farmers, and workers.

During his tenure, he is learning many useful skills such as basic journalism and documentation, community organizing, even public relations. He believes there is no point in romanticizing what he does because it should not be viewed as a deviation, but rather the baseline of what a UP student must offer the people he or she serves.

11

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R

Leptospira magnified 200 times with a darkfield microscope. Photo by bluuurgh from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leptospirosis_darkfield.jpg.

2 0 1 9

Fighting Leptospirosis with a Local Vaccine

“

Andre DP. Encarnacion and Khalil Ismael Michael G. Quilinguing

Read Online

“It takes 10 to 14 years to develop a vaccine,” says Dr. Nina Gloriani of the University of the Philippines Manila College of Public Health. And that’s not counting the intervening periods where one attends to other professional and personal activities that also require time and attention. Recently, however, she and her team have registered the proof of concept for LeptoVax, the first locally produced vaccine against the Leptospirosis bacteria.

With assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan Science and Technology Agency, and in collaboration with scientists

12

The UP Forum

from Kyushu University and the Chiba Institute of Science, Dr. Gloriani and her team developed LeptoVax in 2010. It is expected to be used on house pets and livestock to protect them from the Leptospira bacteria that is transmitted by rats.

Aside from the team’s foreign partners, the project was also supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), particularly the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development.

Fighting Leptospirosis with a Local Vaccine

Over the years, the research team studied the various factors affecting the transmission of Leptospirosis in Metro Manila, using a Geographic Information System (GIS). They also developed diagnostic kits and conducted advocacy campaigns for information and health promotion against Leptospirosis. These came on top of the vaccine that they hope to develop further for human use.

Using samples collected from individuals affected with the bacteria, the team was able to identify several areas nationwide where Leptospirosis strains are present and being spread by rats and other animals. “We actually have around 10 regions: from Regions 1, 3, 4A, 5, that’s Bicol region. Of course, the NCR. We worked with Region 6, Region 7, Regions 8, 10, 11,” Dr. Gloriani says.

In July of this year, the Department of Health declared a Leptospirosis outbreak in several parts of Metro Manila when the number of individuals infected with the bacteria increased. In a news report on DZMM, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said 58 had died out of the 454 patients admitted to hospitals from January to July 2018.

Originally believed to be a seasonal disease that occurs during the rainy season, Leptospirosis has become endemic in some areas, according to Dr. Gloriani. “For example, Region 6, the Iloilo-Western Visayas region, has a lot of agricultural lands and we have farmers, we have a lot of livestock there. Even without extensive floods, they have many cases.” The rainy season, she adds, aids in spreading the disease more quickly and affecting more people in populated areas.

Dr. Gloriani warns that despite the common notion in the country that the bacteria spreads when one comes in contact with surfaces contaminated by the urine and wastes of rats, research in other countries have also shown that bats are a reservoir of the Leptospira bacteria. She says that it can also spread via waterrelated activities or sports.

In research papers available on the United States’ Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website, scientists from Brazil, China, Madagascar, and the Union of the Comoros have recorded incidents in some areas in their countries where bats have tested positive for Leptospirosis. The CDC also lists buffaloes, cattle, goats, horses and sheep as among the animals that may aid in spreading the virus.

Asked on what can be done to stem the tide of Leptospirosis in several areas in the country, Dr. Gloriani sums it up in two words: hygiene and sanitation. She says the bacteria spread due to the problematic waste and drainage situation in many areas of the country. “Until we solve problems in public

engineering, Leptospirosis outbreaks will continue,” she emphasized.

Dr. Gloriani’s teammate, Dr. Sharon Villanueva, agrees with correcting the notion that rats are the only culprits in spreading the bacteria. “It is not only spread by rats or during floods or heavy rains and flood. But it can also be spread by other animals like dogs and livestock animals,” Dr. Villanueva says. She adds that Leptospirosis can also be acquired by a person who comes in contact with soil on which the bacteria may be present.

Dr. Villanueva underscores information dissemination and awareness as essential tools in the fight against Leptospirosis. She adds that efforts to address the disease must also involve whole communities and not only those who have contracted it.

Dr. Villanueva says that while providing affected patients with prophylaxis can help individuals affected with Leptospirosis, a more holistic approach against the bacteria would be more effective in preventing it from infecting a community. “Of course, we cannot completely eliminate the rats. So, what we have to do is really clean our environment, our surroundings, so as to prevent the infestation of rats,” she says.

