Tag: February 11, 2013

UST WILL host the bar examinations for the third consecutive year, which will see a return to the old essay test format.

A Bar Bulletin posted on the website of the Supreme Court said the exam for aspiring lawyers will be held in UST during the four Sundays of October.

Civil Law Dean Nilo Divina said law school deans had unanimously endorsed UST to the Supreme Court as the venue of this year’s exams.

“[The University] has excellent facilities and it is pleasing to the eyes. It is also because of the hospitality of the administration,” Divina said.

Divina, executive vice president of the Association of Law Deans said Civil Law will also offer UST as the venue for the Bar exams next year.

THE CENTRAL Student Council (CSC) has defended the University’s decision not to push through with a “senatorial forum” initiated by outsiders that had lobbied for the reproductive health (RH) law.

What was supposed to be a forum for senatorial candidates could have ended up advocating RH and endorsing pro-RH bets, said Central Student Council vice president Argee Gonzales, noting that UST had opposed the passage of Republic Act 10354 or “The Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012.”

The decision was due to the “firm stand of the University,” Gonzales said.

THE UNIVERSITY’S Psychology program was declared a Center of Development (COD) by the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) last Dec. 20, following a rigorous review process.

“CODs serve as potent catalysts for world class scholarships, best practices, innovative curriculum, research and extension and professional development,” CHEd said in a memorandum.

The psychology program of UST is the lone COD, while the programs of University of the Philippines-Diliman, Ateneo de Manila University, and De La Salle University were named Centers of Excellence (COE).

The criteria for COE and COD are Instructional Quality (45 percent), Research Publications (30 percent), Extension and Linkages (20 percent), and Institutional Qualifications (five percent).

THE TOURISM program of UST has been granted a Level 3 accreditation status—a step closer to becoming a Center of Development.

The Hotel and Restaurant Management program, meanwhile, received Level 2 re-accreditation from the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation (PACUCOA).

“UST is being looked upon and sought after as a premier tourism and hospitality Management learning institution,” said Tourism and Hospitality Management Dean Maria Cecilia Tio Cuison, citing the college’s increasing enrollment rate and leadership of the students’ and faculty members in professional organizations.

At the start of his administration, President Aquino made much to do about the self-importance of politicians, government functionaries, private motorists and police and military not on regular duty in going around with blaring police sirens in order to cut traffic and generally make hell out of traffic rules and the lives of commuters and other motorists. The arrogant practice, as everyone knows, is an instance of the culture of entitlement permeating Philippine society, especially affecting the powers-that-be and the powers-wanna-be. “Wala nang wang-wang,” Aquino proudly announced. To set a good example, he himself said that his presidential convoy would go around without a “wang-wang.” And so be it.

THERE seem peculiar similarities between the Olympians—the 12 major gods who lived on Mt. Olympus and ruled the world—and the Senate of the Philippines. In Greek Mythology, human fate depended on the whim of the gods. When there was turmoil among them, one should expect nothing good. In her book, Mythology, scholar Edith Hamilton said the gods were the reverse of human benevolence for the most part.

A celebrated rivalry within the Olympians was between Zeus, the supreme overlord, and his brother Poseidon, the proud ruler of the seas. Their sibling rivalry was often rooted on the desire to usurp each other’s status and power. Another was between opposing gods Athena and Ares who were both deities of war.

LAST Jan. 27, Manila tour guide Carlos Celdran was convicted for “offending religious feelings” under Article 133, Section 4 of the Revised Penal Code. Judge Juan Bermejo of the Manila City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 4 sentenced him to a prison term of two months to 13 months and 11 days.

The case stemmed from the incident on September 30, 2010 when Celdran disrupted an ecumenical service at the Manila Cathedral by going in front of the service and brandishing the sign with “Damaso” inscripted, referring to the negative friar character in Jose Rizal’s novel Noli Me Tangere. He said he did the act to protest Church meddling in political affairs especially its opposition to the Reproductive Health (RH) bill.

THE heavenly scent of popcorn permeated the air as my grandmother and I bought movie tickets in a mall one cold December evening. Amidst throngs of moviegoers and patrons of the Metro Manila Film Festival, we trudged our way through—I excited to see the much-talked about film and she driven by absolute adoration for the “Superstar.” Yes, one could say we were practically giddy for Thomasian director Brilliante Mendoza’s Thy Womb starring Nora Aunor!

Abstinence, fasting, penitensiya, Pasyon—iyan ay ilan lamang sa mga salitang nagbibigay kahulugan sa panahon ng Kuwaresma o Mahal na Araw.

Kaakibat ng mga ito ay ang katakut-takot na hinaing sa naturang panahon: kung bakit bawal ang karne, kung bakit bawal kumain, at maging ang mga paniniwala ng mga nakatatanda na bawal mag-ingay at maligo pagsapit ng ika-3 ng hapon ng Good Friday. Bilang tugon, katakut-takot na paliwanag ang maaaring ilatag ng Simbahang Katolika kung bakit nararapat lamang gawin ang mga ito—ngunit, sa huli, tiyak na paulit-ulit na pakikipagtalo at pagdadahilan lamang ang magiging kasunod nito. ‘Ika nga, walang kahit anong paliwanag ang sasapat para sa isang taong hindi naniniwala.

JURISDICTION over Asia’s oldest and only Pontifical university will finally be turned over to the Filipino Dominican province from the Rome-based Master of the Order Preachers this year, but top officials are quick to dispel any notion that UST will be completely “Filipinized.”

Fr. Gerard Francisco Timoner III, O.P., prior provincial of the Dominican Province of the Philippines (DPP), said in an interview that the transfer of jurisdiction of UST to Filipinos is not about Filipinization, Hispanization or Romanization, which, he said, are concepts from a post-colonialist struggle that already belongs to the past.