As the year draws to a close, the Varsitarian pays tribute to Thomasian alumni, staff, and students who passed away in 2025.
Emiliano Varon Jr.
Emiliano “Nongko” Varon Jr., a UST alumnus and a longtime architecture educator in Bacolod, passed away on Jan. 2 following a heart attack. He was 83.
Varon graduated from the old UST College of Architecture and Fine Arts (CAFA) in 1963 and was recognized with the Outstanding UST Atelier Alumni Honor in 2023.
Roberto Evangelista
Roberto “Bunny” Evangelista, a longtime employee of the University who retired as a supervisor at the Office for Student Affairs, died on Jan. 27 following a heart attack. He was 66.
Evangelista first worked at UST with the Office of the Vice Rector. He eventually became head of the Human Resources Department and Foreign Students Office, and traffic management committee chief of the now-defunct Office for Student Affairs and Community Services.
In 2021, he received a service award for 40 years of service during the Hiyas ng UST Awards.
Noemi Catalan
Noemi Catalan, who served as chair of the UST Department of Psychology for 14 years, passed away on Feb. 1 due to complications from long-term diabetes. She was 92.
Catalan chaired the psychology department under the College of Science from 1989 to 2003.
From 1988 to 1990 and 1994 to 1995, Catalan served as president of the Psychological Association of the Philippines, the oldest and largest network of psychologists in the country.
Jay de Castro
Jay de Castro, a former deputy director of the Bureau of Corrections who, during his time at UST, was a students’ rights advocate, died on Feb. 11 following cardiac arrest. He was 68.
De Castro, a UST communication alumnus, led the Fraternal Organization of the University of Santo Tomas, a union of Metro Manila-based fraternities that fought for students’ rights during the Marcos Sr. dictatorship.
Vivian Que
Vivian Que, a UST Faculty of Pharmacy alumna and the longtime president of Mercury Group of Companies, Inc., which owns the leading Philippine drugstore chain Mercury Drug, died on April 5. She was 69.
Que took the mantle of leadership at Mercury Drug in 1988, overseeing the drugstore chain for over four decades. During this time, she spearheaded the company’s expansion to over 1,200 stores nationwide.
During UST’s 400th anniversary in 2011, she was among the three alumni who received the Quadricentennial Award for Exemplary Service to the University.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Peruvian-Spanish writer and Nobel Prize recipient Mario Vargas Llosa passed away on April 13. He was 89.
Llosa visited UST and delivered a lecture at the Buenaventura Garcia Paderes O.P. building on Nov. 7, 2016, after which he was named “honorary professor” by the University on account of being a “divinely gifted storyteller.”
Fr. Javier Arrazola, O.P.
Fr. Javier Arrazola, O.P., who served as the seventh rector of the UST Central Seminary, died on April 17. He was 90.
Arrazola served as rector of the seminary from 1979 to 1985.
Before becoming rector, Arrazola was vice rector from 1970 to 1972. He also held a concurrent role as prefect of the UST Miguel de Benavides Library and prior of the Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas until 1978.
Ruth Arenas
Ruth Arenas, a retired assistant professor at the College of Nursing, died on April 22 at the age of 72 due to complications from gastrointestinal bleeding.
Arenas became a “field instructor” for internship students who were assigned to the UST Hospital and San Lazaro Hospital. She was also a lecturer for review centers preparing nurses for licensure examinations.
Arenas served the University for 29 years and was recognized for her service in May 2018.
Rylanh Rameses Castro
Rylanh Rameses Castro, a 21-year-old communication junior from the Faculty of Arts and Letters, passed away on April 30 after cardiac arrest.
Born on Sept. 16, 2003, Rylanh served as the production design head of OHA studios, a production house put up by UST communication students.
Dennis Maturan
Dennis Maturan, an instructor at the UST Department of Modern Languages, died on May 7. He was 59.
Maturan, who was born on Jan. 23, 1966, taught Spanish courses at UST for 10 years, and in other institutions, including De La Salle – College of Saint Benilde and St. Scholastica’s College.
Fr. Rogelio Alarcon, O.P.
Fr. Rogelio Alarcon, O.P., the first prior provincial of the Dominican Province of the Philippines, died on May 17. He was 87.
Alarcon, who led the Dominican Province of the Philippines from its establishment in 1971 until 1979, founded the UST Angelicum College in Quezon City in 1971 and Angelicum School Iloilo in 1978.
He was an Outstanding Thomasian Alumni for education awardee in 1995.