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R

Dr. Villanueva has been working with Dr. Gloriani on LeptoVax since 2012. And they have conducted research in various locations in the country where several strains of Leptospirosis exist. In their findings they were able to identify two serovars common in the country: Leptospira interrogans serovar Manilae and Leptospira interrogans serovar Losbanos. They were also able to identify two serogroups: Leptospira interrogans serogroup Grippotyphosa and Leptospira borgpetersenii serogoup Javanica.

2 0 1 9

While it may still take some time to fully complete LeptoVax trials on animals, Dr. Gloriani is optimistic that the findings from their tests will be positive. After successful tests on hamsters, she and her team hope to conduct tests on carabaos and dogs. Dogs, she says, are very susceptible to the bacteria. “We believe that a lot of the human cases also come from dogs, not just rats contaminating the environment,” she says.

While concentrating on developing the vaccine that would protect livestock and pets from Leptospirosis, Drs. Gloriani and Villanueva, and the rest of their team, aim to eventually produce a vaccine that can be used by humans. Villanueva, however, speaks with caution, as producing one is not an easy undertaking.

Short of that, the team hopes, at the very least, to limit the spread of Leptospirosis among animals with which humans spend most of their days.

The UP Forum

13

UP-led International Team Discovers New Human Species in the Philippines

A

An international multidisciplinary team, led by University of the Philippines Associate Professor Armand Salvador B. Mijares, discovered a new human species, the Homo luzonensis, from an excavation site inside Callao Cave in Peñablanca, Cagayan.

Mijares said the hominin fossils and teeth are from at least three individuals, nicknamed Ubag after a mythical cave man, that were excavated in 2007, 2011 and 2015.

He and the members of his team, paleoanthropologist Florent Détroit of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, zooarchaeologist Philip Piper of Australian National University, and geochronologist Rainer Grün of Griffith University, dug up the hominin fossils from a sedimentary level located three meters below the current surface of the cave floor.

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9

Uranium-series (u-series) dating, which is a method used to calculate age via the radioactive decay of uranium, determined the fossils to be 50-67,000 years old. These would make them the earliest human remains to be discovered in the Philippines, predating even the Homo sapiens found on Palawan island to the south estimated at 3040,000 years.

14

The species was first described by Mijares and his team in a 2010 article through a single metatarsal bone. Comparative analyses via 3-dimensional imaging methods and geometric morphometrics showed that Homo luzonensis had a mix of primitive features resembling Australopithecus and more modern ones closer to Homo sapiens. This singular combination of traits distinguishes it from other representatives of the genus Homo, especially its contemporaries known in Southeast Asia like Homo floresiensis, which was discovered in Indonesia in 2004.

Luzon, which is the largest island in the Philippines, was not known to be accessible by foot during the Quaternary period (around 2.588 million years ago to present), and is recognized for its high rate of endemism. Discovered anthropogenic elements such as stone tools and the remains of animals, including a nearly complete rhinoceros with clear marks of butchery in the Kalinga, are evidence that hominines were present on the island for at least 700,000 years ago.

Like Homo floresiensis, which was nicknamed “hobbit” by the scientific community, Homo

The UP Forum

luzonensis probably represents another species of the genus Homo that evolved under the effects of insular endemism, while being unique. Where it came from and how it got here remain largely a mystery, but its presence highlights the complexity and diversity of hominine migrations and the evolutionary history in the islands of Southeast Asia.

“The study situates the Philippines as a major area for evolutionary research,” Mijares said. “This discovery, to me, is a dedication to the Filipino people. It is our contribution to Filipino heritage and to the world’s heritage.”

The project that led to the discovery of Homo luzonensis was funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Leakey Foundation Research Grant, and the University of the Philippines via the Enhanced Creative Work and Research Grant in cooperation with the National Museum of the Philippines, the Cagayan Provincial Government, and the Protected Area Management Board-Peñablanca.

Professor Armand B. Mijares with the history-making fossils of Homo luzonensis. Photo by Misael Bacani, UP MPRO.

Read Online

Andre DP. Encarnacion

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9

The UP Forum

15

IUCN Red-listing of Tawilis Reveals Advocacy of Philippine Scientists Read Online

Jo. Florendo B. Lontoc

T

The humble tawilis is famous for being the only Sardinella fish to live entirely in freshwater, and it can only be found in Taal Lake.

Surrounding towns and cities consider the tawilis a staple food, and tourists love them deep-fried and served with Batangas bulalo.

