Tag: September 16, 2009

ARTISTANG Artlets, the official theater guild of the Faculty of Arts and Letters, is staging “SK,” its first minor production this academic year.

Written by PETA-MTTL BATCH 1996, and directed by senior communication arts student Anna Konsuelo Manalo, SK follows the story of three young people running for president of the Sanggunian ng Kabataan in their barangay. The play tries to expose the reality of widespread corruption of morals, beliefs, and principles even in the smallest political unit, which is the SK.

SK will be shown from October 1 to 3 at the Rizal Conference Hall, St. Raymund’s Building, at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. Tickets cost P50 each. For inquiries, contact Keavy Vicente at 0915-995-8676.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP students of the College of Commerce and Business Administration will now have the chance to go hands-on in running a business.

This was after the college signed a memorandum of agreement with the Junior Achievement of the Philippines, Inc. (JAPI), a non-profit institution that aims to educate and inspire young people to do business through tie-ups with academic institutions.

The agreement paves the way for a program designed to “provide Thomasian entrepreneurship students with practical training and experience in running an actual business.”

Under the agreement, executives of JAPI corporate partners may advise or serve as consultants to students. JAPI has around 40 partner-companies that cover the fields of banking and finance, communication, media, and information technology, among others.

SHOULD the term of Faculty of Arts and Letters Dean Armando de Jesus be extended?

Based on University policies, a dean is limited to two terms. De Jesus has been dean for two terms (2001-2003, and 2006-2009), but University policies allow the Rector the discretion to grant an extension.

Consuelo Gotauco, Math, Science and Computer coordinator of Artlets, said there would be no problem if De Jesus would be reappointed.

“With [Dean De Jesus], there is a free conversation. You can say anything, and he would listen,” Gotauco said.

Carlos Manapat, chairman of the Artlets Social Sciences department, agreed.

“De Jesus is a very good dean. He knows what he is doing. He practices good management, and he has been dean for a long time,” Manapat said.

TO PROMOTE press excellence and foster camaraderie among campus journalists all over the country, the Varsitarian, the 81-year-old official student publication of the University of Santo Tomas, will hold Inkblots 2009: the 11th UST National Campus Journalism Fellowship, from October 21 to 23 at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex, UST, España, Manila.

The fellowship will consist of seminars on news writing, sports writing, investigative reporting, features writing, culture and lifestyle writing, opinion or column writing, and parallel sessions on writing for broadcast, cartooning and lay-outing, among others.

Inkblots is open to all student writers, campus press advisers, high school journalism instructors, and school officials. A registration fee of P1,000 will be collected from each fellow. This will cover the seminar kit, t-shirt and meals during the three-day activity. This will also include buffer dinner during the opening and closing ceremonies.

RECTOR Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, O.P. has called on new UST doctors not to enrich themselves by catering to the interests of the pharmaceutical industry.

In a thanksgiving Mass last August 25, De la Rosa said Thomasian doctors should observe a “high degree of respectability.”

“A doctor is worthy of his colleagues’ respect if he has integrity, moral uprightness, professional competence and intellectual honesty,” De la Rosa said in his homily.

He advised them to “still keep the idealism despite prevalent talks about the deterioration of the medical profession due to corruption in the profession today.”

“Medicine prescriptions to a certain brand of drug are used as means of gaining extra income,” he said.

Nevertheless, De la Rosa said the 335 Thomasian who passed the recent board exams would conquer the medical profession as graduates of one of the top medical schools in the country.

THE LIMITED number of free parking spaces in the campus and high parking fees have worsened illegal parking outside University walls.

The lack of parking spaces have long been a problem in UST, and this was aggravated by the removal of the student’s rate at the multi-deck carpark late last year.

Marion de la Cruz, a driver for a UST student, said he usually finds all free parking spaces in the campus occupied, rendering useless his vehicle’s UST car sticker.

De la Cruz said he is reluctant to spend for parking space at the multi-deck carpark because it is “too costly.”

With the removal of the P20 student’s rate, students are charged the ordinary rate of P29 for the first two hours, and an additional P11.50 for succeeding hours.

Because of this, De la Cruz and other drivers like him illegally park their cars outside University grounds since “no one comes to reprimand [us] anyway.”

ARCHITECTURE junior and Varsitarian photography editor Paul Allyson Quiambao joined the Hall of Fame of the Art Petron contest after again winning the grand prize this year.

Quiambao, 18, bested 900 entries in the photography category with his entry, “Market in Motion,” which captured Filipino dynamism in a public market. The contest’s theme was “Alay sa Pamilihang Bayan” (Tribute to the Public Market).

He was the lone Thomasian winner this year, and was among six grand prize winners. Aside from photography, the contest covered oil and water color paintings.

Quiambao and two other grand prize winners in photography received P30,000 each, while painting winners received P50,000 each. Winners were also awarded the Art Petron trophy designed by National Artist for Sculpture Napoleon Abueva.

Jay Bautista, Art Petron secretariat, believed Quiambao submitted the “most intelligent” shots in the competition.

THE UST Museum of Arts and Sciences, and the Colleges of Fine Arts and Design and Education have joined forces to mount the exhibit Ang Likhaang Bayan sa Santo Tomas… Ibang Klase from September 14 to October 2.

The exhibit showcases traditional Filipino artwork created by Education students.

The works on display were inspired by the native arts of Bulacan and Paete, Laguna, such as the pabalat ng pastillas, puni (palm leaf art), and taka (local papier mache).

Craft demonstration, hands-on learning and sessions with traditional Filipino artists were scheduled on September 22, 24, and 30 for invited students, faculty members, and professional groups. James C. Talon

“SANA dalawin ka ng nanay at tatay mo ‘pag pinalagpas mo ‘to (I wish your parents would visit you from the grave if you let this chance pass),” said Senator Noynoy Aquino, quoting in a public assembly someone who was urging him to run for office in 2010.

It seems like he won’t be getting any visits from beyond the veil. The senator, wearing black for his mother’s 40th day of passing, put to rest one of the most hotly debated issues at the moment. “I am accepting the will of the people,” Noynoy said at Club Filipino, where his mother had taken her oath of office in 1986. It prompted cheers from those gathered, and even made some remark that this was déjà vu, a sign of how “Cory magic” is very much alive.

Indeed, we are a country starved for heroes.

EVERYONE delights in taking photographs. Perhaps its because photography is an art form that everyone can try and enjoy. It is so easy for a photographer to take a snap of something that catches their eye.

But if one were to compare the subjects, quality and aesthetic use of the pictures of now to yesteryears, maybe one would think twice about buying a camera.

Echoing a column which a Varsitarian colleague wrote, people are buying digital single lens reflex (dSLR) cameras for all the wrong reasons. It has me think whether or not the essence of photography has been forgotten. In his column, he elaborated that cameras have been demoted to a fashion item. But his statement is a mere inference and is hardly premised, which is something this column will support, in the hope that it will revive the aesthetic sense of photography.