Tag: January 26, 2011

In celebration of the University’s 400 years of unending pursuit for intellectual competence, the Varsitarian, the 83-year-old official student publication of the University, holds Pautakan 2Q11: the 34th Annual Intercollegiate Quiz Contest, on February 28, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Medicine Auditorium, St. Martin de Porres Building in UST campus.

Teams from different faculties and colleges will gather on the battleground of glory as they put their wit and fate to test to take home the revolving Pautakan trophy this Quadricentennial.

This year’s hosts are former UST courtside reporter Claude Despabiladeras, TV personality Dino Imperial and disc jockey Andi Manzano.

WHAT the University of Santo Tomas has become now is akin to the parable of the mustard seed found in the Gospel of Matthew.

From a personal library and an endowment of 1,500 Spanish pesos bequeathed by Msgr. Miguel de Benavides, O.P., UST founder and third archbishop of Manila, the institution—originally a “seminary-college” to prepare young men for the priesthood—has, at present, become of a major player in building the Philippine nation, the Universal Church and the Christian family. It has become, as Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales has said during the Jubilee Mass last January 24, “the world’s largest Catholic university.”

A FEW days ago, I was stuck in front of the computer in an attempt to write this issue’s editorial and I ended up staring at the blinking cursor for quite some time. I was tasked to write about UST’s relevance and contribution in building the nation, the church, and the family, and I found that doing this was a difficult undertaking. I felt that writing about the University’s role in nation-building is tantamount to writing volumes of books, and it’s quite dangerous to miss a point. Tired of wasting my time, I decided to switch to writing a chapter of my thesis and I put the Quadricentennial song, “Ako’y Isang Tomasino,” on repeat until I got my writing spirit back.

FIRST, environmental issues, then overbuilding and faulty sewerage system, and now—sex on the beach. Has the most famous island in the Philippines now become infamous for scandals?

Boracay boasts its fine sugary white sand beaches, a strong contender for the world’s finest beaches. But this once primeval island, which attracts 650, 000 tourists annually, is slowly turning to be overdeveloped over the years.

A study of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on the “tourism-carrying capacity revealed that the island was “on the brink of exceeding its carrying capacity.”

RECENTLY, five former health department chiefs decided to ask the Supreme Court to allow them to intervene in a local case between cigarette companies and the use of graphic images for anti-smoking campaign.

Not a breath of fresh air as one may put it. The former health secretaries should have intervened last year when the issue was very hot back in summer.

Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc. and Fortune Tobacco Corp. filed separate cases in response to the Department of Health’s (DOH) campaign to put disturbing images of the ill effects of smoking on cigarette packs.

A FEW weeks ago, I was trying to decide which among the 36th Metro Manila Film Fest entries I was going to watch: I decided between RPG Metanoia, the first Philippine full-length computer-generated feature film in 3D, and Rosario, which by then I have presumed to be one of those glorified love stories.

I ended up placing my hundred-eighty peso bet on Rosario despite its exceptionally unimaginative title. I didn’t have the guts to believe that RPG Metanoia wasn’t as awful as the Super Inggo and Super Tropa series. And Filipino animation did not exactly own a good record when it comes to motion picture.

TOO MANY students go for UST and it shows in the school’s increasingly congested classrooms.

The problem is evident in the Faculty of Arts and Letters where one Theology class—despite the standard room air-conditioning—is stuffed with as many as 59 students. The number is 14 more than the accepted ratio of 45 students per classroom.

Students paid at least P43,000 this semester.

Since 2005, freshmen admission has steadily increased by almost 21.6 percent, according to data from the Office of the Registrar. In 2006, UST accepted 10,271 first-year students. The figure climbed to 12,765 the following year, 13,132 the next, and 13,324 in 2009.

IT WAS not only a night of looking back and cherishing fond memories shared with colleagues and friends, but a homecoming in the truest sense of the word.

More than 200 of the Varsitarian’s former staff members—who all witnessed and chronicled the many twists, turns, and happenings that the University has gone through for the past century—gathered under canopies and starry skies at the Plaza Mayor for the Quadricentennial Valik Varsi last December 11, and finally returned to their alma mater’s embrace to celebrate as her much-anticipated 400th anniversary approaches.

THE THOMASIAN community now has a “reel-life” evidence of how the Order of Preachers became the stronghold of Catholic faith.

The Dominican Province of the Philippines gave tribute to the Dominican order, which is set to mark its 800th anniversary in 2016, by producing the first full-length feature film on St. Dominic de Guzman.

The film, Dominic: Light of the Church (Lumen Ecclesiae), premiered last December 11 at the Medicine Auditorium and zeroes in on the life of St. Dominic de Guzman and the beginnings of the religious order he founded.

Starting from the childhood of St. Dominic, the film tells the story of a boy who grows up and studies in the monastery of Palencia, Spain at such a young age.

THE COUNTRY’S leading exorcist has launched a new book, focusing on the rite as a spiritual journey.

Stripped down to its spiritual grounding, curing the possessed is more about leading them back to God’s love, according to Thomasian Fr. Jose Francisco Syquia, author of Exorcist: A Spiritual Journey.

The new book, which was launched at the San Carlos Seminary last January 8, takes off from Syquia’s successful first title, Exorcism: Encounter with the Paranormal and the Occult.

Syquia’s latest work presents exorcism as more of a healing process wounded souls go through to reconnect with God.