But the public has realized that all is not well with the fish population and its home. A cursory Google search on tawilis as an endangered species yields a slew of news articles that echoed sudden public panic in the wake of a reassessment of the fish’s status by the Switzerland-based International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in October 2018.

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9

Before then, news on the endangerment of the tawilis had been few and far between, even after multiple warnings from the scientific community.

Despite moderate progress being made via recently imposed fishing regulations, long sought after by the scientists, there has been a state of denial and pushback from people who depend on the lake for their livelihood.

But a more complete story of the tawilis, as well as the key to its survival, is already in the lakesoaked hands of scientists—a tale of declining catch, pollution, wanton fishing, and careless human development.

16

The advocacy of scientists

by Leah Villanueva.

“The catch was dwindling, and fish size was smaller and thin,” Augustus C. Mamaril of the UP Diliman Institute of Biology quotes general observations from the lakeside town as far back as the 1990s. He raised the alarm on the lake, which has been a field demonstration and specimen collection site for his biology class since the late 1980s.

Mutia, a UP Los Baños alumna, was a research assistant of the Taal Lake pioneer environmental scientist, Dr. Macrina Zafaralla, also of UP Los Baños. Mutia serendipitously found herself assigned to a biological station in Taal, Batangas, when she worked for BFAR in the early 1990s. Her immersive devotion to the study of the lake fisheries led to a love for the town, which she has since called home. Her work now forms the backbone of most studies on the tawilis.

His motivations for proposing the translocation of tawilis to Lake Lanao in northern Mindanao in 1997 were scientific as well as sentimental. He was inspired by the all-out assistance extended by the late Raymundo Punongbayan, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, whose fascination with the geology of the lake paralleled Mamaril’s fascination with the life it has produced and sustained.

“Tawilis and practically all of the Taal biota, including a highly venomous marine snake, are the end product, or captives, of a violent volcanic eruption in geologically recent times,” Mamaril says. “The organisms are of marine origin. There was a time when sharks swam in Taal!”

Maria Theresa Mercene-Mutia of the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI) points to declining catch, observed through at least 20 years’ worth of research dating back to the 1990s. Initial exploitation rates were contributed by studies published in 1996 by the scientists of Southern Tagalog Integrated Agricultural Research Center, led

The UP Forum

She is not alone in her work.

Before 1991, the spawning characteristics of tawilis were studied by a BFAR team headed

by Simeona Aypa; and around 1999, aspects of its reproductive biology were further researched by Alicia Ely Joson-Pagulayan, a UP Diliman alumna currently with the University of Santo Tomas (UST). In 2008, Rey Donne Papa of the UST looked into the fish’s diet, which mostly consists of tiny floating zooplankton animals.

Papa has put together a team of UST-based researchers to further research Taal zooplankton. In 2011, a team from the UP Diliman Institute of Biology, headed by Jonas Quilang and Brian Santos, did a DNA analysis of the tawilis.

All of these studies provided muchneeded data for the environmental planners responsible for the Taal Volcano Protected Landscape (TVPL). Sadly, despite numerous public consultations and symposia, the scientists’ recommendations remained largely on paper.

IUCN Red-listing of Tawilis Reveals Advocacy of Philippine Scientists

The serendipity of red-listing Then in 2017, their published works were used as the bases for the IUCN assessment that redlisted the tawilis. Mudjekeewis Santos, the principal author, said that the IUCN report merely reiterates the work and advocacy of the Filipino scientists.

Santos, a UP Baguio alumnus and a National Academy of Science and Technology Academician, belongs to the same institution as Mutia. The co-authors of the IUCN assessment include BFAR’s Francisco Torres, a Fisheries alumnus of UP Diliman, and Quilang of the UP Diliman Institute of Biology. They came together during the formation of the Philippine Aquatic Red-List Committee in early 2017.

As the Philippine point person for Clupeidae, the family of sardines, Santos headed the assessment of its Philippine species. And this he coordinated with the IUCN global assessment group, which had also been set for sardines. He and his IUCN colleagues had earlier worked together ascertaining the marine origins of the tawilis.

The international and local initiatives came together at the 2017 conference in Siargao. The local assessment of the tawilis, being found nowhere else in the world, thus came to inform the global assessment. This prompted

the IUCN to include the tawilis in its red list. It recognized “the very small extent of occurrence of tawilis as it is endemic to Taal Lake and evidence of population decline of up to 50 percent in the past 20 years due to numerous threats such as overfishing, pollution, invasive species, habitat degradation, among others,” Santos says.

