Tag: October 29, 2010

A NUMBER of alumni were recognized for their excellence in the field of business and leadership during the first-ever Thomasian Global Trade Expo last October 15 to 17 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay.

Felino Palafox, principal architect of Palafox Associates, Vivian Que Azcona, president of Mercury Drug, Inc., and Joel Cruz, maker of Aficionado Germany Perfume, were among Thomasians who received the Outstanding Thomasian Alumni Business Leaders Award from the Office for Alumni Relations.

Other awardees included Judy Kiu Bactat (Mossimo Philippines), Carl Balita (Dr. Carl Balita Review Center), Juanito de Asis (IBC 13), Ray Gapuz (R.A. Gapuz Review Center), and Richard Po (Century Pacific
Group).

THE UST campus may be the venue of next year’s bar examinations, following the bomb explosion last September 26 in front of the De La Salle University that crippled two law students and injured 45 people.

Chief Justice Renato Corona announced last October 4 that the bar exams will no longer be held at De La Salle on Taft Avenue after the explosion at the “salubong,” a street party which marked the end of the month-long bar exams.

Faculty of Civil Law Dean Nilo Divina said he would like UST to host the licensure exam for lawyers.

“It is certainly a welcome development. It is also very timely as it will coincide with our Quadricentennial celebration,” Divina said.

RECTOR Fr. Rolando de la Rosa O.P., has postponed the University’s attempt to mount the largest “living rosary,” citing “unpredictable weather.”

In a memorandum dated October 5, De la Rosa rescheduled the quadricentennial activity, dubbed Q Rosary on December 8.

“We have rescheduled the said activity on December 8, 2010 which is a more propitious time inasmuch as it is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception,” De la Rosa said in the memo.

A YOUNG Thomasian is helping bring back sweet childhood memories by joining a fellow alumnus in the business of re-introducing one of the classic Filipino street treats in a neater fashion.

Jigo Joaquin, who earned his degree in Political Science in 2009, joined Tourism graduate Marlon Sevilla as Icebreaker Scrambles was soaring in the summer of 2010. Now a business partner and branch owner, he is reaping the fruits of his entrepreneurial labors at 22 years old.

But armed with youth and innate business-mindedness, Joaquin is still aiming for more.

Sweet beginning

HOW WAS the President’s “honeymoon” period?

Experts remained optimistic on the prospects of the Aquino administration after its first 100 days, saying the President had the “right timing” and enough goodwill to implement economic and political reforms despite blunders such as the Quirino Granstand hostage crisis.

In a forum at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex last October 12, Dean Peter Lee U of the University of Asia and the Pacific School of Economics said President Benigno Aquino III came at a “very nice point” in economic history, inheriting an economy that is on the way up.

“But this is a ‘double-edged sword’ for [Aquino] because he must be able to maintain or improve it at the end of his term,” U said.

CONSERVATORY of Music Dean Raul Sunico was appointed the new president of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) last October 1, replacing Isabel Caro Wilson who was elected last September 21 to the CCP’s board of trustees.

Sunico said he would like to pursue the artistic and physical development of the cultural center to make it a self-sustaining, “eco-friendly” community that will be a haven for those who want to adopt the arts as a way of life.

“It is a great honor and rare opportunity to serve the country and its many deserving talents from a position of hopeful credibility in instilling the value of the arts as a critical component in our humanity,” Sunico said on the CCP website.

THE UNIVERSITY placed second in the October 2010 certified public accountant (CPA) licensure examinations, while poorer performance marked this year’s state licensure test for interior designers.

UST produced the biggest number of new CPAs this year as 273 or 92.23 percent of the 296 who took the exam passed. A total of 255 of them were first-time takers.

“Our passing rate could have been higher if not for the repeaters,” College of Accountancy Dean Minerva O. Cruz said. “If only we fielded pure first-time takers, we could have attained 96.26 percent”

Thomasians Lean Jeff Magsombol (94.86 percent), Patricia Maita Dimayuga (94.14 percent) and Stephen Ray Taguba (94 percent) ranked fourth, ninth, and tenth, respectively.

UST HOSTED the 32nd Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA), a recognition given by the Archdiocese of Manila to media practitioners for “upholding Christian values and ideals,” last October 13 at the Medicine Auditorium.

“The CMMA is given to recognize that particular instrument (media) where truth was upheld without diminishing charity,” said Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, who also serve as the CMMA honorary chairman.

Cardinal Rosales stressed the significance of social communication in his welcome remarks, saying, “we wanted to listen to what had happened and what is happening that’s why social communication is very important to us.”

THOMASIAN and human rights advocate Bishop Jose Palma will be the next archbishop of Cebu after the retirement of Cardinal Vidal, who will turn 80 years old on February next year.

Palma’s appointment was made by the Vatican last October 14 and was announced to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines by Papal Nuncio Edward Joseph Adams the next day.

Palma said that the appointment was so sudden and unexpected but he was obliged to follow the Holy See.

“Unworthy as I am, I accepted the appointment out of obedience,” Palma said in a statement released to CBCPnews.com, the news agency of CBCP.

Palma is serving his first term as vice president of CBCP.

FOLLOWING City Hall’s confiscation of tobacco products last July, a number of stores near the campus are back on business––selling cigarettes despite authorities’ efforts to ban these products near schools.

It’s not that there’s no clear prohibition: Republic Act No. 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003 states: “The sale or distribution of tobacco products is prohibited within one hundred (100) meters from any point of the perimeter of a school, public playground or other facility frequented particularly by minors.”

Convenience store chain 7-Eleven---which has a branch at Dapitan Street just a short walkaway from UST High School---admitted it had started selling cigarettes anew, claiming to have obtained a permit from Manila City Hall.