Tag: February 24, 2005

Desperate for a cure, the couple carry their paraplegic five-year-old son to the Lourdes grotto. Suffering from meningo-encephalitis for two years already, the boy, Guy Leydet, has paralyzed arms and legs, a damaged brain, and frequent convulsions. The child can’t even recognize his parents who have tried all forms of treatment, to no avail. Until the nurses help dip Guy’s fragile body into the springs, and the mute boy opens his eyes and cries, “Mama!”.

KABILANG si Tomasinong Isabelo de los Reyes, historyador ng rebolusyon at tagapagtanggol ng mga manggagawang Pilipino, sa linya ng mga kilalang manunulat na sina Jose Rizal at Marcelo del Pilar na umukit ng pangalan sa kasaysayan ng bansa at nagbigay-daan sa kalayaan gamit ang pamamahayag.

Nakilala sa kanyang mga panunuligsa, binansagang “Ama ng Philippine Folklore” si Delos Reyes o “Don Belong” na nagtapos ng kursong abugasya at paleography sa UST.

OTHER than shouting curses and invectives at each other, everything seems normal for a group of five young people playing the famous computer game, Ragnarok, in one of the computer shops on V. Concepcion Street. Until one of them, wearing a UST High School uniform, shouted, “Lunch break na!” Apparently, they had not attended their morning classes that day.

FACULTY of Medicine and Surgery (Medicine) professor Dr. Gil Gamilla assured the UST Faculty Union (USTFU) members of the “continuing advancement” of the faculty benefits and programs after his reelection as union president for another five years.

“If possible, we’ll improve all their salary and medical benefits,” said Gamilla, who is already on his third term as president.

Gamilla added that the USTFU is considering, with the help of a developer, a housing project for its members, which he hopes to achieve during his term.

Stress can break hearts.

Other than obesity and unhealthy lifestyle, researchers say that stressful conditions increase incidences of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), the number one killer disease in the country today.

A Finnish study published last year in the British Medical Journal claims that stress significantly damages the heart. Researcher Mika Kivimaki of the Finnish Institute of Occupa-tional Health says that “those in work units who receive the most downsizing suffered twice the death rate from heart attack.”

AFTER topping the 2004 medical board exams, Dr. Elmer Reyes Jacinto decided to become a nurse, joining the thousands of Filipino doctors migrating to other countries as nurses. “(The reason) is economic,” he said in the 2004 Oct. 4 issue of Newsweek. But who would be left to take care of the Filipino people when they fall ill?

DUE TO difficulty in finding employment after graduation, the UST Graduate School Alumni Association (GSAA) is set this March to help graduate students find jobs by granting them memberships even before they graduate.

According to GSAA’s newly elected president Dr. Mercedes Leuterio, the association, which currently assists students through scholarship programs and subsidies for theses and dissertations, also aims to strengthen links with other organizations, and provide services to members, especially possible job placements and opportunities.

HUMAN Rights Commissioner Dominador Calamba III deplored the bloody dispersal of striking workers of the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita last Nov. 16.

“Hindi maganda ang handling ng case (Hacienda Luisita massacre), so much so that the rights of the laborers were violated,” Calamba said in the forum,”Hacienda Luisita Massacre: What is the Way to Peace?” last Feb. 4 at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex seminar room.

Calamba encouraged the hacienda workers to be aware of their labor rights and to stand up for them.

TWO THOMASIANS topped the recent Architecture and Physical Therapy (PT) licensure examinations, while another landed at fourth place in the Occupational Therapy exams.

John Patrick Buensalido (85.70 per cent) ranked first in the Architecture board exams last month. Gerard Michael Dy (84.30 per cent), Andrew Benedict Sy (83 per cent), and Vergel Angelo Paule (82.70) placed third, sixth, and seventh, respectively.

Former Varsitarian Art Director Carlo Fundador Marudo was one of the 622 examinees who passed out of 1,282 examinees nationwide.

FORMER press undersecretary Alice Colet-Villadolid stressed the importance of accurate reporting and ethical conduct in relation to the Philippine Journalists’ Code of Ethics during the second Jose Villa Panganiban (JVP) Professorial Chair for Journalism lecture last Feb. 3 at the UST Central Library conference hall.

“Thomasians are especially involved (here) because we follow St. Thomas’ teaching in searching for the truth. (And if) you do not know the truth, then don’t work as a journalist,” Villadolid told the audience, mostly A.B. Journalism seniors.