Public interest resulting from international citation has prompted more attention in the national management of resources, but scientists realize this is still not enough. Policy, implementation, and the cooperation of all stakeholders are essential to saving the species and its ecosystem.

Sustaining the science of conservation Taking advantage of the attention resulting from the tawilis red-listing by the IUCN, scientists made this a rallying point to bring up other freshwater issues in the country.

Francis Magbanua of the UP Diliman Institute of Biology, the interim president of the Philippine Society for Freshwater Science (PSFS), said Taal Lake and tawilis are just two of many threatened freshwater bodies and fauna in the country.

The first summit of the society after its two Symposia on Freshwater Biodiversity and Ecosystems was the Tawilis Summit 2019 in UST. The

managers of TVPL, local government officials, the aquaculture and fishing industry representatives came together to meet with scientists and researchers, giving each other feedback on what still needed to be known. Specific measures endorsed by the scientists were proposed.

Atty. Maria Paz Luna of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Region IV-A, a UP Diliman alumna who was then chief of the TVPL, encouraged more such scientific studies and consultation with stakeholders.

“There is nothing like speaking with the scientists directly.

Without them helping us in the management plan, the status of Taal Lake would have been worse,” Luna said in the conference.

The advocacy of the scientists appears to be finally catching on.

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R

“So many threats exist. Somehow they were lessened in recent years, but still the numbers have not yet shown any increase,” Mutia, the chief tawilis counter of the country, worriedly says.

2 0 1 9

The IUCN red-listing was a much needed boost to the humble tawilis’ plight; but until studies reveal a sustained revival of the fish population, the scientists’ work is far from over.

Sardinella tawilis, or the Bombon Sardine. Photo courtesy of Mudjekeewis Santos, NFRDI.

The UP Forum

17

Math + Culture for Indigenous Peoples Celeste Ann L. Castillo

H Read Online

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R

How do we take mathematics out of classrooms and into the real world of work, tradition, and everyday life? Making abstract mathematical concepts as real and concrete to mathematics learners has always been a challenge.

This is certainly the case too for Indigenous students.

One possible answer is ethnomathematics, the study of the intersection of mathematics and culture, which is now finding its way into the Philippine government’s Indigenous Peoples’ Education (IPEd) program.

2 0 1 9

Dr. Wilfredo V. Alangui, professor of mathematics at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, College of Science, UP Baguio, sitting underneath a photo gallery of Indigenous people in his office. Photo by Celeste Llaneta, UP MPRO.

18

The UP Forum

Math + Culture for Indigenous Peoples

Brazilian mathematician Ubiratan D’Ambrosio conceptualized ethnomathematics as ethno [culture] + mathema [explaining, understanding] + tics [techné, arts, techniques]—“the art or technique of explaining, knowing, and understanding diverse cultural contexts.” Ethnomathematics as a field of study began in the latter part of the 1980s. A decade or so earlier, movements toward teaching basic education among culturally diverse peoples began to grow globally.

“It’s a worldwide movement born out of the realization that IPs have been marginalized for so many years, including within our educational systems,” explains Dr. Wilfredo V. Alangui, math professor at the UP Baguio College of Science. Through colonization, the IPs’ knowledge systems were supplanted by Western knowledge systems. This included mathematics, which—despite being called “the universal language” and “the door and key of the sciences” that makes it seem removed from things like cultural bias—is a Western, mostly Eurocentric, strain.

In his paper, “There’s a Theory Behind What We’re Doing!

Ethnomathematics and Indigenous Peoples’ Education in the Philippines,” which he presented at the 13th International Congress on Mathematical Education at the University of Hamburg in July 2016, Alangui noted that in the Philippines, IPEd initiatives have been taken by the Department of Education (DepEd), civil society groups, IP organizations and other community-based efforts since the 1970s. Then in 2011, the DepEd issued Department Order 62, adopting the National Indigenous Peoples Education Policy Framework and creating the Indigenous Peoples Education Office (IPsEO) in 2012.

The need for schools for indigenous students is dire, as IP communities are often located in remote areas far from any public schools. And too often IP children face discrimination in these schools. Alangui has heard stories about Mangyan children in Occidental Mindoro making long journeys to the closest public school, riding on the roof of a jeepney, only to have their teacher call them “stupid” and “ignorant” during school assemblies.

