LAST month, Secretary-General Fr. Winston Cabading, O. P. issued a memorandum announcing the no-smoking policy on campus.
Formulated by the University’s Council of Regents last March, it’s a long overdue policy in a city where pollution has reached alarming levels. The last thing we need is the cigarette smoke coming out of our neighbor’s mouth. Besides, studies have proven that smoking shortens a person’s lifespan and that second-hand smokers are more vulnerable to smoking-related diseases, like lung cancer, because they breathe in at least 85 percent of the smoke puffed.
According to UST Health Service director Dr. William Olalia, anyone who enters the campus, including professors and outsiders, will be subject to the policy.
I hope that this policy will be properly enforced since it will benefit not only the non-smokers, but the smokers as well. I hope this will not be another case of ningas cugon.
***
About three weeks ago, while on my way to Makati, I came across a tabloid bearing the banner, “Pari nang-rape ng 14-anyos.” It caught my attention but I was in a hurry and, it is not my habit to read at newsstands.
However, late that night, I was surprised that my brother had a copy of that tabloid. He told me that Fr. Macario Apuya, S.V.D. was in the papers again.
This time it caught my ire.
I have known Fr. Mac since high school. Back in high school, he was our campus minister. I was in fourth year, when the story that he allegedly raped a teenager erupted.
Recently, stories of clergymen allegedly committing sins of the flesh have been a hot item not only here but abroad as well.
I could not believe that these papers are again riding on the case of Fr. Mac just to gain readership.
I could not understand why they are running the story again considering that it has been published about four years ago, not only on tabloids but also on respected broadsheets.
Fr. Mac’s case is still pending in court and from what I heard, the decision will come out one of these days.
Maybe these guys did not know that they were committing a grave mistake when they ran that story. They did not know that our laws prohibit publication of stories that discuss the merits of a case pending in court.
I hope Fr. Mac’s lawyers get a copy of that paper and take action against these irresponsible journalists.
***
Since I became a student of the Faculty of Arts and Letters three years ago, I haven’t really seen a very progressive AB Student Council (ABSC).
I remember during my first year how the ABSC was hounded by “corruption.” I could not forget the AB pin I paid for that never reached my collar.
Later on, I came across unconfirmed reports that a council officer fled with around P10,000 of the collection. Only God knows what happened to my P50.
In the succeeding years, though nothing in the magnitude of that fiasco came about, the ABSC still failed to impress me. Up to now there’s still too much politicking going on especially when election week comes along. Just last year, cases of election irregularities saddled the take-over of the new student council president.
What’s more, I don’t see anything special with most of their projects. Some of the projects that they say they will perform are actually what they are supposed to do. Just because the previous officers failed to perform what is in their job descriptions, they make an issue out of it and include them in their set of “projects” that they announce during campaign. Maybe I’m looking for something different from the so-called training ground of our future politicians.
They should try feeding the AB students something new.
With the new school year, comes a new batch of student council officers. I hope they will perform to the best of their abilities and fulfill their promises.
They should remember that they are not there just to spice up their credentials. They were voted to those positions because the students believed in their capabilities and promises. They should take it as an opportunity to serve their fellow students.
They should not do stupid things they will regret. In the end, they’ll just be like their predecessors. What they do will distinguish them from the other batches. As it has been always said, only those who excelled—or languished at the bottom—are remembered. Now, it’s up to the new set of ABSC officers to decide how they would want to be remembered.