Junver Toledo
Junver Toledo, a physical therapy student from the UST College of Rehabilitation Sciences, passed away on May 17. He was 22.
Junver was supposed to graduate from UST this June. He died by suicide after allegedly failing a course for the second time, according to a note left behind and shared by his father on social media.
His death prompted Thomasians to question UST’s commitment to student mental health.
Bishop Nestor Cariño
Legazpi Bishop Emeritus Nestor Cariño, a UST Central Seminary alumnus, died on May 24. He was 86.
Cariño, who had his formation at the UST Central Seminary from 1955 to 1962, was appointed auxiliary bishop of Legazpi in 1978 and became its fifth bishop in 2005.
In 1980, he was the bishop of Borongan, Eastern Samar. He was elected as the secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines in 1986.
Jamil Flores
Jaime “Jamil” Flores, a UST philosophy alumnus and former Varsitarian features editor, died on June 10 in Jakarta, Indonesia, following cardiac arrest. He was 83.
Before he graduated from UST in 1961, Flores wrote for the publication alongside figures like statesman Francisco “Kit” Tatad and journalist Jullie Yap-Daza.
He later worked as an assistant minister in the Ministry of Public Information and as a speechwriter for Indonesian diplomats Ali Alatas and Hassan Wirajuda.
Anthony Granada
Anthony Granada, an alumnus of the UST Alfredo M. Velayo – College of Accountancy who was taking up law at De La Salle University, was found dead, two weeks after he was last seen. He was 25.
Granada was last seen at his condominium near Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, where he boarded a Grab car bound for Naic Town Plaza in Cavite. On June 21, police found Granada’s remains at about 1:20 p.m. on a vacant lot at Barangay Sapa in Naic, Cavite.
Manuel Arepentido
Manuel Arepentido of the Simbahayan community development office died on Aug. 16 after battling colon cancer. He was 60.
Arepentido, an alumnus of the UST College of Commerce, spent more than 40 years of service at UST, witnessing the transition of Simbahayan from its predecessors, the Office for Community Development and the Office for Student Affairs and Community Service, as its finance officer and clerk.
Elgin Perez
Elgin Perez, a professor at the UST Faculty of Civil Law, died on Sept. 3. He was 44.
Perez, who earned his degree in legal management at the Faculty of Arts and Letters in 2002 and his law degree at the Faculty of Civil Law in 2006, became an administrator at the Faculty of Philosophy and served as the University’s legal coordinator.
Angelito Antonio
Angelito “Lito” Antonio, a former professor at the defunct UST CAFA, died on Sept. 24 due to septic shock related to ventilator-associated pneumonia. He was 86.
A graduate of the old UST CAFA in 1963, Antonio was one of the second-generation modernist masters who mentored third-generation modernists at the College of Fine Arts and Design, such as Mario de Rivera and Raul Isidro.
At Maculangan
Anthony Tendido “At” Maculangan, photographer and UST fine arts alumnus, passed away on Oct. 14 at the age of 60.
Maculangan studied painting under the defunct CAFA, and developed an interest in working with found objects and mixed media, which later led him to explore film and photography.
He established Lomomanila, a group for amateur and professional photographers interested in lomography, and co-founded Pioneer Studios in Mandaluyong.
Marie Carisa Ordinario
Marie Carisa “Cai” Ordinario, a veteran economic journalist and faculty member of the UST Department of Journalism, died on Nov. 17 after a bout with colon cancer. She was 45.
Ordinario, a UST journalism alumna, served as a news editor at the Varsitarian, and later on taught business and economic reporting, macroeconomic indicators, and media and society at the University.
A senior reporter at BusinessMirror, Ordinario was recognized by various organizations for her stories on Philippine agriculture and the economy.
Manuel Reyes
Manuel Reyes, a former dean of the UST College of Commerce and Business Administration, died on Nov. 29. He was 96.
Bernardo Pardo
Thomasian lawyer and retired Justice Bernardo Pardo died on Dec. 10. He was 93.
Pardo earned his Bachelor of Laws degree at UST in 1955, and later on taught law at the University. He was an Outstanding Thomasian Alumni awardee in 1999.
Prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court in 1998, Pardo served as chairman of the Commission on Elections from 1995 to 1998, and Court of Appeals justice from 1993 to 1995.
Luz de Guzman
Luz de Guzman, a professor at the UST Faculty of Engineering and the head of the now-defunct Engineering Sciences department, died on Dec. 24. She was 76.
