Tag: July 1, 2010

AFTER all the promises made, it’s time to walk the talk.

President-elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has vowed to solve the problems he has inherited from the Arroyo administration by fighting corruption, creating jobs, improving the education system and establishing a credible judicial process.

“For almost a decade, we suffered under an administration whose mandate has been mired in corruption and cheating. But now, I have been given an opportunity to uplift people’s lives,” Aquino said in a letter sent to the Varsitarian.

He said he would improve the quality of education and health, generate jobs, and implement judicial reforms.

FOLLOWING the uproar over the Reproductive Health Bill, the teaching of sex education among elementary and high school students has drawn staunch opposition from Catholic Church and pro-life advocates.

With the issuance of Memorandum No. 261, implementing the “Adolescent Reproductive Health Project” (ADR Project), the Department of Education (DepEd) is conducting a pilotest on teaching sex education in 80 public elementary schools and 79 public high schools this school year, despite objections from the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has stressed that parents are responsible for teaching their children about this matter, not their school teachers.

UST OCCUPATIONAL Therapy (OT) graduates will have an easier time getting work abroad now that the course has obtained accreditation of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT).

“We just saw the announcement from the Internet last [June 7]. However, we are still waiting for the official documents from the WFOT,” said College of Rehabilitation Sciences (CRS) Dean Jocelyn Agcaoili.

Agcaoili said recognition by the WFOT is necessary for UST graduates to be able to work in other countries. The international certification followed full accreditation from the Occupational Therapy Association of the Philippines (Otap) last March 14. Otap’s nod is a requirement for WFOT recognition.

EIGHTEEN former employees of the UST Publishing House want the University to reconsider their termination, demanding an explanation on why their jobs were deemed “redundant.”

All 13 employees from the printing division, three layout artists, and two clerks were given termination letters last April 22, effective May 31.

The letter said the Publishing House’s board of trustees, together with the Office of Planning and Development, had decided to “restructure” the University, leaving the employees’ posts in the Publishing House “redundant.”

APOSTOLIC nuncio Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams has urged Thomasians to “work for truth, understand it more deeply and make it known to others in a way that corresponds to their particular role [in] research, studies, works, and responsibilities.”

In his homily during the annual Misa de Apertura (Opening Mass) last June 15, Adams said that in order to serve the truth, “it is not enough to direct our efforts towards skeptical or scientific knowledge nor is it enough to let ourselves be guided by wisdom of a purely human mind. We know well that this is not the way of Christ.”

BINUKSAN na sa publiko ang “Lumina Pandit: An Exhibit of Historical Treasures,” kung saan tampok ang mga katangi-tanging aklat at koleksyon ng Miguel de Benavides Library.

“Sana sa exhibit, mabuksan ang mga mata ng Tomasino sa kahalagahan ng mga aklat,” ani Rektor P. Rolando De la Rosa, O.P., sa pagbubukas ng exhibit noong Hunyo 17.

“May Lumina Pandit help dispel the darkness of indifference that engulfs many of us, especially as regards to our common task of understanding, preserving, appreciating, and utilizing our rich historical and cultural heritage,” dagdag pa ni De la Rosa.

THE QUADRICENTENNIAL batch of the Varsitarian, the 82-year-old student publication of UST and the country’s premier Catholic campus paper, will be led by journalism majors.

Sitting on the editorial board are former news reporters Cliff Harvey Venzon as editor in chief and Adrienne Jesse Maleficio as acting associate editor. Venzon and Maleficio are both Journalism seniors.

Other Journalism seniors in the staff are Charizze Abulencia, who was named News editor; Jilly Anne Bulauan, assistant News editor; Jeremy Perey, Sports editor; Rose-An Jessica Dioquino, Features editor; Mika Rafaela Barrios, Literary editor; and Lester Babiera, Circle editor. Journalism junior Robin Padilla was named Witness editor.

A FACULTY of Arts and Letters alumnus placed second in the Philippine leg of World Quizzing Championships held at Murphy’s Irish Pub in Makati City last June 5.

Wilfred Ritona, 26, a graduate of political science in 2004 took the second spot for the second year with a score of 81 and ranked 259th among 1175 participants from 28 countries.

World Quizzing Championships is a worldwide quiz bee on culture, civilization, entertainment, lifestyle, sports and leisure, media, sciences, and world organized by the International Quizzing Association.

TWO PROFESSORS from the College of Science were feted by the Commission on Higher Education as their research won the 2009 National Capital Region Outstanding Research and Publication (Republica) Award for the Natural Sciences last May 19.

College of Science professors Dharmatov Rahula Albano and Fortunato Sevilla III won the biyearly award, besting 28 other researchers with their paper titled “Piezoelectric Quartz Crystal Sensor for Surfactant Based on Molecularly Imprinted Polypyrrole.”

“I’m happy of course, but this [award] is for UST,” Sevilla said.

RECTOR Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, O.P., has launched a new tribute to Thomasians and non-Thomasians who have given assistance to the Thomasian community.

The first “Quadrice-ntennial Award for Service to the University of Santo Tomas” was given to lawyer Rafaelito Garayblas, executive secretary to the Office of the Mayor of Manila. Garayblas is also a professor of Legal Management at the Faculty of Arts and Letters.

“I’m humbly honored for the award coming from my alma mater,” Garayblas said.

Garayblas was one of those who helped start the rehabilitation of the España Boulevard to ease the perennial flooding in the campus, De la Rosa said.