Is it any wonder then that IP students lose any motivation to continue schooling and settle for an early marriage and a life spent merely surviving?

There are breakthroughs, however. Alangui and Dr. Ma. Theresa de Villa, an education professor in UP Diliman and the UP Open University, did research for the Department of Education – Indigenous Peoples’ Education Office, where they visited 16 schools, gathering information on their experiences and processes in implementing IP education so as to generate insights on developing an IP curriculum framework. The schools revealed varying approaches in the handling of indigenous knowledge systems and practices, ranging from the insertion of cultural elements in specific subjects such as counting in indigenous languages and using localized math problems, to an IP curriculum where emphasis is given to teaching IP competencies more than DepEd prescribed competencies. This research resulted in the 2015 issuance by the Department of Education of D.O. 32 providing for a framework for the development of an IP curriculum.

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9

Among the partner schools of the study, one in particular stood out: The Paaralang Mangyan na Angkop sa Kulturang Aalagaan (Pamana Ka), an indigenous school built in 1999 by and for the Mangyan community in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, with the help of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (FMM).

At Pamana Ka, IP education is done right. Pamana Ka, for example, has an IP curriculum they call “Banig ng Buhay” that is anchored on the life of the Mangyan community, where lessons in different subjects are developed around a yearly calendar of activities approved by the community elders. For instance, the school has an annual activity called Tukawan, which is guided and led by the elders. In this week-long activity that happens in March, they bring the children to the forest to teach them important activities like hunting, fishing, harvesting honey, other indigenous resource management practices, including Mangyan games, while incorporating lessons in biology, chemistry, social studies, music and art. (Incidentally, Alangui noted that many of the teachers who initially volunteered in Pamana Ka in the mid-1990s are products of

The UP Forum

19

Math + Culture for Indigenous Peoples

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R

the UP Los Baños Ugnayan ng Pahinungod, and they continue to help the school in various ways.)

values, their understanding of their own culture is not only respected but enhanced as well.

The same treatment is given to mathematics, admittedly a difficult subject to teach. At Pamana Ka, math comes to life in the Mangyan traditions. For instance, a lesson on fractions begins with a discussion on the honey-harvesting practices in each student’s community and ends with a reflection on the values of sharing and fairness.

“Pamana Ka changed everything for [the students].” When Alangui asked how shifting from a mainstream school to Pamana Ka changed their lives, the students replied that it restored their selfesteem and their motivation to study. The Pamana Ka style of culturally responsive education returned their dreams to them.

Pamana Ka teachers find ways to teach mathematics concepts that start with things familiar to the Mangyan student. For example, the Mangyan’s practice of harvesting cassava tubers by counting the number of cracks on the ground around the cassava plant becomes an entry point to discuss variables and algebraic expressions—the number of cracks on the ground are known values (constants), and the number of tubers under each crack is an unknown variable.

“So it’s important for us to have IP schools that have this clear orientation of helping our indigenous students. This is why I’m so involved. I have a commitment to that school because as I see it, if we are looking for a model for IPEd, we should all go to Pamana Ka,” Alangui says.

The DepEd agrees, which is why Pamana Ka became an immersion school on IP education for teachers and administrators from other regions at the start of the implementation of IPEd.

Teachers take advantage of the knowledge of crossing rivers to discuss the Pythagorean theorem: The Mangyans do not cross the river in a straight line. They start from point A on the other side of the river, and wade and move at an angle with the current until they arrive at point B across the river. In short, they cross the river along the hypotenuse or the longest side of (an imaginary) right triangle. And patterns and sequences abound in the Mangyan world, for example, in steps that need to be followed in the performance of a ritual, or in preparing the land for the gahak or kaingin. And Pamana Ka Math teachers utilize these realities in Mangyan life to teach number sequences.

2 0 1 9

Ethnomathematics may help in ways that go beyond merely passing math class. “The hope is that students both IP and nonIP don’t become alienated from mathematics, but for them to see that math means something to their lives. And then, if they become curious enough, they can pursue math in the university, and even earn a graduate degree. These are possibilities opened up by making them see, realize and experience the connection of mathematics to their lives as IPs.” At least this is what ethnomathematics is trying to do.

Because math isn’t separate from culture. Math is culture.

In short, mathematics is not just a bunch of abstract equations, but a real part of the Mangyans’ daily lives. And since every lesson begins and ends with a reiteration of their

20

The UP Forum

Math + Culture for Indigenous Peoples

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9

One of the framed photographs of Indigenous people in Dr. Alangui’s office at the UP Baguio Cordillera Studies Center.

