February 19, 2016, 6:55p.m. – UST WILL soon oversee other schools run by the Dominican Order in the Philippines under an integration plan to be crafted this year.
Rector Fr. Herminio Dagohoy, O.P. said University officials were working on the final arrangements to merge with other Dominican schools and build satellite campuses, to extend Thomasian education beyond the Sampaloc campus.
Fr. Dagohoy said the proposed integration “would mean there would be only one rector but different boards of trustees.”
“For example, in Angelicum College (Quezon City), there will be a separate board of trustees. The majority of those who will be sitting on the board will come from the University of Santo Tomas. That is where we have the control,” he told the Varsitarian.
But in terms of resources and management, each Dominican institution will be “independent, so to speak, from each other,” said the Rector.
According to UST’s General Statutes, the Board of Trustees is the highest policy and decision-making body of the University, composed of friars of the Order of Preachers. The trustees are elected by members of the Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas, the community of Dominicans in UST.
Asked if the integration would be similar to that of the De La Salle network of the Brothers of Christian Schools, Fr. Dagohoy said the Dominican schools would have their own structure.
The De La Salle network has been known as De La Salle Philippines, Inc. since 2006. All 16 schools under the De La Salle network follow a single “Lasallian Mission” and promote “the spirit of faith, zeal for service and communion in mission.”
Santa Rosa and General Santos campuses
Fr. Dagohoy also bared that work on the Santa Rosa, Laguna campus had begun, particularly the architectural design and engineering details.
The UST integration plan and the start of construction at the Santa Rosa campus was announced during the Rector’s Report last Oct. 16, 2015.
In his tri-annual report, Fr. Dagohoy said that “with the proposed integration of Dominican schools, we might find UST not only [in] General Santos and Santa Rosa, but also in Legazpi, Iloilo and Quezon City.”
“While UST GenSan might take time to materialize, the UST Santa Rosa campus might happen sooner. The University [has] awarded the site development project to [architects] and the project is scheduled to take off early next year in 2016,” he added.
The Varsitarian earlier reported snags in the General Santos campus construction as the government had yet to approve the site’s conversion from agricultural status. The Mindanao campus is expected to offer marine science and agriculture courses. Jerome P. Villanueva
