Tag: August 11, 2007

DEMONIC, coercive, and unconstitutional. Ironically these have been thrown at a law supposedly crafted to eradicate terrorism that endangers national security.

Despite protests, President Macapagal-Arroyo signed Republic Act No. 9372, or the Human Security Act (HSA), into law recently and even without the implementing rules, has gone on to implement it. The implementation, according to National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, is meant to avert acts of terrorism and guarantee the well-being of Filipinos.

EVERBODY makes plans, but it’s disheartening to note that things may not always come one’s way. I’ve experienced these upsets many times, especially in high school.

Upon entering our high school’s pilot section during my sophomore year, I planned to stay until I graduate with honors. But as competition grew intense and as I devoted less and less time for studying each day, I found myself booted out of the section at the end of the school year.

ILLUMINATING mankind’s path toward salvation, the “hounds of God” continue to bear the torch of truth on their mouths since their father, St. Dominic de Guzman, founded the Order of Preachers in 1216.

According to Fr. Roy Rodriguez O.P., provincial promoter of vocations of the Dominicans in the Philippines, ignorance is the origin of sin, and teaching the truth is the only way to liberate mankind from error.

DID UST violate the deed of donation that gave the University its 22-hectare España campus in the early 1920s when it decided to spin off the UST Hospital into a separate entity?

The simple answer is “No,” because the hospital remains a charitable institution attached to the Unviersity, although it is expected to generate profits for the first time in years.

UST Rector Fr. Ernesto Arceo, O.P., has dismissed the claims, while UST’s top historian is saying the claims made by newspaper columnists are historically doubtful, at best.

UNIVERSITY officials are optimistic a consortium of banks which had agreed to finance the P3-billion expansion of the UST Hospital will soon release funds for the ambitious project, a move expected to clear once and for all a controversy that has spilled over to the opinion pages of several newspapers.

UST Rector and hospital chairman Fr. Ernesto Arceo, O.P. is lashing out at critics of the hospital upgrade and expansion, pointing out that the University only wanted to put an end to years of financial losses.

BILANG simbulo ng pagsisimula ng isang panibagong kabanata sa kasaysayan, isang tradisyon na ang paglalagay ng panulukang-bato o cornerstone bago itatag ang isang gusali. Isang angkop na halimbawa nito ang seremonya ng cornerstone laying noong 1911 na opisyal na naglunsad sa pagtatayo ng bagong kampus ng Unibersidad.

Pinangunahan ng matataas na opisyal ng Unibersidad, tulad nina Padre Jose Noval, O.P., ang rektor, at si P. Florencio Llanos, O.P., ang bise-rektor, ang seremonya na ginanap noong Disyembre ng taong iyon. Isinabay ito sa pagdiriwang ng ika-300 anibersaryo ng pagkakatatag ng Unibersidad.

HOURS before he irretrievably rested his pen, veteran journalist and former presidential press secretary and Varsitarian news editor Jesus “Jess” Sison rose from his bed and had dinner with his kids.
“We were very happy when we saw him because he had been lying in his bed ever since he was first hospitalized,” Sison’s eldest daughter Milen de Quiros, 50, said.

THE FACULTY of Arts and Letters Student Council has asked for a review of an alleged policy by the College of Education that “empowers” security guards to cut the hair of students.

The policy was brought to the attention of the student government in a grievance complaint filed by an AB-BSE student who said that the guard posted at the Albertus Magnus Building last July 5 did not allow him and his classmates to enter the building unless they cut their hair. In order to get to their classes, they said they subjected themselves to a haircut by the guard.

THE YOUNGEST and the only Southeast Asian to receive the award for Outstanding Student Achiever of the World is a proud Thomasian.

Leonard Faustino, a 16-year-old Medical Technology freshman, accepted the recognition last July 9 at the 16th World University Students Assembly in Seoul, South Korea.

Conferred by the Universal Peace Federation, World Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (World CARP), and the United Nations Veterans Foundation to 19 other students all over the world, the award recognizes exceptional academic and humanitarian efforts.

HOTEL and Restaurant Management (HRM) students bagged maajor awards in the wedding-themed Manila Food and Beverages Exposition last June at the World Trade Center in Pasay.

Seniors Gwen Anais Gatchalian, Maria Elena Dumalaog, and Frances Casey Santos won the grand prize in the cake-decorating competition while sophomores Angelica del Rosario, Katrina Lopez, Jodel Porto, Anthony Tamayo, and Patricia Villamar grabbed first prize in the on-the-spot table-setting category.