News

DUBBED as “the country’s most advanced pharmaceutical research center,” the UST Center for Drug Research, Evaluation and Studies, Inc. (UST-Cedres) now aims for international recognition through improved drug testing and pharmaceutical standardization.

According to UST-Cedres operations manager Michael Lagdameo, the center, formerly the Bioavailability Unit that pioneered drug research in the country, hopes to ensure quality drugs for the country, allowing the Philippine pharmaceutical industry to compete internationally.

FORMER Interior and Local Government Sec. Joey Lina emphasized “Godly leadership” as the vital element the country needs now during the St. Thomas More lecture last Feb. 8 at the Albertus Magnus Auditorium.

According to Lina, the country is in “dire need of a critical mass of bold, creative, and Godly leaders” who can create fresh opportunities to shape and harness the creative potential of the people and the country’s resources.

No to mining TNCs: Nationalize the mining industry.

Thus read the slogan on the badges pinned on every chest of the 370 environmentalists, Catholics, and other Christians from all over the country who gathered last Feb. 8 at the Thomas Aquinas Research Center in a conference to protect the Philippines’ natural resources from being “exploited” by transnational mining companies (TNCs).

Frances Quimpo, executive director of the Center for the Environmental Concerns (CEC), said the mining industry in the Philippines “does not aid the economy”.

AFTER the theft of four liquid crystal display (LCD) projectors worth P95,000 each and 11 flat-screen computer monitors worth at least P15,000 a piece, Vice-Rector for Finance Fr. Melchor Saria, O.P. said the University will crack down on pilferage of UST properties on campus.

Three graduating students from the Faculty of Engineering and College of Science received the 2005 Bank of the Philippine Islands-Department of Science and Technology (BPI-DOST) Science Awards last Feb. 7 at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex Auditorium.

Thomasians Allan Norman Baldonado, Christian Bendicio, and Sarah Camille Concepcion emerged as the top three students based on their scholastic achievements, leadership capabilities, and researches.

THE APPOINTMENT of the new Vigan and Nueva Ecija prelates last Feb.12 added to the roster of alumni-bishops of the UST Ecclesiastical Faculties.

Laoag Bishop Ernesto Salgado was named archbishop of the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia in Vigan City, replacing Archbishop Edmundo Abaya, who is also a Thomasian, while Msgr. Mylo Hubert Claudio Vergara was appointed the new bishop of the Diocese of San Jose, Nueva Ecija.

AMBASSADOR Enrique Syquia, a renowned international lawyer, diplomat, and law professor, died of cardiac arrest at age 74 on Feb.1 at the UST Hospital.
An honorary consul of Malta to the Philippines since 1996, Syquia was a consistent honor student of the University, where he studied from high school until he obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1953. He passed the bar examinations that same year.

WITH nostalgia in their eyes, 12 former UST internees of the Santo Tomas internment camp during the Second World War went back to the University in a sentimental homecoming last Feb. 3 during the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Manila..

Accompanied by their families, the internees, most of them still children during the Japanese occupation, shared their experiences, recalling how it was easier for children to get by then than it was for adults.

After a series of near-fatal vehicular accidents involving UST students in Arsenio H. Lacson Avenue since January this year, University officials requested the city government for more safety measures to be installed in the area.

LAKAS Tomasino Coalition (Lakas) has sought the nullification of the Central Student Council (CSC) election results coming from the College of Nursing after the local Commission on Elections (Comelec) opted to push through with the CSC elections despite the postponement of its local elections due to the misprinting of ballots.

According to a letter addressed to the Central Comelec dated Feb. 19, the misprinting of ballots “caused confusion to (the) voters on whether the elections will push through (resulting) in a low voter turnout in the College.”