The photo, titled “Lakay Bosaing, Lakay Golokan & Lakay Pecdasen (Dangtey),” was taken by Joachim Voss in 1980. Photo

by Celeste Castillo Llaneta, UP MPRO.

The UP Forum

21

In Systems and in Health Stephanie S. Cabigao

“

“Health is a very difficult agenda. In local politics today, no one will believe you when you define health as a campaign issue by giving out ‘free’ PhilHealth.

That era is over. There are a lot of health issues that can be solved without doctors and just by governance,” says Del Carmen’s man of action, Mayor Alfredo M. Coro II. What drove this UP Los Baños computer science alumnus, with a graduate degree in technology management from UP Diliman and years of ThinkPad technologies experience, to turn the sleepy town of Del Carmen on the island of Siargao in Surigao Del Norte into a dynamic municipality that leads the country in health management?

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R

For Coro, being a native of Del Carmen and at the same time an Isko immersed in public service was always a reason to come back. It was in 2009 when he was called to run for public office. It was an opportunity for him to apply his IT systems background to good governance, especially to something as abstract as health.

2 0 1 9

Health as a framework for governance Del Carmen consists of four island barangays, nine coastal barangays, an upland barangay, and six inland barangays. It is the largest town on Siargao Island, with a population of about 20,000, mostly farmers, fisherfolk, senior citizens, government employees, and students. “We have the airport, the sea port and the state college. I have a city problem in a 5th class community,” Mayor Coro points out.

He looks at the town’s pressing issues as a matter of health. “By focusing on health, we are also able to address other issues in food security, environment, poverty, social and economic activities,” Coro says.

“At first, we had no data. There was nothing until we started documenting things from one barangay to another,” he recounts. “The concept is for you to understand the complexity of health systems and develop a complex solution to the complex problem.

And then, I heard about a health governance program conducted by Zuellig. I persevered and insisted that our town be included in its two-year program in bridging leadership,” he continues.

22

The UP Forum

A part of Del Carmen’s sea port with a view of its lush mangrove forest. Photo by Bong Arboleda, UP MPRO.

Read Online

In Systems and in Health

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9

He confesses that he had no idea what exactly to do until he took the second phase of the module where he was able to see the uniqueness of Del Carmen’s geography and its situation. The challenge was how to cascade a health system to a municipality that had varied concerns, needs, and physical and cultural characteristics for every barangay.

“That’s when we started looking into a health program with problems that even the LGU is part of. I myself had this idea that health was the doctor’s concern. But then we realized that there are so many health issues that are matters of governance,” he emphasizes.

The UP Forum

23

In Systems and in Health

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9

Mayor Alfredo M. Coro II talks about the Seal of Health Governance (SOHG) at Del Carmen’s police station after his team had successfully seized an illegal commercial fishing vessel in Surigao. Photo by Bong Arboleda, UP MPRO.

The SOHG experience The mayor, together with the MHO and RHU staff, developed a health governance program to list all the Department of Health (DOH) programs and local initiatives needed to address the priority health targets.

“We have a barangay that has a high incidence of teenage pregnancy, which others have zero. We have barangays that have Schistosomiasis, while others don’t.

Given the varied situations, we cannot use a generic

24

approach. We can address the health issue by finding a solution unique to every barangay,” he says.

Mayor Coro also stresses, “You can never be there for everyone. So, you have to capacitate the barangay leaders in identifying their concerns and developing their own innovations in addressing their concerns.”

The UP Forum

In Systems and in Health

Health wonders

The Seal of Health Governance (SOHG) is simply a monitoring tool. It brings a systems-thinking application to governance in the barangay level. There may be unique and individual health concerns in every barangay; however, there are still common metrics being monitored as nonnegotiables, such as maternal deaths, immunization, and infant mortalities, formulated by the collective efforts of the LGU, midwives of BHWs, nurses, and barangay captains.

“As a barangay leader, you must be able to quantify how ‘healthy’ your barangay is, and this is expressed through this tool. After being able to establish this tool, we rolled out rewards and incentives. We launched the first set of awards in 2013 during the town’s fiesta.

Out of 20 barangays, only 10 participated. The successful outcomes and reports from 2013 have encouraged a 100 percent participation in 2014,” Mayor Coro proudly says.

