News

TO CHECK its “stagnation” in recent years, the Student Organizations Coordinating Council (SOCC) plans to reinvent itself to make its presence more felt.

“Even though it is logical to think the SOCC coordinates the organizations in the University, this has been unknown to the students,” SOCC president Michael Vincent Uy said during the 30th SOCC-Leadership Training Seminar (SOCC-LTS) workshop.

TILA kasamang naglaho ang mithiin ng Tomasinong si Teodoro Benigno Jr. para sa Pilipinas sa kanyang pagpanaw noong Hunyo 3 sa edad na 81 dahil sa kumplikasyon sa kanyang atay.

Sinabi ni Mila Alora, isang manunulat at dating ka-trabaho ni Benigno sa Office of the Press Secretary sa administrasyon ni Pangulo Corazon Aquino, na pinangarap ng yumaong kolumnista na makitang sumabay ang Pilipinas sa pag-unlad ng ibang bansa sa Asya.

NON-ACADEMIC employees will now receive more benefits and higher pay after the administration approved their salary reconstruction.

“We will increase the basic salary by P175 per month,” Internal Auditor Shirley Ireneo said. “Plus, a signing bonus worth P15,000 will be distributed to each regular non-academic employee.”

In addition to the wage increase, the benefits will also be tax-exempt.

TWO FACULTY of Civil Law juniors and a Faculty of Arts and Letters senior lead the Varsitarian staff for the school year 2005-06.

Civil Law’s Eldric Paul Peredo and Teodoro Lorenzo Fernandez were retained as

editor in chief and managing editor, while Reagan Tan, a former News and Science and Technology writer, was appointed associate editor.

A FACULTY of Engineering student committed suicide last May 29 allegedly because of debarment.

The Crime Investigation Division of the Central Police District reported that Adrian Robles was found dead and hanging by a curtain cord looped around his neck from a spiral staircase at the second floor of his house.

Upon untying her son’s lifeless body, Josephine, Robles’ mother, informed the police.

A Patient of the UST Clinical division (USTCD) leaped from the hospital window to his death last June 6, according to the Western Police District (WPD).

WPD investigator PO2 Jerico Jimenez identified the victim as Ronaldo Santos, 19, of Tondo, Manila.

In an interview with Abante-Tonite, Elvira Santos, his aunt, said her nephew went to the comfort room to relieve himself.

THE UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas Central Library is creating a section that will contain books and journals documenting the evolution of the country.

Prefect of Libraries Fr. Angel Aparicio, O.P. said UST, the oldest university in the Philippines and a witness to its growth, has the responsibility to preserve documents relating to the nation’s history.

“It is not just to keep all books, but to preserve the memory of a nation,” Fr. Aparicio said.

The University of Santo Tomas Medical Alumni Association in America (USTMAAA) has donated $75,000 to the UST Hospital (USTH) and Faculty of Medicine and Surgery (Medicine).

USTMAAA has targeted an endowment fund of $2 million for the activities of the association. It could donate the fund’s interest to the University through its financial arm, the USTMAAA Foundation.

According to Rector Fr. Tamerlane Lana, O.P., this year, the association of Thomasian doctors built up an endowment fund worth $2.5 million, surpassing its target worth $2 million.

FATHER Tamerlane Lana, O.P., in the final stretch of his second term as UST Rector, wants to focus on raising the Thomasian education standards and venturing into expansion and infrastructure projects before he leaves office next year.

Lana refers to the measures in making Vision 2011 possible. When Lana first assumed office in 1998, he launched the long-term plan that will aid the University to become “a center of academic excellence, a master in research in the sciences, and a leader of community development in Asia in 2011.”

AMID the illegal gambling and wiretapping scandals hounding the Macapagal-Arroyo administration, Rector Fr. Tamerlane Lana, O.P. called on Thomasians to use reason, cautioning against being easily swayed by public opinion.

“Keep an open mind, try to be vigilant and reflect deeper on the meaning of the events happening,” the Rector said. “Use reason and give yourself time to really see the truth.”