Oct. 4 2016, 9:26 p.m. – FR. ROLANDO Castro, O.P., prior of the Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas, has been appointed vice rector for finance of the University.
Castro’s appointment took effect on Aug. 16. He succeeded Fr. Manuel Roux, O.P. who now heads UST Hospital as chief executive officer.
Castro said the responsibility of the treasurer was no easy task and required integrity and willingness to work with other people.
“The mission statement of the office is also a general guide for one who is given the task “to ensure that the present and future finances of the University are sufficient to support the University in meeting its objectives as an educational institution,” Castro said in an interview with the Varsitarian.
Changes will come as a “response to future challenges and not merely for its own sake,” Castro said.
“I would like to think that previous treasurers have done their best to put the University where it is now and I believe that it is more prudent to build on their accomplishments. For the meantime, I have to carefully observe and listen to people, learn the complex dynamics of resource management of a huge university enterprise,” he added.
“Moreover, the vice rector for finance has to always bear in mind that he is accountable to the Board of Trustees, all the stakeholders of the University community, the government, the Church, and ultimately to God.”
Castro obtained his bachelor’s degree in sacred theology in 1990 at the Faculty of Sacred Theology and earned his licentiate in theology at the Angelicum in Rome in 2003.
He was elected head of the Dominicans in UST in 2015. This was his third election as prior after leading the convents of Santo Domingo in Quezon City and St. Albert the Great in Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Calamba, Laguna in 1997 and 2009, respectively.