Around 40,000 trees of various species populate the sprawling 1,200-hectare main campus of UP Visayas in Miagao, Iloilo.
Some of these trees already existed before the area became home to the campus, but the UPV community planted a vast number over the years. The trees have become abundant such that the Miagao LGU has declared UPV a bird sanctuary.
In addition, the campus is thickly populated with various vegetation that grows profusely, especially during the rainy season. As such, a wide variety of birds, snakes, monitor lizards, geckos, and an assortment of wildlife thrive abundantly on the campus.
Snakes usually awaken from their hibernation period during the onset of the rainy season.
“The cold months of the year are also the breeding season of the snakes, which makes them more aggressive,” according to Dr. Ma. Celia D. Malay, a resident of the UPV Staff House and a faculty member of the Division of Biological Sciences.
To keep the residents safe from snakes (especially the poisonous ones), the Campus Maintenance Development Office and the UPV Security Service Force, in partnership with the Auxiliary Services Office, conducted a “Do Day” on September 28, 2021. This was done to clear the crawling vegetation away from the UPV staff houses, the bamboo staff houses, the new faculty staff houses, and the executive house.
Sixty CMDO and 30 security personnel from SSF were deployed for this task. The staff house residents expressed their appreciation for this effort by donating snacks and drinks for the volunteers. (Ms. Mary Lyncen Fernandez, IPO)
