April 11, 2016, 3:27p.m. – LABORATORIES will soon be taken out of the Main Building and housed in a new structure near P. Noval Street, former rector Fr. Herminio Dagohoy, O.P. told to the Varsitarian in an exclusive interview.
The soon-to-rise Central Laboratory will house the laboratories of the College of Science, College of Rehabilitation Sciences and Faculty of Pharmacy, and will be opened next academic year.
“The reason is very simple: the [Main Building] is very old,” Fr. Dagohoy said. “[A] laboratory that uses chemicals can actually compromise the integrity of the building.”
UST’s laboratories are under the Laboratory Equipment and Supplies Office (LESO), headed by Ross Vasquez. The Main Building houses almost all laboratory rooms of UST, specifically on the the second, third and fourth floors.
After the transfer of the laboratories, the vacant spaces will be converted into function rooms.
Fr. Dagohoy said he regretted not being able to finish big-ticket infrastructure projects after the completion of the Buenaventura G. Paredes, O.P. Alumni Center Building and the University Practice Gym last year.
“I was not able to accomplish that not because I don’t like it but because of other factors that are beyond my control,” Fr. Dagohoy said. “So the next rector will just take it up.”
According to a notice outside the new laboratory site, the project, which was handled by Ironcon Builders and Development Corp., started last Sept. 21, 2015 and would be completed on Sept. 14, 2016.
Fr. Dagohoy stepped down as rector a month ahead of schedule last March 31 to give his successor more time to adjust ahead of the K to 12 transition. Vice Rector Fr. Richard Ang, O.P. assumed the post of acting Rector. Jerome P. Villanueva
