Tag: October 15, 2013

A NATIONWIDE study has shown that Catholic schools in the country—including the University of Santo Tomas—strongly influence the moral values of the youth.

The research commissioned by the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Episcopal Commission on Youth (ECY) found that “a Filipino Catholic youth’s religiosity in terms of his/her beliefs and practices is strongly formed by private Catholic schools.”

Next year will see a repeat of the living tableau that took UST back in time during the Quadricentennial celebrations.

“Velada Tomasina” will again be held on Jan. 27, 2014 as a part of a weeklong festivity for the University’s 403rd founding anniversary.

First mounted in 2012 as part of the Neo-Centennial Week that closed the 400th year festivities, Velada Tomasina sought to relive society in the 16th to 19th centuries. Velada means “soiree” or “evening party” in Spanish.

Next year’s event will have the theme “The Dominican Presence in the Philippines and the Birth of Tertiary Philippine Education.”

THE DEPARTMENT of Education (DepEd) is still not conscious of the impact of the K to 12 program on college teachers despite allowing faculty representation in the drafting of the law’s implementing rules, union officials claimed.

“Up to now, DepEd does not have any study on the labor implications of K to 12. In fact, we expressed our fear that [the] K to 12 [program] may displace a lot of teachers in tertiary schools,” said Rene Tadle, internal vice president of the UST Faculty Union (USTFU). “We requested the departments concerned to come up with a study so that the government will know the kind of intervention needed to help the teachers who will be displaced.”

HOW SAFE are cars at the carpark building?

Students from the Conservatory of Music lost two guitars left inside a vehicle parked at the second level of the private multi-deck parking building last Sept. 17.

According to the police report filed at the Sampaloc Police Station, the two Music students parked their Honda Civic at 10 a.m. that day upon arriving in UST. One of them returned to the car at 2 p.m. and found the lock of the door near the driver’s seat broken. Their instruments, a Rockstar Base Guitar and an Ovation Acoustic Guitar placed inside the trunk, were missing.

The guitars were worth P47,000.

UST posted a modest performance in the September 2013 licensure examination for mechanical engineers, while improving in the chemistry and electrical engineering boards.

The University recorded a 75.21-percent passing rate, with 91 out of 121 examinees making the cut, results from the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) showed. This was lower than last year’s 84.26 percent, with 91 passers out of 108 examinees.

UST failed to enter the list of top-performing schools, with only one Thomasian entering the top 10 list of passers. Last year, the University was the sixth top-performing school.

Thomasian Stephen Macalinga shared the eighth spot with Edmar Elca of Southern Luzon State University-Lucban.

UST SLID further to the bottom of the latest Quacquarelli-Symonds (QS) world university rankings, together with two other top Philippine universities.

In the listing of the top 800 universities in the world, UST fell to the 701+ bracket this year from the 601+ bracket last year.

The University of the Philippines led the country’s universities in the annual listing, but dropped 32 notches to 380 from 348 last year. Ateneo de Manila also went down to the 501-550 bracket this year from 451-500 in 2012.

De La Salle University, meanwhile, maintained its spot in the 601-650 bracket.

THE CAVITE Regional Trial Court (RTC) has acquitted the suspects in the murder of hazing victim Marc Andre Marcos, a UST Legal Management alumnus, due to lack of evidence.

In a decision last Sept. 9, Judge Perla Faller said the case lacked “corroborative evidence” as the statement of the sole witness, Cornelio Marcelo, had failed to support allegations made by Marcos’s family against the 14 fraternity members involved.

The suspects were all from Lex Leonum Fraternitas, an unaccredited organization in San Beda College of Law.

According to ABS-CBN News, Marcelo was present in the initiation rites as the “angel” or the assistant of Marcos during the hazing proper. It was also Marcelo who recruited Marcos, who was a first year law student.

NO MORE mandatory review classes for fresh graduates taking state licensure exams.

A law prohibiting universities and colleges from forcing students with licensure examinations to enroll in specific review centers as a pre-requisite for graduation was signed by President Benigno Aquino III last month.

Republic Act (RA) 10609 or the “Protection of Students’ Right to Enroll in Review Centers Act of 2013” aims to guard students from possible abuses by higher educational institutions (HEIs) and protect their right to choose a review center.

Fees for transportation, board and lodging, and other payments for the licensure reviews are deemed unlawful.

THE SUPREME Court has lifted the rule prohibiting aspiring lawyers from taking the bar examination after failing it five times.

The new rule will take effect in next year’s bar examinations.

First implemented in 2005, the so-called “five-strike rule” called for the “disqualification of a candidate after failing in three examinations, provided, that he may take a fourth and fifth examination if he successfully completes a one-year refresher course for each examination.”

The high tribunal adopted the recommendation by a study group after the bar exam’s passing rate last year declined to lower than 20 percent, the lowest since 2002 and the second lowest in Philippine history.

DIFFERENT faiths, one cause.

Another rally calling for the abolition of the pork barrel system was staged last Sept. 13 at the Rizal Park. But this time, it was a gathering of different religious groups—Catholics, Evangelicals, and Muslims.

“Ibig sabihin dahil iba-iba [ang mga religion], lahat ay nag-reconcile. Those who may not belong to any denomination or sect, nakikisama rin because they understand, so it’s beyond order, it’s beyond religious grouping,” Bishop Constante Claro of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines said in an interview with the Varsitarian.

The event was also considered as multi-sectoral event after militant groups, students, netizens, and even some celebrities joined the rally.