UPV honors COVID-19 friends and partners

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UP Visayas recognized 20 individuals and organizations outside of the University combined for their invaluable contributions to the pandemic response efforts initiated in 2020 and 2021.

The program dubbed UPV Pandemic Heroes was held last 19 August 2022 at the Little Theater, Iloilo City Campus.

“I refuse to see the pandemic as a dark period because people became better versions of themselves. Yes, it was difficult, but it was not dark. There were huge sacrifices that were made and equally matched by the generous hearts,” Chancellor Clement C. Camposano said in his opening message.

Plaques of appreciation were given to the following:

• Vice-Admiral Giovanni Carlo Jamero Bacordo
• Marovi Celis
• Jane Javellana
• Terence Uygongco
• Antonio Jon
• Janilo Rubiato
• Tina Hautea-Sison
• Edwin Valencia
• Nellie Regalado
• Oliver Busquit and the UPV Janitorial Team (Pacific Sun Manpower Solutions)
• UP Alumni Association – Iloilo Chapter
• iAmUPHi
• LIBCAP
• Hamili/ Hamilia Brotherhood and Sisterhood Face Shield Factory
• UP Vanguard (alumni)
• UPV APhiO (alumni association)
• UPV Silak/Silab (alumni)
• Tibiao Bakery
• Partido sang Mainuswagon nga Bumulutho
• Department of Science and Technology

Atty. Regalado responded on behalf of the awardees, who thanked the UPV administration for coming up with a program to recognize the efforts of friends and partners, an idea which was initiated by Chancellor Camposano at the beginning of his term in 2020.

Regalado acknowledged that she is certainly not the most heroic among the awardees. “I am the one speaking here now maybe because as a member of both the Community Outreach Committee of the UPV COVID Task Force and of the UP Fight group of the alumni, I had the best vantage point of the whole story.”

She had a well-prepared narrative and behind-the-scenes accounts of how the pandemic made “heroes” from among the UPV community, its friends, and partners and how they responded to the challenges of the health crisis.

Dr. Harold Monteclaro, UPV Vice-Chancellor for Research and Extension and Chair of the UPV Pandemic Heroes Awarding Ceremony Committee, likewise expressed his thanks to UPV’s COVID-19 heroes. He also thanked the Committee for the hard work they put in to make the awarding program possible. (Ms. Mary Lyncen M. Fernandez/IPO)