Tag: July 16, 2004

WITH the help of a multi-million peso donation, the University of Santo Tomas Hospital Clinical Division (USTH-CD) is set to improve its facilities and give more support to its Charity Section patients.

According to Regan Duka, administrative assistant of the UST Grants Office, the Santo Tomas Charity Foundation Inc. (STCFI) received some P4.6-million from the Mercury Drug Corporation, UST Medical Alumni Association, Consuelo Madrigal Foundation and other private donors during its launching last April.

WOMEN and the importance of relationships characterize the pages of Katrina Tuvera’s first ever collection of short stories, Testament and Other Stories (Anvil Publishing, 2002).

The stories manage to stand on their own even as Tuvera relates the different versions of women’s sadness and loneliness. The stories cater to a wide range of generations including Tuvera’s.

TO DISCOURAGE “blood pimping and prostitution” in the University of Santo Tomas Hospital (USTH), the UST Blood Bank has embarked on weekly blood drives starting with junior medical students last June 25.

According to Dr. Manuel Barnes, the blood bank director, regular voluntary blood donation from the University’s 30,000 students can adequately supply the bank’s needed 600 blood bags per month.

“If more Thomasians are motivated (to donate blood), we can eliminate paid ‘donors’,” he explained.

ACADEMIC discourses are not necessarily only produced by academics. In the case of Panitikabataan2004, students get to deliver studies and treatises that could give academics and scholars a run for their money.

The unique conference and paper presentation was organized by the University of the Philippines (UP) Institute of Creative Writing and the UP Writers’ Club, with funding from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts last July 2 PanitiKabataan 2004 was subtitled “the first student conference on Philippine literature.”

“None of us lives for himself, nor dies for himself. If we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for Him.” - Romans 14:7-8

WITH the high cost of living these days, it’s really hard to survive with only a sari-sari store as source of income. And it has been tough to make ends meet for my mom who raises two teenagers on her own.

Di kita mailabas.

’Sing bigat ka ng pinaghalu-halong banana cake,

pulboron, beef steak, ubeng mamon,

kwek-kwek, pansit kanton, avocado shake,

at Lydia’s Lechon –— namumuo, pumupuno,

nagkakagulo sa t’yan. Ngunit pilit kong iniipit,

pinipigil, tinitiis hanggang sa tuluyang mamilipit sa sakit

at kahit anong pangungulit,

ayaw pa ring lumabas, dumulas, lumagaslas,

sa kabila ng panlalamig, paninigas, panginginig,

at pagmamanhid ng aking mga paa’t

HE WAS ALREADY working as a full-time architect in Manila for almost two years when he realized that it was not the life he wanted. But he was unsure of what exactly he wanted to be. Then it came to him like a vision: the answer to his dilemma was right under his very nose and scattered around his house all this time — comic books!

From architectural blueprints to his original comic book artworks, Gerry Alanguilan has taken the big, bold step to fulfill the thing he aspires for the most: to draw as no one has ever drawn before.

PINAKAIINGATAN ko ang blusang asul na pasalubong sa akin ni Mama. Payak lamang ito kung pagmamasdan, walang kakaiba sa tahi at disenyo, at may tatlong munting bulaklak sa kanang bahagi.

Sa katagalan, natastas ang laylayan nito. Sinubukan kong ipagawa kay Lola subalit tumanggi siya. Aniya, may mga bagay raw na ako dapat ang gumagawa. Sinubukan ko naman at tagumpay ang unang pananahi ko kahit hindi sinasadyang matusok ako ng karayom.

Magpapaanod tayo ng bangkang papel isang umaga

habang nagtatampisaw sa baha.

Pinagkaayus-ayos natin ang bawat pagtupi

upang maging matatag sa bantang panganib ng malakas na hangin.

Pula ang papel mo at asul naman sa akin.

Nais ko ang kulay ng sa iyo subalit nauna ka nang pumili.

Naisip kong maganda rin naman ang asul,

tulad ng kulay ng kalangitan at malinis na daluyan sa batis.

Nagpapaanod tayo ng bangkang papel isang umaga

ngunit may trahedyang dumating.

AT FIRST, the government said it was not pulling out troops out of Iraq until August 20, the day scheduled for the 51 Philippine soldiers to leave their posts in the war-torn country. But now, it’s singing a different tune.

On July 13, Department of Foreign Affairs Deputy Secretary Rafael Seguis said the Philippine would withdraw its troops “as soon as possible” to save kidnapped truck driver Angelo de la Cruz on Arab TV. However, as of press time, Malacañang has neither denied nor confirmed Seguis’s statement.