Making sense of COVID-19, through Filipino lenses
April 16, 2020
| Ateneo de Manila University’s academic community analyzes the COVID-19 pandemic from various angles, with a focus on its impact on Filipinos |
Ateneo de Manila University’s academic community has been trying to make sense of the repercussions of COVID-19. For the past few months, Ateneo’s faculty and research staff have been taking a closer look at the crisis and its effect on the Philippines, from various angles.
From tracking the spread of the virus, to assessing how our lives will change post-pandemic, here are some of the research and public engagement work of the university, which is helping citizens, experts, and policy-makers alike in understanding the crisis.
Predicting the spread of COVID-19
Feasibility Analysis of Syndromic Surveillance using Spatio-Temporal Epidemiological Modeler (FASSSTER), an Ateneo-developed online platform, is one of the tools being used by Philippine public health authorities to project the spread of the disease in the country. It also provides mechanisms for local governments to report COVID-19 cases.
The platform was developed by the Ateneo Center for Computing Competency and Research (ACCCRe) of the School of Science and Engineering (SOSE), in collaboration with the University of the Philippines-Manila National Telehealth Center (UPM-NTC) and the Department of Health’s Epidemiology Bureau, and funded by the Department of Science & Technology’s Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST PCHRD).
In addition, volunteers from the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health (ASMPH) have also been working with the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) in developing evidence-based models of the pandemic.
The DOH’s COVID-19 tracker, meanwhile, is being co-developed by Nel Jason Haw, a faculty member of the Loyola Schools (Health Sciences & Development Studies). Haw’s initial work on his own COVID-19 tracker is now part of the DOH-run site.
Finding a cure
Coconut oil and its derivatives are being eyed as possible treatments for COVID-19. One of the researchers leading the way is Dr Fabian Dayrit, professor emeritus and former dean of the School of Science & Engineering.
At present, Dayrit is leading a joint project between ADMU and Duke-NUS which is taking a look at the efficacy of lauric acid and its derivatives against the virus SARS-CoV-2, the culprit behind COVID-19. It is also funded by the DOST-PCHRD.
The project is based on his initial study first released in January 2020, which outlined coconut oil's potential as a cure. He co-authored the said study with Dr Mary Newport of Spring Hill Neonatolody, Inc.
Assessing the economic impact
The Department of Economics of the School of Social Sciences, Loyola Schools has been studying COVID-19's economic impact on the Philippines.
The department’s faculty, in partnership with the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (ACERD), on 23 March 2020 released the paper entitled "Arresting the Impact of COVID-19 on the Philippine Economy" (PDF). The policy brief recommended that the government "set aside its growth targets" and focus on three major areas: 1) ensuring adequate health/ medical services and full protection of our health workers; 2) providing social protection to the vulnerable population, and 3) addressing the economic and social costs of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in effect in Luzon, the country's most populous island group.
The department has also released policy briefs covering issues concerning the elderly; displaced workers; food security; overseas Filipino workers; and health care. The list of released policy briefs can be viewed and downloaded at the economics department's website.
Analyzing governance and politics
Similarly, the Department of Political Science, through its partnership with BusinessWorld newspaper, has put out analysis articles on COVID-19's impact on governance.
In April, the department launched an eight-part series that aims to "make sense of the ongoing CoViD-19 crisis and learn early lessons from it." (To date only 4 parts have been published.) "Each piece in this series examines sites of consensus and points of tension and debate at the local, national, regional and global levels of governance, as well as in critical spaces where they overlap," the department said in the first part of the series. "We hope to highlight effective political practices and problematic ones and the social and political constraints that citizens and governments need to confront in addressing the crisis."
 PART 2 Governing the pandemic |
 PART 3 POWER FROM BELOW: Social Policy for the People, by the People |
 PART 4 Re-imagining ASEAN in a time of crisis |
Providing thought leadership
Ateneo’s deep bench of experts is constantly being tapped by local and international media for their opinion pieces on topics related to the pandemic.
Dr Manuel Dayrit, former dean of the ASMPH, and Ronald Mendoza, current dean of the Ateneo School of Government, co-authored a piece on The Diplomat on how to counter a possible economic crisis caused by COVID-19. (See article HERE.)
In the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Dr Norman Dennis Marquez, ADMU's University Physician and associate director of the Health Sciences Program, argued about the importance of data in crisis response. His piece was housed in the regular column of John Nery, who is also part of the Department of Communication. (See article HERE)
The political science department’s regular Blueboard column, published in BusinessWorld, has also discussed the challenges faced by the education and public health sectors during the pandemic. (See articles HERE)
Former National Economic & Development Authority (NEDA) director-general Cielito Habito, faculty member of the economics department, has also been using his regular Inquirer column to discuss COVID-19’s impacts.
Individual faculty members have also spearheaded projects that help the public understand the crisis. For example, the COVID-19 Citizens’ Budget Tracker, which tracks the Philippine government’s pandemic response budget, was conceptualized by research faculty Ken Abante of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies. (See his columns HERE.)
Living after the pandemic
The world has been irrevocably changed by COVID-19 -- and society will soon need to make sense of these changes moving forward.
Arete, the University’s creativity and innovation hub, has launched “Our Way Forward,” an online series about life after the pandemic, and on how people can contribute to more resilient systems in its aftermath. It is a collection of essays, videos, discussions, and other resource materials in which "experts from across various fields speculate on the changes we can expect politically, economically, socially, and pedagogically in the months after lockdowns." It is part of Arete Connect, an online portal housing the hub’s programs.
"With research and experience relevant to their respective disciplines, these experts will recommend how we can help build resilient systems in a post-pandemic future," Arete said.
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Ateneo de Manila University will continue to make sense of the effects of the pandemic on our daily lives and on our future. Ateneo’s online channels, including its official website www.ateneo.edu, will be constantly updated with the latest policy papers and analysis from across the university.
More information about the Ateneo de Manila University community’s response to COVID-19 can also be found at the “Ateneo Responds to COVID-19 Facebook group. Details on how to help can be found at https://sites.google.com/ateneo.edu/donate/home
