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IT USUALLY takes an ordeal of wit, creativity, and incredible timing for comedians to craft and deliver a decent, sellable punch line. But vending humor in exchange for insult makes it unacceptable.

However hilarious, some American comedy shows have bluntly offended Filipinos by remarks mentioned in the lines of some shows. It is as if Filipinos and our attributes are treated as a mere punch line.

ASIDE FROM Dominic, Aquinas, and Martin de Porres, there is one more hound of God that I recently came to admire as my eyes raked through the texts of his life story one leisurely morning on All Saints Day.

Pardon me for getting hooked at Church history these days. The kind of pasttime that I have may appear trivial, if not antiquated, for a handful of intellectual posers roaming the University and declaring the secularism of their thoughts from all evils, imagined or otherwise. I could only mope in boundless consternation.

SA IKALAWANG pagkakataon, hindi nakapagpadala ng volunteers ang Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) ng simbahan ng Santissimo Rosario sa nakaraang halalang pambarangay noong ika-29 ng Oktubre.

Matatandaan na hindi rin nakapagpadala ang sangay ng PPCRV sa UST noong nakaraang Mayo sa pambansang halalan dahil sa kakulangan ng tauhan at pinansyal na supports.

Ayon kay Ricardo Galang, PPCRV Coordinator ng ikaapat na distrito ng Maynila, malaki ang nasasakripisyo kung kulang sa tauhan ang PPCRV katulad na lamang ng nangyari sa nakaraang botohan.

“Bukod sa Santissimo Rosario, hindi rin naki-isa ang mga simbahan ng San Roque, Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto, at Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro,” ani Galang sa Varsitarian. “Dahil dito, maraming botante ang hindi natulungan at maraming lumabag sa batas ang nakalusot.”

A professor from the Faculty of Engineering almost lost two laptops and some personal belongings after an outsider shattered the window of his car parked in front of the Miguel de Benavides Library last October 25.

The suspect was caught by UST security guards just as he was about to board a jeepney bound for Quiapo.

A Graduate School student, Sister Anna T. Nguyen Koan, happened to pass by when she saw a man smash the rear right quadrant window of the red Toyota Revo owned by Engr. Cristino Carbonell, and take three bags inside. Sister Koan immediately informed the security guards stationed at the Central Library who, in turn, alerted Edilberto Repizo and Eduard Tiu, guards assigned at the Dapitan gate.

The guards quickly responded and caught the suspect, Angelito Cortez, a resident of Alvarez St., Sampaloc.

The bags contained two laptops, a mobile phone, and an MP3 player.

THOMASIAN doctors based in the United States were among the first to cry foul when the lead actress of the hit TV series “Desperate Housewives” took a swipe on the quality of medical education in the Philippines.

In the season premiere of the primetime series that aired September 30 in the US, Teri Hatcher, who plays Susan Mayer in the sitcom about five housewives in an American suburb, went to her doctor for a check-up and found out that she was going through menopause. Shocked, Hatcher’s character told to the doctor:

“Okay, before we go any further, can I check these diplomas? Just to make sure they aren’t, like, from some med school in the Philippines.”

Filipino doctors in the US immediately branded the line as a “racial slur” against them and against medical schools in the Philippines.

A THOMASIAN who graduated last March could have been one of the casualties of the explosion that rocked Glorietta Mall in Makati last October 19 but he and his friends were lucky enough to escape without scratch. But unfortunately, the sister of one University employees – at the peak of her career as an IT programmer – were among the 11 killed by the blast.

Orville Zaragoza Jr., 21, who works at Smart Communications as business analyst was with his friends on a regular “Friday lunch out” at the mall that day. Little did they know that after their “bonding time” over lunch, disaster would strike.

After lunch, they decided to stroll inside the mall when they heard the loud explosion a few meters away from where they were standing.

CONVICTED for the second time.

The plea of innocence by Arnulfo Aparri Jr., one of the primary suspects in the killing of Mark Welson Chua, the cadet who exposed corruption in the Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC) in 2001, has been denied by the Court of Appeals.

The court’s September 28 ruling upheld the guilty verdict on Aparri by the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18.

Aparri was sentenced to death by lethal injection but due to the abolition of the death penalty law in 2006, the sentence was reduced by the appeals court to life imprisonment without parole.

The three other accused, Paul Joseph Tan, Eduardo Tabrilla, and Michael Von Rainard Manangbao remain at large, but the court has issued warrants of arrest for them.

IS THERE still a place for traditional poetry in a pragmatic and the fast-paced era?

Poet and pedagogue Michael M. Coroza seems to have answered in the affirmative after receiving the Southeast Asian Writers’ Award last October 12.

The annual Southeast Asia Writers’ Awards, or simply SEA Write, was instituted in 1979 by Thailand’s royal family to honor literary excellence in the ASEAN region, and as such is the only regional literary award of its kind.

UST POSTED another sterling performance in recent licensure exams as Thomasians dominated the top 10 of the Interior Design board exams while landing on the list of top- performing schools in Accountancy and Mechanical Engineering.

Five Thomasians entered the top 10 of the Interior Design exams with Kate Jennifer Lozano placing first (89.75), followed by Charisse Isip, third (86.20); Eduardo Dungca III, seventh (84.70); Rossy Anne Yabut, eighth (84.10); and Maria Isabella Trinidad Robles, tenth (83.65).

Lozano, a magna cum laude and recipient of the Rector’s Award for Academic Excellence, said she did not have enough time to prepare for the exams because of work.

“Compared to other students in the review center, I had less time to study because I was working on a project. Most of us from UST were either working or had sideline (jobs),” Lozano added. “I asked the Lord to give me an open mind, for me to understand and answer all the questions.”

THE WORD emanates from the House of God. And the University, realizing its greater role in spreading God’s word, is now girding for a new mission: to protect Church heritage.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has tapped the UST Center for Conservation of Cultural Property and Environment in the Tropics (CCPET) to be its partner in drafting a set of guidelines that would help preserve the Church’s cultural heritage as defined by its structures, relics, and rituals, following a meeting last September.

“The center would serve as the leveling bridge between the Catholic Church and the government so that both would be able to address the threats facing the Church’s heritage,” CCPET director Erick Zerrudo said.