A SEMESTER proved well worth the wait for the much-delayed installation of the “quadricentennial” and 94th Rector of the University, Fr. Ernesto Arceo, O.P., who vowed to pursue and realize the 400th year anniversary vision of UST toward “academic and moral excellence.”
“The University has existed for 395 years. It has survived to this day because it has been able to adjust positively to the changes of the times and measure up to the challenges of the present,” Arceo said in his acceptance speech during his installation rites attended by the University’s faculty and key officials last Nov. 9 at the UST Chapel.
The new Rector said that he would make sure that the University would continue to produce students “who are not only educationally competent, but are also morally upright.” He provided three catch-words for the direction that his rectorship would take: “competence, moral integrity and simplicity.”
Proclaimed the “Quadricentennial Rector,” Arceo will technically serve as rector up to 2010, but he could be reappointed to another four-year term.
Perhaps shunning the quadricentennial-rector title, Arceo lauded his predecessor, Fr. Tamerlane Lana, O.P., for establishing long-term plans that he said should benefit the University for its 2011 anniversary.
“Fr. Lana has laid down the basic directions of the University for the next five years and beyond,” the Rector said. “So I ask the whole Thomasian community to help me fulfill the 2011 dream.”
Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, who presided over the Installation Mass, said in his homily that Arceo had been given the job of serving as the “conscience of the University.”
“The task now lies in the hands of Fr. Arceo whom God has appointed to be UST’s conscience and guide,” the Cardinal said.
Education, top priority
Aside from continuing his predecessor’s programs, Arceo told the Varsitarian in an exclusive interview that one of his priorities would be to attract more students to enroll at the College of Education’s primary education and secondary education programs as there has been a reported decrease in their number of enrollees.
“There is a great possibility that we will run out of teachers in the future since students would rather enroll in courses that would give them higher pay,” Arceo said.
By putting up more scholarship programs, Arceo hopes to attract more students to enroll in Education. He also said that the University would actively scout for and recruit high school students who have the calling for teaching.
“As a Dominican whose major role is to preach, I believe that our close partners in the work of evangelization are the teachers,” he said.
Further, he said that the teachers would play a crucial role in his vision to ensure that the University would produce graduates who are not only excellent in their respective fields, but who also have good values.
Arceo said he would closely monitor the faculty members, ensuring that they would serve as good examples to their students.
“I will not stop reminding our teachers to inculcate values to the students as they teach their subjects. I want our teachers to serve as the students’ inspirations,” Arceo said, pointing to the lack of moral formation as one of the main causes of social corruption.
Aside from the moral development of the students, Arceo said he would focus more on providing support to the University’s research projects and community development. He also plans to further develop UST’s extension campuses, particularly the General Santos (Gen-San) campus, during his term.
For the Gen-San extension campus, Arceo said he intends to create a pastoral formation program leading to degrees in religion and theology for lay catechists and a Master’s program in Education for teachers as soon as possible.
“We will first focus on the Gen-San campus because the Dominican presence is less there compared to UST Sta. Rosa,” Arceo said. Sta. Rosa is the other local extension campus in UST’s ambitious expansion program here and abroad.
He also said that he would put up an agricultural research center inside the Mindanao campus which would aid in the development of the “tuna capital of Asia.”
Arceo said that while there are already plans for UST’s campuses in Laguna and Sri Lanka, he would work on these only after structures have been erected in the Gen-San campus.
Further, Arceo also said he would ensure the establishment of a multi-level sports complex at the back of the Multi-Deck Carpark and a dormitory for students and foreign visitors at the back of the UST gym.
He also vowed to maintain, if not increase, the number of UST’s Centers of Excellence (COE) and Centers of Development (COD).
“I will support the deans of the colleges and faculties of the University in their various programs and projects so they could maintain a consistent level of competency and excellence,” Arceo said. “During my term, hopefully, more courses will become COE’s and the (existing) COD’s would be raised to COE’s.”
He said he would constantly hold meetings with the deans of the different colleges and faculties to discuss academic upgrading and improvements.
“To constantly maintain the high level of competency and the good performance of UST in the licensure exams, we always have to know what needs improvement,” he said.
In addition, the new Rector said he would propose the establishment of a separate office for alumni affairs irs and would coordinate with the University Alumni Council to further strengthen UST’s ties with its alumni.
Also, Arceo said he would muster the whole Thomasian community to oppose the growing number of anti-life bills pending in Congress.
“UST will oppose any law that destroys life, such as pro-choice (initiatives), abortion and the death penalty,” Arceo said.
Road to Rectorship
The 50-year-old Arceo has been an achiever since his childhood. He graduated salutatorian at the Inaon Elementary School in Pulilan, Bulacan.
Before he entered the Dominican Order in Letran College, Arceo was a consistent honor student at St. Dominic Academy, still in Pulilan, Bulacan.
In 1974, Arceo went to Aquinas University in Legaspi City for his Dominican postulancy. He graduated magna cum laude in Philosophy at the Dominican Center of Studies in Quezon City and earned a Master’s degree also in Philosophy at the UST Graduate school with a grade of meritissimus. Arceo pursued a degree in Sacred Theology and graduated cum laude. He also earned his licentiate in Sacred Theology at UST. Arceo was ordained on April 30, 1983 at the Sto. Domingo Church.
Arceo started serving the University in 1984 as the parochial vicar of the Santissimo Rosario Parish and the spiritual director of the UST Central Seminary. He was the acting rector of the seminary in 1986, its vice-rector and dean of Philosophy from 1987 to 1992, and rector in 2005. From 1995 to 1998, Arceo served as regent of the College of Commerce and prior superior of the St. Thomas Aquinas Priory in Manila. He was also dean of the Faculty of Philosophy from 1996 to 1999. In 1996, Arceo became the founder of Continuing Formation of the Dominican Province of the Philippines. He served there until 2000 and became UST vice-rector from 1998 to 2001. He was also the Prior Provincial of the Philippine Dominican Provinces from 2000 to 2004.
An associate professor in UST, the new Rector has taught in the Faculty of Philosophy, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and Graduate School.
Outside the University, Arceo has taught at the Siena College Institute of Religious Education and the Dominican Center of Studies, both in Quezon City. He also taught at the Mary Help of Christians Major Seminary in Dagupan City and the San Carlos Archdiocesan Seminary in Makati. J. L. Aguilar, Jordan Mari S. De Leon, and H.D. Homol