The lack of toilets in Barangay Antipolo led the community to innovate its own locally made urinals. Another barangay zoomed in on clean and green. Meanwhile, one barangay was the first to set up a community-based drug rehabilitation program. “This is not yet in the books,” Mayor Coro says. “As soon as President Duterte declared the war on drugs, we immediately declared drugs a health issue. We asked the help of the UP Manila Community Medicine in teaching us, the LGU and the barangays to solve drugrelated problems without anyone dying or going to jail. We were able to prove it in just three months. No tokhang. We saw that it was possible, so we set it up in other barangays,” he continues.

The UP Forum

Since health management is continuously improving in this side of the country, community health workers now have the opportunity to visit bedridden patients in their homes. They are also implementing the “white uniform visibility,” which means nurses are set to go to barangays on a daily basis. “We have senior citizens who only got to see a doctor for the first time.

The behavior of the people of Del Carmen towards health has greatly changed,” Mayor Coro says.

Now that all barangays are actively and competitively participating in the SOHG, Del Carmen LGU faces a good problem in terms of providing incentives. The race to being a healthy barangay is not by being the best, but by improving on its own performance.

The LGU is expecting the release of the Seal of Health Code soon.

It is a collection of ordinances and resolutions related to health. Rex Paitan, head of the Committee on Health, says that the vision is to achieve an efficient health system that will be a preventive and protective tool for the community by 2020.

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9

Also on its way is the Siargao Cuban health system that is patterned after the polyclinics of Cuba. One of its pilot areas will include Siargao, particularly Del Carmen, as one of its inter-local health zones. This is expected to take shape in the next three months.

“We are also addressing education, a health system for people with disabilities, mental management, and finally food security. I believe that food security is more complex than health,” Mayor Coro underscores. “If whatever we’re doing is not felt by the community, then whatever we have done is useless. That’s our measure of governance. That’s the bottom line,” he concludes.

25

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9

26

The UP Forum

This Doc Sees Dead People Arlyn VCD Palisoc Romualdo

S Dr. Raquel Fortun in her office as UP Manila Department of Pathology chair. Photo by Misael Bacani, UP MPRO.

She always cleaned the fish her mother Amelia bought. It was a chore she loved doing. Little did the young Raquel Barros Del Rosario know she was preparing for a future as Dr. Raquel B. Del Rosario-Fortun, the first Filipino woman forensic pathologist.

“Evisceration! That’s what it was,” she said with a knowing smile, connecting that childhood task with disemboweling bodies during autopsies. She had always wanted to become a doctor despite coming from a clan of lawyers and admitted that her father Benjamin was “a bit disappointed.”

It was her doting aunt, Dr. Lourdes Del Rosario, who inspired Raquel.

Her photo is the only one on Raquel’s desk at the Department of Pathology chairperson’s office, UP Manila College of Medicine (UPCM). “Because of her, I associated fun with being a doctor.”

Even going with her to a hospital in Tondo, Raquel wasn’t fazed. “That hospital smell didn’t bother me. I saw all these doctors in white coats like her, respected by everyone. I thought it was so cool.”

Dreams vs. reality Going into college, she wanted something that could be a pre-med degree but could also guarantee employment if she couldn’t pursue medicine because it was expensive.

Read Online

She enrolled in the UP Diliman (UPD) BS Psychology program in 1979 after graduating from the UP Integrated School. Three years on, she felt certain she wanted to be a doctor. She “wanted to shift to a premed program focused on the sciences like biology or zoology,” but chose to be more practical and finished psychology.

Raquel wasn’t accepted to UPCM, so she went to the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay (UERM) College of Medicine, graduating in 1987 and completing post-internship in 1988. She began residency training in anatomic and clinical pathology in 1989 at UPCM, where she was also made instructor.

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R

The medicine-law mix While the pull of medicine was stronger, law was also Raquel’s interest. She saw the possibility of mixing both through Dr. Pedro Solis, a lawyer-doctor and her UERM Legal Medicine professor.

2 0 1 9

She took and passed the law aptitude exam of the UPD College of Law (UP Law) twice, in 1989 and 1993.

UPCM just advised against the pursuit in 1989 because it was her first year of residency. “Passing twice, I thought I might have an aptitude for law after all.”

Raquel laughed when recounting her law experience.

“I quit! After 10 days, maybe two weeks, I just quit!

