UP pays tribute to 22 alumni who died from COVID-19

MANILA – The University of the Philippines (UP) has released a video paying tribute to its alumni who succumbed to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The 3-minute video also featured UP alumni in the frontlines of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

"They died alone, with no relatives around to hold their hands as they breathed their last. Some still have to be buried, and others were cremated with no ceremony and no one to bid them goodbye," UP said.

"This has become the common tale of grief, sorrow and helplessness for the thousands all over the world who have fallen victim to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the story becomes even more poignant when it strikes closer to home or when the virus takes down somebody you love, somebody you know, or somebody you went to school with," it added.

The first to fall from the coronavirus was Dr. Greg Macasaet, an anesthesiologist at the Manila Doctors Hospital.

The state university also lost Dr. Marcelo Jaochico, the provincial health officer of Pampanga; Dr. Raul Jara, considered as a pillar of cardiology in the Philippines; Dr. Francisco Lukban of the Capitol Medical Center; Dr. Salvacion Gatchalian, assistant director of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine; Dr. Leandro Resurreccion III of the Philippine Children’s Medical Center; Dr. Dennis Ramon Tudtud, a prominent oncologist in Cebu; and Dr. Ephraim Neal Orteza of the Ospital ng Parañaque, among others.

To date, the number of health workers infected with COVID-19 in the Philippines stands at 1,934. The tally includes 34 fatalities and 449 recoveries.

Also an alumni, veteran actor Domingo “Menggie” Cobarrubias, who appeared in over 100 film and TV productions, also died from the contagious disease.

The latest UP alumni who passed away due to COVID-19 is former Senator Heherson Alvarez. He served in the Senate from 1987 to 1998, where he focused on environmental legislation.