Tag: July 31, 2004

Priests need prayers, too.

The solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus witnessed the Week of Prayer and Gratitude for Priests, a week-long prayer vigil for the clergy last June 14-18 at the Central Seminary chapel.

Priests who had “gone astray” were given prayers and in Hour of Reflection and Discernment, a seminar for aspiring priests that followed after the prayer vigil of the different colleges and faculties in the University.

When I was in high school, I projected an image of aloofness. It was a defense mechanism to hide my poor self-esteem. While most of my batchmates found me a self-confident snob, my intimidating aura actually spoke of my inferiority complex.

GROWING up in a conservative middle-class family and studying in Catholic schools had insulated young Ronald Llamas from the country’s social problems. Now, as a political activist and the president of Akbayan Citizen’s Action Party, he has chosen to be part of the solution.

Being in the forefront of radical movements in the 70’s and 80’s, has the University of Santo Tomas’ become less than activist-inclined nowadays?

“It certainly has not,” said Dr. Ernesto Gonzales, director of the UST Social Research Center (SRC). “We are very much involved,” he said.

YOU SEE them hanging around Tinoko Park every Tuesdays and Fridays. You think they’re there for the same reasons you would have—catching up with friends, studying, relaxing, or killing time—so you never give them much thought until they gather round and start singing and praying. For someone unfamiliar, they may look odd and naïve. But any Tinoko Park regular would tell you the Youth for Christ (YFC) are just having another prayer meeting.

UPANG mas mapalawak ang serbisyo-publiko ng Unibersidad sa larangan ng medisina, pinangunahan ng UST ang pagpapatayo at pagkakaroon ng School for Midwives sa bansa dahil sa kukulangan ng mga bihasang kumadrona noong ika-18 siglo.

Sa bisa ng utos mula sa España, inaprubahan ang pagpapatayo nito noong Pebrero 20, 1879 na sinang-ayunan naman ng Santo Papa matapos ang tatlong taon.

THE STUDENT publication scene in UST is perceived as one of the liveliest in the country. Nearly every faculty and college has a student organ, something that could not be said of other universities that hardly have a student press, much less a student publication index to boast of. However, red tape, indifference or non-cooperation of college or faculty administration, ignorance among campus writers and college administration of the Campus Journalism Act, and even editorial meddling by the college officialdom conspire to make the campus press in UST less than lively.

SOME fees are regarded as “unique” or peculiar to a college or faculty.

At the Conservatory of Music, students are charged a “music fee.”

According to Dr. Raul Sunico, the dean of Music, the music fee varied in the past semesters, depending on the instruments the students were majoring in.

Starting this school year, the fee has been standardized.

“Collectively, the students should shoulder some of the costs of maintaining the instruments, whether they use them or not,” Sunico explained.

ASIDE from the tuition and miscellaneous fees, the University also charges students other fees, usually recommended by the deans of colleges and faculties. These are identified in the student registration form as “other fees.” Prof. Florita Aguiling, Budget Office director, identified four:

Another Thomasian marks first.

UST Hospital cardiologist Dr. Crismelita Mariñas won the First Young Investigators Award from the Philippine Heart Association (PHA) for her study, “The Prognostic Value of Cardiac Troponin I in Non-Seratonin Elevation Myocordial Infarction (NSTMEI)” during the 35th PHA Annual Convention at Edsa Shangri-La Hotel last May 29.