VISIBLY missing in the Recruitment 101, a yearly event of recognized student organizations to hire new members, was Teatro Tomasino, the three-decade-old theater guild of UST.
Maria Cecilia Cruz, president of the Student Organizations Coordinating Council (SOCC), said Teatro and Tomasinotaku, an organization promoting Japanese culture, did not attend the Leadership Training Seminar last summer, a requirement for student organizations before they can be recognized by the SOCC and the Office for Student Affairs (OSA).
She said so far, there are 177 recognized student organizations on the council’s list, including those which are college-based. The list is not yet final since there are still other requirements needed to be met.
“The Community Development Forum is [also] part of the [requirements for an organization] to be recognized,” Cruz said, adding that organizations also need to submit “recognition papers” to OSA.
Efforts to reach Teatro officers for comment proved futile.
Teatro has produced some of the biggest names in the television and film industries, including director Wenn Deramas, Piolo Pascual, and John Lapus, also the guild’s professional adviser.
Earlier this year, a Teatro member committed suicide during an affair of the organization at the Fernandina Suites Hotel in Cubao, Quezon City.
Following the incident, the Office of the Secretary General issued a circular last May 28 banning acquaintance parties and other student-organized activities outside the University.
Meanwhile, Cruz said this year’s recruitment drive was “successful” based on the number of students who signed up for various organizations.
The CFC-Youth for Christ got the highest number of recruits with 1,034 students signing up, followed by Earth-UST, an organization promoting environmental protection, with 727.
The recruitment was postponed to July 6 to 10, from its original schedule of June 22 to 26, after the University was hit by influenza A(H1N1) virus last June 22. Jilly Anne A. Bulauan
