Tag: November 18, 2013

NEGOTIATIONS on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the University and the UST Faculty Union (USTFU) will resume on Nov. 22 after a month of suspension.

USTFU internal vice-president Rene Tadle said George Lim, union president, has asked the administration for the negotiation to resume.

Both panels have hoped to come up with a CBA by December, said Tadle.

"We are now delayed by more than a month,” he said. “Both panels will just have to work double time."

“DON’T get tired of bringing the mercy of the Father to the poor, the sick, the abandoned, the young people and the family,” the Holy Father urged in his video message during the final day of the first Philippine Conference on the New Evangelization (PCNE).

Addressing Asia and the Philippines for the first time, Pope Francis extended his gratitude to the organizers and participants of the conference held last Oct. 16 to 18 at the Quadricentennial Pavilion.

FOLLOWING changes in the blueprint, the construction of the P1.2-billion UST Hospital extension building finally started last October, and is expected to be completed in less than three years.

Funds for the construction of the 12-story building will come from the hospital’s profit, according to UST Rector Fr. Herminio Dagohoy, O.P.

“The initial cost [was] borrowed from the University [but] the whole thing will actually be generated by the hospital,” Dagohoy said in an interview. “The construction will run up to three years, so it could be easy for the hospital to catch up with the construction bill.”

Work was expected to begin last June but was delayed due to adjustments and revisions in the plans that took about a year, said Dagohoy.

THE UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas was named School of the Year in the second edition of Philippine Student Quill Awards, which recognizes outstanding communication-related works by students nationwide.

UST bagged the most number of recognitions during the awarding ceremonies at the Crowne Plaza Hotel held last Nov. 11, beating other nominees for the top school category: Bataan Peninsula State University, University of the Philippines Manila, Holy Angel University, and last year’s winner Colegio de San Juan de Letran.

YOUNG people should be involved in the effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and work beyond it as the 2015 deadline draws near.

"Our students, the young people, are at the center of whatever future goals and plans our country will draw. It is, therefore, most fitting that they are made part of the series of consultations being done to draw the Philippine Post-2015 Agenda," UST Public Affairs Director Giovanna Fontanilla told youth leaders and faculty members from various colleges and universities at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex auditorium.

THE UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas (UST) Publishing House is now the winningest academic press it was again named Publisher of the Year at the 32nd National Book Awards for the fourth time.

The UST Publishing House was last named Publisher of the Year in 2003, 2004, and, recently in 2010.

“I am extremely proud and happy. We, together with my team, really worked hard for this. It is a herculean task to make sure that a manuscript is transformed into a book. Now I realize that it is not in the dance (cheerdance) or the ball (UAAP) that UST is really good at, it is in the books,” Publishing House Director John Jack Wigley told the Varsitarian.

MOTHER Mary is always with us in the battle against our own “Egypt,” Fr. Virgilio Ojoy, O.P., former vice rector of UST, said in his homily during the celebration of the Feast of La Naval de Manila last Oct. 13 at the Santo Domingo Church.

Reflecting on the theme “Maria, Pagninilay at Pagpapahayag ng Magandang Balita,” Ojoy honored the Blessed Virgin for standing behind Filipinos in their struggles.

Egypt was described as a symbol of cruelty, greed, fear, and power in salvation history, which saw the Israelites enslaved by the Egyptians.

BARELY a month after a strong earthquake hit parts of Visayas, Typhoon Yolanda, described as the one of the world’s strongest typhoons, wreaked havoc in the same area, leaving thousands dead.

Meanwhile, a day before Yolanda’s arrival, another storm was brewing in Pasay City as Janet Lim Napoles, the alleged “Pork Barrel Queen,” testified – or kept mum rather – at the Senate hearing on the issue regarding the misuse of lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), or pork barrel.

But as expected, Napoles had a few choices of words, ranging from “Hindi ko po alam”, “Hindi po ako sigurado” to “I invoke my right [against self-incrimination].”

WHEN Pope Francis invited non-believers, particularly atheists and agnostics, to seek God’s forgiveness to attain salvation, the media announced that Catholic doctrine had been changed. Vatican officials tried to rectify the impression, saying that Christ died for every human being and it is through actively asking for His mercy that even non-believers can be saved.

Catholics were probably also confused during such time. And it is at times like these that our faith is put to the test.

And it is also at times like these that the most common questions in faith appear again—does God really exist? Is atheism a grave sin? What is the basis behind the claim that salvation is only with those belonging to the Catholic Church? So what if there is a God anyway?

“ONLINE journalism is journalism practiced online.”

Such were the words of Manila Bulletin technology editor Art Samaniego during the 15th edition of Inkblots, the UST National Campus Journalism Fellowship annually subsidized by the Varsitarian.

Samaniego emphasized before some 300 aspiring journalists that the so-called “new media” is still governed by the same journalistic standards and basic ethical principles being observed by the traditional press. The only difference is the platform.

But for “social news network” Rappler, which claims to inspire a “thirst for social change” through its “uncompromised journalism,” it seems like this is not the case.