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Discipline in the Time of COVID-19
“Instilling a greater sense of discipline among Filipinos can go a long way in improving the Philippines’ management of the COVID-19 pandemic.” This is the view of In-Country Scholarship Program (ICSP) alumna Nesreen Abdulrauf - Hadjirasid who is currently a staff member of the Public Affairs and Communication Service (PACS) of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). Acting on this idea, she helped lead a program that would promote among Filipinos the discipline to observe COVID-19 health and safety protocols more stringently and effectively.
Her contribution in fostering discipline and social responsibility among Filipinos is the focus of her Re-Entry Action Plan (REAP). REAPs provide opportunities for the scholarship grantees to apply their learnings to implement projects that meaningfully contribute to Philippine development.
Nesreen’s REAP, which was initially launched by the DILG in November 2019, was called “Disiplina Muna,” a
national campaign that seeks to rebuild a culture of discipline.
In 2020, this campaign was modified in tandem with the Department of Health’s (DOH) drive to teach Filipinos in implementing COVID-19 health and safety protocols. This campaign is now called “BIDA ang May Disiplina: Solusyon sa COVID-19,” which also stands for DOH’s BIDA acronym:
B - Bawal walang mask at face shield;
I - I-sanitize ang mga kamay, iwas-hawak sa mga bagay;
D - Dumistansya ng isang metro; at
A - Alamin ang totoong impormasyon.
“This joint advocacy emphasises the importance of self-discipline and changing our behavior to help beat COVID-19 and secure the safety of Filipino families,” said Nesreen.
The DILG continues to partner with the DOH in evolving and expanding the campaign, which is now also supporting the country’s COVID-19 vaccination drive.
Disiplina Muna
Establishing the Disiplina Muna campaign before the pandemic has definitely paid off. It provided the much-needed system upon which to rollout the joint DILG-DOH campaign in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.
“PACS is under DILG Spokesperson and Undersecretary Jonathan E. Malaya, who tasked us to initiate the Disiplina Muna campaign in October 2019 to rebuild the culture of discipline among Filipinos so that the gains in government programs and projects will be sustained. It was also seen to foster participatory governance and shared responsibility,” Nesreen explained. Thereafter, she drafted the memorandum that provided guidelines to implement the campaign.
ICSP journey
Nesreen was a new employee at the DILG when she learned about the ICSP. The ICSP supported her in completing a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman.
Her postgraduate degree helped her grow professionally. She shares: “I need knowledge on governance to be a good government communicator. I was also able to apply learnings regarding the needed collaboration among the government, civil society, and the private sector in order to benefit society. Meanwhile, my training on policy development helped me draft departmental issuances. And my learning journey is still ongoing thanks to the continued implementation of my REAP!”
Nesreen added that whenever discussions on COVID-19 management and response come up, the “whole of nation approach” is invariably mentioned. Simply put, this means getting all sectors together—government, business, education, civil society, and the citizenry—to unite and cooperate to achieve a
goal, that is, to survive the pandemic and ultimately restore normalcy.
Nesreen is grateful that ICSP provided her with the knowledge, skills, and tools to do her part.
