THE ALMOST daily cancellation of on-site classes and office work due to flooding from heavy monsoon rains since August has so reduced actual transactions and operations on campus that there may be a need to modify the institutional continuity arrangements put in place since March in response to the energy crisis triggered by the US-Iran conflict.
The arrangements, announced in March and reaffirmed and broadened in April, designated Mondays as a “common work-from-home (WFH) day for all administrative offices, covering both officials and support staff, provided that the specific job functions may be rendered remotely.”
Administrative offices affected by the order include the offices of the registrar, accounting, and alumni relations.
Because of the nearly daily cancellation of on-site classes and operations due to the monsoon rains, alumni and other stakeholders who are unaware of the emergency work arrangements have been coming to the UST Main Building, usually on a Monday, to transact alumni business, such as applying for their transcripts of records and diplomas and paying for them. Many come from the provinces and dedicate the whole of Monday to transact and finish their business with their alma mater. But to no avail.
Perhaps the institutional continuity arrangements can be modified so that a skeletal force is present in both offices every Monday to accommodate alumni business and other concerns. This will go a long way toward ensuring that the needs of alumni and other stakeholders are accommodated during the emergency period.
Thankfully, the administration has ordered the Library to remain open Monday to Saturday to accommodate researchers, especially those deep at work on their undergraduate and graduate theses. Moreover, guidance counselors have been instructed to provide continuing on-site and online counseling and career services. The latter directive is especially critical for students experiencing anxiety because of the academic disruptions caused by the inclement weather.
In this connection, perhaps the administration should also remind the UST Health Service to provide continuing services, on-site or online, especially during this season marked by water-borne diseases. Some students and faculty members affected by the Indonesian haze or who have contracted flu in recent weeks have found the online ThOMedSS inoperative.
The institutional continuity measures are expected to remain in place even beyond the monsoon season. World crude oil prices remain elevated and are currently surging toward $100 a barrel because of a major escalation in the U.S.–Iran conflict. The war has caused historic supply bottlenecks in the Middle East. Following a brief dip over the summer (their summer, not the Philippines’), prices are experiencing a massive six-week high after a series of heavy weekend military exchanges.
These are unusual times that call for flexibility in the implementation of emergency arrangements.
Measures adopted in response to one crisis may have to be recalibrated when another crisis changes the circumstances on the ground. The objective, after all, should not simply be to keep offices running on paper but to ensure that essential services remain accessible to those who need them.
The university has shown that continuity is possible even amid disruption. Keeping the Library open, maintaining counseling services, and ensuring access to health services are examples of how essential functions can be preserved despite difficult conditions. The same principle should apply to offices that serve alumni and other stakeholders whose needs cannot always be addressed remotely.
In times of prolonged disruption, institutional continuity must ultimately mean continuity of service. A skeletal Monday workforce in critical offices may be a small adjustment, but it would send an important message: even when the rains keep the campus from functioning normally, the university remains responsive to the community it serves.
