Tag: October 22, 2009

THERE’S trouble brewing at the carpark.

UST wants to take over the management of the P247-million building after its private builder, Selegna Holdings Corp., ran into alleged financial difficulties that prompted the company to seek financial rehabilitation from the courts.

But the Court of Appeals has rejected Selegna Holdings’ plan as a “mere ploy” and a “last-ditch effort” to evade creditors now going after its assets.

Rector Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, O.P. said in an interview that UST wanted to take over the Multi-Deck Parking Building – completed in December 2005 under a 15-year build-operate-transfer contract – but Selegna Holdings was able to get a temporary restraining order.

SELEGNA Holdings Corp., the private company that bagged the contract to build and operate UST’s four-level carpark in 2004, is owned by the same group of people behind Asian Construction and Development Corp. or AsiaKonstrukt, the favored contractor of the Expo Pilipino theme park of the Ramos administration.

Touted as the Philippines’ show window for the 1998 Centennial festivities, the park ended up mothballed when Joseph Estrada took over the presidency and ordered an investigation into the alleged “Expo scam.” Amid corruption allegations, Estrada ordered it shut in 1999 and refused to pay AsiaKonstrukt.

FACEBOOK can be a useful tool after all, instead of being just a social networking site.

The site was used to raise funds and help victims of recent natural calamities. For Thomasians, it became a venue for complaints against the UST carpark management which got flak for charging overnight fees for vehicles stranded by flooding last September 26.

In a letter sent to the Varsitarian last October 5, JP Cabrera, general manager of the carpark, said operator Selegna Holdings Corp. would refund parking fees paid last September 27, a day after tropical storm “Ondoy” flooded UST and trapped 3,000 people.

THE “GREAT Flood” of 2009 may have damaged more than P10 billion worth of infrastructure and crops in Luzon, but its impact appears minimal on UST.

An estimated P500,000 worth of furniture and infrastructure were damaged, while 18,000 UST Health Service records, including X-ray plates were destroyed, officials said.

Destroyed were cabinets, tables, and office walls which were soaked in floodwaters. Water reservoirs were also contaminated, Facilities Management Office Director Fr. Roberto Pinto, O.P. said.

The most damage were found at St. Raymund’s Building, the High School Building, San Martin de Porres Building, and the multi-deck carpark, he said.

“Water reservoirs were cleaned the next day [after the flood subsided]. The water pumps [were later fixed],” he said. “However, the water pump in San Martin de Porres Building was burnt so it needed rewiring.”

Pinto’s estimate did not include damaged office equipment.

UST HAS slipped from the list of the top 500 universities in the Times Higher Education-Quacquarelli Symonds (THE-QS) 2009 survey.

The University is now in the 501-600 bracket of the survey after getting into it last year at the 450-500 bracket. Harvard University in Boston topped again the survey.

Ateneo de Manila University retained its highest position among Philippine schools and even rose to the 234th place from being 254th last year. State-run University of the Philippines-Diliman also went notches higher to 262nd place from 276th in 2008, while De La Salle University remained in the 401-500 bracket.

AROUND 11,500 families affected by tropical storm “Ondoy” got relief packages from UST’s “Tulong Tomasino” relief operation, which covered Metro Manila, Cainta and Taytay in Rizal, and more than a dozen UST partner-communities in Bulacan.

“The Rector himself handed donations like sacks of rice, water and toiletries to the affected families,” said Jeanne Luz Castillo, Central Student Council (CSC) president.

Cash donations collected from students, alumni, and UST officials amounted to P298,347 half of which was used to buy more relief goods.

A total of 120 UST employees were also given assistance.

The CSC and the National Service Training Program (NSTP), under the supervision of the Office for Student Affairs and the Office for Community Development, organized the relief drive.

WITH hard lessons learned following the wrath of storm “Ondoy” last month, the UST crisis management committee has decided to “iron out loopholes” by revising the University’s crisis management manual.

Fr. Manuel Roux, O.P., chairman, said the committee was unprepared for the storm that struck last September 26, and pledged to have a “more organized team” when the next calamity strikes.

“Medyo nagkagulo. We were not prepared for that kind of [calamity],” Roux said. “They have to understand that nobody expected this calamity to happen. Everybody must take part in our responsibility to keep every Thomasian safe.”

Tropical storm “Ondoy” dumped a month’s worth of rainfall in just six hours and stranded more than 3,000 people on campus, prompting Roux to call for an emergency meeting two days later.

Roux said he had consulted the Council of Regents for suggestions in revising the crisis manual.

CANNES 2009 best director and Thomasian Brillante Mendoza was named best director at the 42nd Sitges Film Festival Awards in Catalonia, Spain last October 12 for his film, Kinatay.

This marks the Fine Arts’ alumnus second international triumph. The film’s soundtrack by Teresa Barrozo also bagged the best original soundtrack award.

Mendoza headed the jury for this year’s Cinemanila International Film Festival, judging films in five competition categories namely Main Competition, South East Asia (SEA) Full Lengths, DigitalLokal, Young Cinema, and SEA Shorts.

His latest film, “Lola,” starring Anita Linda, marked the opening of the festival last October 15 at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

Cinemanila gave Mendoza one of his first triumphs in cinema with the Grand Prize and Best Director award in the DigitalLokal competition for Manoro in 2006.

ONLINE enrollment will be available for regular students during the enrollment period for the second semester, after being tested in five colleges last May.

All college students may enroll online by activating their accounts at http://myuste.ust.edu.ph:8888/student. This was after the successful trial of the new system at the colleges of Nursing, Rehabilitation Sciences, Architecture, Fine Arts and Design, and the Faculty of Pharmacy.

However, due to the “complicated enrollment procedure,” University scholars, education planholders, and students of the Graduate School and the Ecclesiastical Faculties won’t be able to use the system.

Students must also register personally for physical education classes and National Service Training Program courses.

CAMPUS activities lined up for the end of September and October were postponed after the University revised its academic calendar for the second time, following a week-long suspension of classes due to tropical storm “Ondoy.”

Secretary General Fr. Isidro Abaño, O.P. moved the finals week to October 21 to 24 from October 13 to 17 to comply with the required number of school days by the Commission on Higher Education, and to give professors enough time to finish their course syllabi.

Thesis defense, seminars, and recollections were rescheduled to make up for missed classes following the storm that battered Metro Manila, Rizal, and Laguna last September 26, which led to waist-deep flooding in UST and trapped an estimated 3,000 people.