Tag: May 13, 2010

MUSIC blasts from a second-hand stereo,
but you offer secrets in a whisper.
Our elbows touch under low lights.
The smoke from my cigarette forms a halo
over your head, but your words

tumble out fast. It’s un-angelic. The air
thickens as you speak of the long-legged
girl who calls you friend. You place a bottle
in front of me. I make a face. Bitterness
hits my tongue the moment you

call her names, recall her mistakes.
You laugh with glassy eyes and stare
at the bottles you’ve emptied. I realize
you are no different from her—
your hair escaping a dismantled ponytail.

PAANO nga ba ang wastong pag-awit ng Lupang Hinirang?

Naging mainit ang pagpuna ng National Historical Institute (NHI) sa pagkanta ng pambansang awit sa mga laban ni Manny Pacquiao matapos itong “ibirit” ng mga mang-aawit tulad nina Sarah Geronimo, Jennifer Bautista at Martin Nievera, isang bagay na sinasabi ng mga kompositor na estilo ng mga mang-aawit. Ngunit ayon kay Raul Sunico, dekano ng Conservatory of Music, naiiba ang pambansang awit sa karaniwang kanta dahil ang ayos at tono nito ay nasa batas.

“WHAT is the greatest lesson you’ve learned in college?” Napaisip ako nang itanong ito ng guidance counselor ng aming kolehiyo sa aking exit interview. Sa loob kasi ng apat na taon ko sa UST, ang pinakamahalagang aral na natutunan ko ay hindi ko napulot sa loob ng silid-aralan, kung hindi sa isang masakit na karanasan na habangbuhay nang nakatanim sa aking isipan.

Hindi lingid sa kaalaman ng karamihan na mahirap ang kursong accountancy. Kung noon, madali lamang para sa akin ang makakuha ng gradong 90 sa calculus kahit na natutulog ako sa klase, ngayon, kahit na magsunog pa ako ng kilay para mag-aral ng Advance Accounting 1 (AdvAc 1), bumagsak pa rin ako rito noong unang semestre ng ika-apat na taon ko sa kolehiyo.

“CLASSMATES, makinig kayo! May sasabihin ako tungkol sa darating na foundation day natin.” Nasa harap na ko’t lahat, pero wala pa ring umiintindi sa akin. Abala kasi sila sa pangongopya ng assignment.

“Makinig naman kayo! Kasi ganito iyon, sa parada raw, may temang Around the World. Ano’ng gusto n’yong bansa na ikakatawan ng klase natin? Sa kabilang pangkat kasi, Egypt na sa kanila, tapos iyong sa first section, Philippines naman.”

“Puwede bang mamaya na iyan? Kailangan na kasi iyong desisyon natin. Para mapa-reserba na natin ang bansang mapipili natin. Pakiusap naman makinig kayo!”

THOMASIANS will enter the quadricentennial school year paying a four-percent tuition increase, lower than the initially recommended six-percent hike and last year’s five-percent tuition rise.

“The increase is mainly to balance the loss of buying power due to [the] inflation rate,” University Comptroller Diomedes Yadao said.

Initially, the administration proposed a six-percent tuition hike, which is higher than the country’s inflation projection of 3.5 to 5.5 percent for this year. March’s inflation rate was 4.4 percent.

“But after considering concerns from parents and students, finally, it was settled at four percent,” Yadao said.

Former Central Student Council president Jeanne Luz Castillo said the increase was “reasonable.”

ECONOMIC provisions of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the administration and the faculty were revised last March 10, resulting in a two percent increase in salaries of faculty members starting next academic year.

UST Faculty Union President Gil Gamilla said the re-negotiated agreement did not include a “customary bonus” from the administration “due to economic hardship.” The administration is supposed to share in the “signing bonus” given upon the ratification of a new CBA.

Instead, faculty members got a P15,000 signing bonus from union funds. Professorial lecturers or contractual mentors hired before 2001 also got a signing bonus.

THE FACULTY of Civil Law Student Council has expressed opposition to the Supreme Court ruling allowing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to appoint the next chief justice after Reynato Puno retires on May 17.

In a statement issued last April 12, the student council cited Article VII, Section 15 of the Constitution, which states that “two months immediately before the next presidential elections and up to the end of his term, a president or acting president shall not make appointments, except temporary appointments to executive positions when continued vacancies therein will prejudice public service or endanger public safety.”

THREE Thomasian justices in the Supreme Court have ruled in favor of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, giving her the power to appoint the next chief justice when Reynato Puno retires on May 17.

Thomasian associate justices Roberto Abad and Diosdado Peralta concurred with the ruling of the majority that President Arroyo may name Puno’s successor as the chief justice post is not covered by the constitutional prohibition in “midnight” appointments.

The landmark ruling was penned by Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin, also a Thomasian professor. Abad was a former dean of the Faculty of Civil Law, while Peralta, who graduated law in UST, teaches in the faculty.

THE MY USTe Student Portal has drawn flak for its “inefficient” service in releasing last semester’s grades.

Aside from the late release of grades, students complained of the difficulty in accessing the site on the day the grades were finally posted online, a problem website administrators acknowledged.

Polly Blanco, Santo Tomas E-service Providers (STePs) assistant director for software development and applications, admitted there were glitches in the student portal as users flooded the site on the first day grades were released.

Because of this, STePs decided to double the capacity of the site to 3,600 users per session from 1,800.

THREE student debaters from the Faculty of Arts and Letters landed in the quarterfinal round of the 2nd Malaysia Debate Open held in Melaka, Malaysia from March 5 to 8.

Communication arts senior Kayleen Ortiz, journalism junior Buena Bernal, and legal management junior Paula Azurin finished 11th place.

Bernal, Ortiz and Azurin, also members of the Thomasian Debaters Council, garnered above-average scores in the competition. Bernal and Ortiz ranked 21st and 22nd, respectively, while Azurin ranked 65th out of 219 participants.

The team finished six preliminary rounds, defeating a team from the Universiti Teknoligi Mara, a grand finalist of the 2009 Malaysia Debate Open.