THE COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the academic year, causing the Loyola Schools (LS) administration and students alike to work around cancelled student formation activities and organization events. 

To protect the wellbeing of the LS community during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), Vice President for the Loyola Schools Maria Luz C. Vilches, PhD, shortened the second semester, which ended on May 8. Moreover, the Office of the Associate Dean for Student Formation also suspended all off-campus co-curricular activities until July 31.

In hopes of addressing these issues, the LS administration and several student leaders have been working on possible courses of action moving forward, such as creating contingencies for event cancellations, compensating the loss of funds, and modifying activities to fit the current situation.

Preventive measures

In light of the advisories issued by the University and by the Department of Health (DOH), several school programs have been suspended and modified to limit students’ exposure to the virus. 

Vilches temporarily suspended all international student mobility programs from March until December 31 due to the outbreak, thus terminating the Junior Term Abroad Fall 2020 program and other University-related international travel.

Furthermore, Associate Dean for Student Formation Leland Dela Cruz, PhD, cancelled all exposure and immersion programs such as Binhi, Punla, the Junior Engagement Program, and Praxis for the remaining academic year. 

In place of these, Office of Social Concern and Involvement (OSCI) Director Ophalle Alzona-Pornela explained how OSCI later shared online learning materials that catered to students’ respective formation program objectives.

Alternative seminars and forums where speakers could share stories about a particular sector were also in the works as a contingency measure to the spread of COVID-19, but Alzona-Pornela said that not all talks materialized once the ECQ was implemented. She also shared that OSCI consulted faculty and department members regarding how they may achieve the objectives of the formation programs in an online setting. 

“For next school year, [OSCI is] also exploring the possibility of online kwentuhan, discussions, or sharing with some of our partner institutions/communities—at least for those who might have the capacity to do so,” added Alzona-Pornela. 

Dela Cruz also stated that after the quarantine, all on-campus activities of the student formation cluster will most likely have a limit of 100 people per venue in line with the instructions the DOH has in place against mass gatherings.

The fallout 

For Council of Organizations of the Ateneo (COA) President Phillip V. Ventigan, many student organizations faced financial and logistical consequences due to the cancellation of their events.

Ventigan stated that the suspension of classes has affected 145 organization events and activities in total. Among these, 141 were cancelled, and three were moved to online platforms. 

Some of these cancelled included TEDxADMU: in/Finite, Kythe Community Day, Ateneo Blue Repertory’s Season Finale, Under the Stars, and One Big Pride. 

Moreover, Ventigan explained that many organizations faced the financial burden of shouldering the cancellation fees and the additional compensation for their affected events. In particular, he said that theater organizations experienced “great financial losses” due to the cancellation of their shows, which totaled to a collective loss of Php 1.1 million.

To help organizations move forward, Ventigan assured that COA can offer assistance to organizations who are experiencing setbacks due to cancelled events.

“We assured [the organizations] that they can always reach out to us if they need assistance of any kind for as long as they follow the general guidelines set by our government and University,” shared Ventigan.

Moving forward

In light of the monetary losses many student-organizations are facing, the Sanggunian Central Assembly passed resolutions to help compensate organizations that have been financially affected by the ECQ. 

On April 2, the Central Assembly passed two resolutions introduced by Ventigan to shoulder project costs affected by the pandemic. Thus, Sanggunian Resolution No. 6 was created to establish a joint emergency fund between COA-M and Sanggunian to finance refunds, cancellation fees, and compensations for student organization projects, while Sanggunian Resolution No. 7 was created to cover “half of the total financial losses of theater organizations…amounting to Php 560,505.70.”

The former resolution states that each participating representative of the Sanggunian Central Assembly must supply the funds for the joint emergency fund from their own budget. This resolution also states that the COA-M and the League of Independent Organizations representatives must mobilize the collection of funds depending on which group the recipient organization belongs to.

Student organizations themselves have also come up with contingency plans to make up for the cancelled events. For instance, Kythe-Ateneo President Raphael Chua shared that Kythe began canceling projects and coming up with contingencies even before any memos were released due to the organization’s direct dealings with hospitals.

“Now…we are trying to come up with a concrete way we can reach out to our sector and stand with them,” explained Chua. For instance, Kythe-Ateneo spearheaded a cash and in-kind donation drive to acquire hygiene kits and facial masks for the frontliners and pediatric patients in their partner hospitals. 

Similarly, Company of Ateneo Dancers (CADs) President Jesse Cabero said that CADs conducted its events such as their Miting de Avance through online platforms to “adjust to the situation in a way that is beneficial for both the candidates and the members.” 

“Changing contexts”

Aside from student organizations, the school is adjusting to the effects of COVID-19 as well. Vilches revealed that the school has experienced financial drawbacks due to the administration’s decisions in handling the pandemic: “We have incurred some loss in revenue, or some deficit, because of the refunds, but we will try to recover from that loss incrementally over the years.”

Dela Cruz also discussed how the Office of the Associate Dean for Student Formation is “in constant communication” with other offices so that they can determine the guidelines for student activities after the ECQ given the fast changing contexts.

Vilches added that the situation is “complex” and that there are no “simplistic answers” regarding student activities and events to be held after the ECQ.“Rest assured that these issues are still being discussed on our way to finding the appropriate solutions to these…We need to be patient with many things. The path ahead is uncharted. We deal with matters one at a time,” Vilches said.

ADDENDUM: The statement of Associate Dean for Student Formation Leland dela Cruz, PhD on the 100 person per venue limit for post-quarantine on-campus activities only observed the DOH guidelines prior to the ECQ. On-campus activities were prohibited during ECQ.