This is so embarrassing, but that’s what happened. Law wasn’t for me.” She found it “too abstract, the opposite of medicine’s tangible and concrete.” She may have quit, but more than ten years later, she was invited by UP Law to teach. “I believe some eyebrows were raised, that I, a non-lawyer, was teaching a course at UP Law.” She learned about forensic pathology from one of her seniors at the department. “I realized it was probably what I was looking for: the field of medicine, particularly pathology, applied to law. The tangible applied to the abstract.”

The UP Forum

27

Raquel went to Seattle, Washington in 1994 to train at the King County Medical Examiner’s (ME) Office. “My first day there, I fell in love with forensic pathology. That was it. I knew it was the field I was meant to be in.” She had the stomach for it, too—dead bodies, whether fresh or decomposing, with maggots or reduced to skeletal remains.

Heartaches and headaches She vividly remembers the day she left. It was a Sunday. She and her husband Vincent, an obstetriciangynecologist, left their three-year-old daughter Lisa playing at her paternal grandmother’s place. Raquel cried so hard the night before that she almost didn’t want to leave. “It was very difficult.”

When she wasn’t examining bodies and collecting evidence at the ME’s office, Raquel would feel terribly homesick. She racked up a massive bill on overseas calls in her first month and was forced to cut down— ten minutes on Saturdays.

She thought things would be easier when she returned.

“It was like my daughter didn’t know who I was. That hurt.” Raquel feared her one-year absence may have caused trauma on Lisa. “What have I done?” she asked herself many times.

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R

Professionally, she was full of enthusiasm because of everything she had learned. “But there was no solid practice for a forensic pathologist here. I’ve seen the ideal and I wanted us to be at par with international standards.” That desire for improvement, however, wasn’t welcomed by some in the medical field and government.

2 0 1 9

“We didn’t have a death investigation system here that was fully state-funded and independent from law enforcement. We didn’t have medical examiners or coroners, and medical investigators. We still don’t.

Have I cried over this? Yes, out of sheer frustration at how death investigations were being done.”

Raquel continued teaching. Over the years, she has been asked to consult on cases, some of them high profile and controversial: the Ozone Disco fire, the Dacer-Corbito case, the Asian Spirit tragedy, the Maguindanao massacre, and the death of Ted Failon’s wife, Trina Etong. Her popularity as an expert grew, but so did the number of her enemies. “Evidence doesn’t take sides. It is what it is. If you don’t like what it tells you, that’s not my fault. I just call it as I see it.

That’s how the science works.”

Choosing to stay Forensic pathology is a lucrative field and Raquel could be earning so much more if she worked abroad, in full practice, and did part-time teaching. “My fate is here, teaching full-time as a UP professor and doing cases on the side,” she said. “I’m ten years from retirement.”

She has tried working outside, where the monthly pay was twice her teacher’s annual salary. “But I wasn’t happy. I realized it wasn’t about the money. UP has an environment that’s hard to find elsewhere. I am free to speak my mind. The students are very intelligent. The interaction with my colleagues is great.”

As for the future of forensic experts and forensic pathology in the Philippines, she hopes that the coming generations will have an easier time; that funds for material and human resources would be given to support a UPM forensic pathology fellowship program; that the UP Board of Regents-approved establishment of the Forensic Science Institute in 1999 would materialize; and that a death investigation system fully supported by the state, independent of law enforcement, free from politics, unbiased, and unafraid to expose the truth would finally exist.

Until then, Raquel will just do the usual: Try to beat the morning rush. Drink coffee in the car when she arrives too early and too afraid to enter the dark building, even with a guard on duty. Do administrative work. Teach. Maybe do an autopsy.

Stay in her real office—the one with creaky wooden floors, a huge collection of crime novels, shelves full of skull/skeleton figures, and that old and frayed yet comfortable couch. Endure evening traffic.

On weekends, garden or buy plants. Listen to her CDs. Perhaps be the “HandyMa” and visit her favorite hardware stores for do-it-yourself projects. Along with Lisa, take care of her mother and do household chores.

And at any given time, tweet as @Doc4Dead.

She clarified that she never claimed to be an all-around forensic expert. “Forensics involves a lot of disciplines.

Mine is forensic pathology. Although my training has exposed me to other forensic aspects of death investigation, I always defer to experts in other forensic fields. I know my limitations.”

28

The UP Forum

Photo by Hannah Gibbs on Unsplash.

This Doc Sees Dead People

J U L Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9

The UP Forum

29

University of the Philippines

Shaping Minds that Shape the Nation