Social and health research on adolescents during Covid-19 first ECQ
EVERY first quarter from years 2016 to 2020, Xavier University’s Research Institute for Mindanao Culture (Rimcu) in Cagayan de Oro City sent out five research teams to different Mindanao provinces to interview adolescents about their nutrition, sexual and reproductive health, education, life aspirations and living conditions.
The Rimcu is part of a consortium that is engaged in the “Longitudinal Cohort Study of the Filipino Child” that tracks a representative sample of 5,000 Filipino children since 2016, when the children were 10 years old. These children and their mothers are followed up every year for 15 years or until they turn 24 in 2030, the target year of the Sustainable Development Goals. The objective of this longitudinal, multimethod study is to generate a broad range of changes, challenges and prospects that the youth experience as they develop from adolescence to adulthood.
The other research consortium members are the Demographic Research and Development Foundation (DRDF) of the University of the Philippines Population Institute and the Center for Social Research and Education (CSRE) of the University of San Carlos. It is coordinated by the Office for Population Studies Foundation (OPS) of the University of San Carlos. The DRDF and CSRE are responsible for the Luzon and Visayas samples, respectively. This important study is supported by the national government, United Nation agencies and other development partners.
When the government declared the first nationwide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in mid-March last year, all field interviewers in the three island groupings were told to stop their activities and return home. But Rimcu’s research team for BaSulTa (Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi) and Zamboanga City that started collecting data in February was caught off guard with this sudden turn of events and had met several challenges before they could finally go home. This is their story.
On March 16, 2020, the first day of the nationwide COVID-19 ECQ, Rowena Abelija and three other members of the BaSulTa team, were interviewing 14-yearold adolescents and their mothers in Sitangcai Municipality, the Philippines’ southernmost island that is close to Malaysia’s border. They had no inkling that there was a national lockdown, not until late afternoon, after Rowena located a hilly spot with a cell site connection. A barrage of mobile phone messages from Rimcu instructed them to leave the area ASAP, even if they had yet to interview 25 respondents and their mothers in another island barangay (village).
The following morning, they took the only boat for Bongao, Tawi-Tawi’s capital, with the hope that they could catch the last flight for Zamboanga City. In the middle of the sea, a government patrol boat rushed toward their vessel and Rowena recalled that “nahadlok mi tanan basig pabalikon mi sa Sitangcai” (we all feared that we might be asked to return to Sitangcai). Instead, the patrol boat had a family that wanted to join their trip. Other passengers heckled “ayaw na sila pasakya basig gikan na sa border” (do not allow them to board because they might come from the border). The hecklers were referring to the Malaysian border where travelers and traders were rumored to carry the dreaded disease. But the family could eventually board the boat. After they arrived in Bongao, however, the last commercial plane had left.
For nine days, Rowena and her team were stuck in Bongao because no airplane or boat would take them to Zamboanga City. They stayed in a small seaside hotel and they were resigned to live there indefinitely. Before they could leave Bongao, they were required to obtain medical certificates, and an endorsement letter from a Tawi-Tawi local government unit agency to a Zamboanga City government entity that would be responsible for them. Fortunately, Tawi-Tawi’s Integrated Provincial Health Office and Region 9’s Department of Health (DoH) officials assisted them with the needed requirements. On the 10th day, they were able to board a cargo boat for Zamboanga City, with other stranded and worried passengers. The research team hand carried several bottles of rubbing alcohol that they bought in Bongao. because it was rumored that many Zamboanga City stores were running out of this health supply.
At the Zamboanga City pier, a DoH Region 9 van waited for the research team. “Kung walay DoH sakyanan nisalubong, sa pier, pabalikon daw unta mi sa Bongao (If there was no DoH vehicle at the pier, we would have been sent back to Bongao).”
The DoH staff allowed the group to stay in an empty house of a team member’s relative for the required 14-day quarantine. But 14 turned out to be 56 days of seemingly endless waiting because no land, sea or air transportation would take three of them to Cagayan de Oro and another member to Sulu. Cagayan de Oro is only half a day by bus from Zamboanga City, while a ferry from the city to Jolo takes only 3.5 hours.
The OPS and Rimcu continued to provide subsidy and boosted the group’s morale during their long stay in Zamboanga City. “Nag Zumba, nag games, nag Netflix, ug nangadyi mig mayo para di mi ma-depress (We did Zumba fitness exercise, played games, watched Netflix movies and prayed hard so we will not be depressed).” The Barangay Health Emergency Response
Team (Bhert) also assisted the group in procuring food, and supplies, and in obtaining medical certificates from the Zamboanga City Health Office.
Before they could leave the city, they were instructed to obtain a letter from the Cagayan de Oro Tourism Office for the Zamboanga City Tourism Office, attesting that three of them were Cagayan de Oro residents, and that upon arrival in Cagayan de Oro, they would be taken directly to a center for the 14-day quarantine. A similar letter from Sulu’s Tourism Office was also required for the team member from Sulu. The Office for Civil Defense also issued a permit for the van driver that would take the team to Cagayan de Oro and to return to Zamboanga City. On their 57th day in the city, the team members found a van that would take them to Cagayan de Oro. The exorbitant fee charged by the van owner was reportedly equivalent to the group’s airplane fare to Manila. The Sulu team member took the ferry for Jolo on the same day and quarantined for 14 days at home.
The trip went smoothly until the van was intercepted by the Iligan City police at checkpoint. After assessing their documents, a police vehicle escorted the group’s van to the border of the province, to ensure that Cagayan de Oro’s Tourism office staff would meet them. Indeed, there was a Cagayan de Oro Tourism vehicle at the border’s checkpoint, and it guided the group to a hotel for the 14-day LGU supported quarantine requirement. “Paminaw namu nanambok mi ug maayo kay ginapakaon mi ug daghan sa hotel (We felt that we put on a lot of weight because we were fed a lot at the hotel).” After obtaining a health clearance in mid-June 2020, 4.5 months after they left Cagayan de Oro, the three Rimcu researchers were finally home.
This narrative provides useful lessons on what field researchers can expect when caught in a national emergency or a pandemic lockdown. Because of the continued lockdown, the longitudinal consortium researchers are unable to follow up their 15-year-old respondents this year. Several adolescents’ interviews were also halted during the first ECQ, so two years of their development are not documented.
Many social and health researchers these days are utilizing mobile phones, landlines and the internet for interviews. Others who observe health protocols are brave enough to conduct face-to-face focus group discussions and surveys. But this is not possible for this multi-method social and health research in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas where most adolescents and their mothers do not own mobile phones and have limited or no cell sites. Hopefully, within a year or two, when a large proportion of Filipinos would be vaccinated, the field interviewers could return safely to their research sites and catch up with the development of their 16- or 17-year-old respondents.