Tag: December 7, 2012

A THIRD-YEAR UST Biology student died after falling from the Main Building last Nov. 12.

It was not clear whether the student intentionally jumped from the fourth floor of the 85-year-old building.

Students from the Faculty of Civil Law, which is also located in the Main Building, recalled hearing a loud thud inside the building’s left wing at around 2 p.m. A Pharmacy student witnessed the fall and was given stress debriefing, said Joseph Badinas, UST’s security chief.

The student was rushed to UST Hospital around five minutes later, but was pronounced dead at 7:40 p.m. 

The rape-slaying of UST Tourism cum laude graduate Cyrish Magalang last October in Cavite shocked the nation not only for its brutality but also for its senselessness. Magalang had boarded a tricycle in her village but she did not reach her destination; she was waylaid by the driver and his brother; she was abducted and raped, then stabbed more than 40 times; her head was found smashed. The brothers later confessed to the crimes and pleaded for forgiveness, saying they were drug-induced and near-witless when they committed the horrendous crimes.

THE NEWS that a certain Jonah Ortiz from the College of Science—where I am taking BS Biology—had fallen off the top floor of the Main Building had sent shock waves in and out of the University.

It happened during a sun-beaten midafternoon. My classmates and I were waiting for our professor to arrive when our class president received a text message that someone had fallen off the Main Building. We were having our class in the first floor. Hurriedly, my classmates made their way outside and found a busy crowd huddled over a sprawled body. There was a collective gasp. Hands covered mouths gaping in horror. He was apparently still alive, his body curled and aching terribly from the fall. Hours later, we got the news that he had died from internal hemorrhage.

For the Philippines to regain its spot in the world academic map, colleges and universities must pursue genuine cooperation.

Months ago in coverage of an international forum of Asian students and educators, I had the opportunity to talk to Thai students about the state of tertiary education in both Thailand and the Philippines.

Waithathorn, a banking and finance student from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, said higher education in his home country is very competitive; with their diplomas, students land a good job not only in Thailand, but also in the global professional arena.

He attributes the good quality education in Thailand to cooperation among universities.

BECAUSE of objections and obstacles, it may take until kingdom come to pass the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill.

But with the clock ticking on the House of Representatives, lawmakers are still playing their cards on when to include the controversial Right of Reply provision on on the FOI. Amid the RH bill brouhaha, legislators are still cramming to revise and revise once more a bill that has undergone more facelifts than Jacko Wacko.

Needless to say, media men are going gaga over the passage of the FOI bill. In all its glorious honesty, the FOI aims to let people obtain papers of public officials that they may fancy looking at.

“A PEOPLE without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots,” said Marcus Garvey.

Two months ago, I was assigned by the Philippine Daily Inquirer to go to Vigan, Ilocos Sur to cover an event of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos).

That was my first time to go to Vigan and I was really excited because Vigan has been inscribed as a Unesco World Heritage Site and it is one of the few Hispanic towns left in the Philippines.

AGAIN, no student charter this year.

Since the initial draft of the Students’ Code came out in 2004, the tedious process of review and ratification has led to repeated delays.

Today, the situation is no better—no one seems to have any idea what has happened to erstwhile Magna Carta of Students’ Rights.

QUITTING smoking is still the better option.

Despite the accessibility of costly medical treatments, medical doctors reiterated the importance of early diagnosis and prevention to battle cancer during the Annual Cancer Conference hosted by the UST Hospital-Benavides Cancer Institute (USTH-BCI) from Nov. 7 to 9.

Now on its sixth year, the conference highlighted the status of lung cancer in the Philippines as well as modern ways to prevent the spread of the disease with the theme “WE CAN!—Cancer Awareness Network.”

WHAT happens if bacteria get totally immune to drugs?

Medical experts are alarmed with the discovery of new bacterial strains which render antimicrobial drugs’ ineffective against infectious diseases.

Drug resistance is the condition which enables disease-causing microorganism or microbe to survive even with the presence of antibiotics, said Dr. Evelina Lagamayo, chief of the Microbiology Section of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery.

“Because of this condition, new bacterial strains, also called ‘superbugs,’ develop resistance to common antibiotics like penicillin, erythromycin, tetracycline, quinolone, and aminoglycoside,” she said.

WITH the surge of online reporting and the ubiquity of news materials readily available on the Internet, some of the country’s top journalists have reminded students not to abuse the power of the media and challenged them to go “back to the basics” of journalism.

The 14th installment of Inkblots dug deep into the fundamentals of journalism, and with the help of top media practitioners, taught 270 fellows on the rudiments of journalism at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex auditorium from Oct. 22 to 24.

Former senator Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. opened the three-day seminar with his talk on the Bangsamoro peace pact and how journalists should act on the two major religions of the country.

Nitty-gritty of reporting