According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, residents praised the University of Saint Louis Tuguegarao (USLT) campus here for hosting the first in-person college graduation in Cagayan province during the coronavirus outbreak on Saturday.
Santiago Dickson, a Tuguegarao resident, believes it is past time for parents and teachers to personally attend their children's commencement rites, as they have yearned for the "personal" experience since prior graduations were solely online events due to quarantines and lockdowns.
During the pandemic, University of Saint Louis Tuguegarao holds a physical graduation in the Philippines. (Photo / Retrieved from Pixabay)
May Managuelod Rosario, a parent of one of the graduating students who attended the university's 50th graduation ceremonies on a green field inside the campus, stated the weather cooperated as well.
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More than 350 USLT students who completed engineering, education, and management courses for the school year 2020-2021, as well as graduate students who got master's degrees, attended the celebration.
Before Fr. Renillo Sta. Ana, the USLT president, gave their degrees, the program was short and no speeches were given. Even though the city still had 404 current COVID-19 cases as of Feb. 5, no graduates have showed COVID-19 symptoms following the ceremony.
Since the pandemic occurred in 2020, the city, which is currently on alert level 3, has registered a total of 18,644 patients and lost 550 residents to the disease.
