Tag: July 30, 2012

NO MORE long lines and cramped spaces for patients seeking medical consultations.

The Clinical Division Building and vestibule of the UST Hospital now houses doctors’ clinics as part of a multi-million facility upgrade.

Doctors’ clinics were transferred to the renovated fourth and fifth floors of the Clinical Division Building, following the demolition of the Medical Arts Building that paved the way for the construction of a 12-storey hospital extension building.

Meanwhile, the six-story vestibule provides easier access to doctors’ clinics for patients and doctors coming from charity wards and classrooms located at the lower levels.

FACULTY union officials are up in arms over a new policy excluding summer teaching pay from the computation of the mandatory 13th-month salary.

Professors received a memorandum from the Office of the Vice Rector for Academic Affairs and Research (OVRAAR) that summer teaching compensation is not included in the 13th-month pay, said Reynaldo Reyes, UST Faculty Union (USTFU) vice president for grievance and complaints.

The 13th-month pay, which all employers must grant under the Labor Code, is equivalent to one-twelfth of the total salary for an academic year, according to the 2006-2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

THE BASTION of liberation theology in Latin America is no longer “Pontifical” and “Catholic.”

Cracking the whip on dissenting academics, the Vatican has forbidden the University of Peru from using the titles, saying the institution no longer possesses a Catholic character.

“The Holy See, with the Decree of His Eminence the Secretary of State, under a specific Pontifical mandate, has decided to remove from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru the right to use in its name the titles ‘Pontifical’ and ‘Catholic’ in accordance with canon law,” the website of the Vatican News Agency said last July 21.

FORMER UST Rector Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, O.P. was recently honored with the Communication Excellence and Organization (CEO EXCEL) Award for leading the successful Quadricentennial festivities.

De la Rosa received the award along with nine other leaders and corporate executives last July 12.

The annual CEO EXCEL Award given by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Philippines since 2005 recognizes top Philippine-based business executives who have skillfully used communication strategies in achieving their organizations’ objectives as well as advancing reputation and building relationships of trust among stakeholders.

IT WAS ALMOST ten-thirty in the evening and Brian Rogelio was still stuck in his seat at the dinner table, picking at his food while the storm banged on the windows. The room was dim but he did not bother to turn on all the lights. This way, he thought, he could appreciate his food better–free from the discriminative taste of sight.

The dinner would have been perfect, if only he wasn’t repulsed by the photograph that was slightly illuminated by the moonlight next to a signed basketball that adorned his father’s wine cabinet.

WHILE he may not have endorsed the Reproduction Health bill in Congress during his state-of-the-nation address, President Aquino’s expressed his desire for “responsible parenthood” to address the backlog in education. That seems enough signal for his lapdogs in the House of Representatives to hold a caucus and schedule a vote on the RH bill on August 7.

It is typical of the President, who thanked his Jesuit confessor toward the end of his Sona for giving him spiritual solace amid the challenges of leadership, to speak jesuitically. Last year, he expressed desire for the RH bill to be passed even if he had not certified the bill. This year, the bill remains uncertified yet he has signalled he wants Congress to vote on it.

“MULAT na mulat ako sa bigat ng pasaning sasalubong sa atin. Kabilang ako sa mga nag-isip: Kaya pa bang ituwid ang ganitong kabaluktot na sistema?”

Despite complaining of the endemic corruption in Philippine government, President Aquino’s third State of the Nation Address last July 23 was just another attempt to sugarcoat the administration’s general failure to pave the way for the straight path, the proverbial “tuwid na daan.”

As usual, Aquino boasted of his accomplishments, which he presented in overwhelming charts, and proclaimed himself better than his predecessor.

ALL THINGS come to an end, but good writing remains timeless.

Two years after her death, Ophelia Alcantara-Dimalanta’s literary legacy continues. The second lecture in her tribute underscored the politics of humor and the beauty of poetry.

Unite States-based Filipino writing couple—Nerissa Balce, assistant professor of Asian American literature at Stony Brook University in New York, and award-winning poet Fidelito Cortes, whom Dimalanta “discovered” when she was juror in a campus literary derby at the University of the East—paid homage to Dimalanta’s literary legacy in the 2nd Ophelia Dimalanta-Alcantara Lecture Forum, on July 18 at the Roque Ruaño Building.

DURING a class discussion on the “dark side” of Philippine politics, my professor criticized the party-list system for enabling traditional politicians to perpetuate themselves in power.

As stated in the 1986 Constitution, the party-list system is supposed to give marginalized and underprivileged sectors in the country a representation in the Congress.

But traditional politicians and moneyed sectors have gained seats in Congress through the party-list system even if they are not members of that sector they’re supposed to represent.

IBA’T ibang dako, iba’t ibang diyalekto, iba’t ibang panlasa—iisang pagka-Pilipino.

Ang Pilipinas ay mayroong walong pangunahing wika mula sa mga sulok ng malalaking pulo na sumasakop dito. Sa bawat wika, ito ay may katumbas na patok na pagkain sa para mga nananahan dito. Iba’t iba man ang katawagan, sumasalamin ang bawat pagkain sa kulturang kinagisnan ng mga Pilipino.

Para kay Evangeline Timbang, puno ng Hospitality and Management Department ng College of Tourism and Hospitality Management, ang mga specialty food ay isang pagkakataon para mas makilala ng mga turista—at maging mga Pilipino—ang kultura ng bansa.

“Via specialty food and its traditions, tourists would know more about the culture of the community,” aniya.