Tag: January 27, 2010

AFTER three years of keeping track of Thomasian alumni, Office for Alumni Relations director Evelyn Songco is back to dealing with students.

Songco was appointed assistant to the Rector for student affairs last January 18, taking over from Anita Garcia who was named caretaker following the end of Cristina Cabral’s term.

Garcia remains coordinator of the Student Welfare Development Board.

“I am looking forward to working with the students again,” Songco said in an interview.

Songco was among the recipients of the Gawad Benavides for 35 years of service to the University last year.

She finished her master’s and doctorate degrees in development education in UST.

SELECT students from the Faculty of Engineering will get full scholarship grants from the Metrobank Foundation and engineering firm Flour Daniel, Inc. for the next five years after a memorandum of agreement with the two companies last September 22.

The grant will fall under the San Martin de Porres Scholarship of the University, which gives financial aid to students who have a general weighed average of 2.25.

Electronics and communications engineering freshmen Kevin Fabregar and Rossini Gacutana were the initial recipients of the full scholarship grant for this semester. Under the agreement, Metrobank and Flour Daniel will finance the education of two first-year students every school year.

BREAST cancer awareness advocate and former Varsitarian writer Alice Martinez-Orleans died last January 12. She was 56.

Martinez, a journalism graduate, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993, but was able to survive it. Since then, she became an active member of the I Can Serve Foundation, a non-profit organization that empowers women with breast cancer through information about the disease.

Her health deteriorated last month when her cancer reached stage four, with cancer cells spreading to her stomach and making her bed-ridden.

COLLEGE of Science professor Lito Maranan was awarded the “Silver Humanitarian Service Cross” last December 15 by the Philippine National Red Cross for his commitment to the goals of the non-government organization.

“His life was committed to orienting impressionable young minds regarding the humanitarian pursuits of the Red Cross. His life is dedicated to instilling life-giving values of the organization,” read the certificate given to Maranan.

The Silver Humanitarian Service Cross is among the awards given by the Red Cross every two years to volunteers who have exhibited unparalleled service and promotion of Red Cross work.

THOMASIAN seniors Rajiv Abdullah (Faculty of Engineering), Royce Jasper Ong (Nursing), and former Varsitarian staffer Juanito Alipio de la Rosa (Architecture) were named delegates to the 12th National Ayala Young Leaders Congress (AYLC) in February.

De la Rosa, Abdullah, and Ong will join 77 other delegates in a five-day youth leadership development seminar in Cavite.

The three students were among an estimated 70 Thomasian hopefuls who underwent stringent screenings by the Office for Student Affairs (OSA), which facilitated the selection of delegates in the University.

Their names were submitted by the OSA to the AYLC Secretariat for a final interview with Ayala executives, including tycoon Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala.

(Updated Feb. 6, 2010) SIX CHORAL groups from different faculties and colleges will showcase their vocal prowess as the Student Organizations Coordinating Council (SOCC) holds Himig Tomasino, the annual inter-collegiate chorale competition at the Medicine Auditorium on February 12.

The four-hour singing showdown titled “Ang mga Saliw ni Juan,” will feature the clash of voices from the Chorus of Arts and Letters, Archipella Mix Ensemble, AMV-College of Accountancy Chorale, College of Science Glee Club, One Voice of the Faculty of Engineering, and defending champion, Faculty of Pharmacy Glee Club.

THE FATE of the most dreaded man in the country today lies in the hands of a Thomasian.

Former Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan, Jr., who was alleged to have masterminded the murder of 57 people, including 31 journalists, in Maguindanao last November 23 is facing multiple murder charges before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) with Thomasian Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes holding the gavel.

The same is true to the whole Ampatuan clan and around 200 others who are undergoing investigation at the Department of Justice over a panel of prosecutors led by State prosecutor Roseanne Balauag.

THE TEMPTATION of winning a seat in office has made it harder for candidates to hide their true and at times, ugly, intentions.

The starting gun for the campaign period hasn’t even sounded yet and already, some candidates are engaging in premature campaigning. In Quezon City alone, I chanced upon several posters. which were cleverly disguised as tools encouraging people to vote in the upcoming elections. You can tell these posters were endorsed by politicians, since they had the politician’s beaming face and name plastered next to a message that said, “Vote wisely this coming 2010 election.”

ADVOCACIES in the Philippines, political or not, could be socially relevant if they are grounded on strong principles like nation-building and good values. However, the women group 1-Ako Babaeng Astig Aasenso has started this year with a very surprising advocacy— to push for expiration in marriage.

In an article published in Manila Bulletin, the group voiced out that their rationale in pushing for such a proposition is “to help women become economically empowered by helping them become entrepreneurs, giving them better employment, providing sources of livelihood, access to capital, and other ways to make women financially independent.”

SOMEONE all English teachers would love to have would be the perfect student. You know the type; he’s the one who reads the lesson ahead, and asks thought-provoking questions or volunteers information no one asked for.

However, with the Philippines having far less book readers than, say, Internet surfers, the perfect student might just be the perfect dream. There are about 14 million Internet users and only several thousand books published a year (I’ve found no statistics on the number of people who read for pleasure), and this can probably be traced back to the time when little Juan and Juana were still skipping off to class.