Tag: September 16, 2009

ENGINEERING Regent Fr. Franklin Beltran, O.P. was installed as the 13th parish priest of Santisimo Rosario Parish last August 9, after being elected by a majority of members of Dominican Province of the Philippines.

Beltran replaced Fr. Jaime Alamillo who served for six years, and bested fellow nominee Fr. Hilario Singian during the election last June 8.

Beltran’s new position was confirmed by the Dominican Provincial Fr. Quirico Pedregosa, O.P. on July 13. He was formally appointed by Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, archbishop of Manila, on July 20.

“Handling the whole parish widened my ‘territory.’ It is [actually] a matter of leading your parishioners to God,” Beltran said, noting that the parish also covers Far Eastern University and the Perpetual Help College.

An alumnus of the UST Central Seminary, Beltran was ordained priest in 1976. He was sub-prior of the Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas since 2008.

IN AN age where e-mails and instant messengers rule, the old-fashioned mail has found a way to survive and remain relevant. Raul Mariano, head of the UST Post Office, knows why.

Despite the many conveniences offered by electronic mail, there are just some things only the good old mail could offer: it can deliver packages, important documents, and money orders, he says.

The UST Post Office, conveniently located at the left wing of the Main Building beside Security Bank, is the place to be for Thomasians looking for such services unavailable in the internet.

Its services are not unlike those offered by more popular companies such as LBC and Western Union, Mariano notes.

“We have been delivering packages, important documents and money orders for many years now. But companies like LBC became well-known because of their various advertisements,” he says.

BEFORE Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM) students serve in world-class hotels and fancy restaurants, their work of “mixing and stirring” starts in this innocuous corner at the Central Library – the Reader’s Café.

Gerlie Magpili has been single-handedly managing the café for four years now with the aid of senior students as her apprentices. Together, they prepare delectable desserts and beverages for bookworms and foodies at the library’s ground floor.

“This coffee shop serves not only the library visitors but [helps] the students accomplish their on-the-job trainings,” Magpili says.

SEVEN years have passed since the Educational Technology Center (EdTech) launched the Electronic learning access program (E-leap), but few seemed to have realized its benefits in delivering education at a distance.

This prompted Clarita Carillo, assistant to the Rector for academic affairs, to issue a memorandum encouraging professors to utilize existing learning resources to ensure that students are able to catch up with their lessons when classes are suspended.

The memo directed all faculty members to set a two-hour meeting with EdTech officials for an E-leap orientation.

But EdTech director Ma. Ninia Calaca said some faculty members see E-leap as an added burden than a tool to help them teach because they would have to attend seminars to be able to use the system properly.

THE HAPPY days of “student-hackers” are numbered.

The Santo Tomas e-Services Providers (STePS) has bought a system designed to block proxy websites used by students to access social-networking portals and other prohibited sites.

Ma. Beatriz Lacsamana, assistant director for network and operations of STePS, said the web filtering subscription would be in full use in the latter part of September.

“The website filtering is meant to block [not only] existing, [but also] future proxy sites so that students will no longer be able to use them,” Lacsamana said.

But the aim of the new system is not to prevent students from accessing Multiply or Facebook, but to stop them from viewing “prohibited sites” like those that contain pornography, she clarified.

THE PHILIPPINES used to enjoy an abundance of shrimps as the third top producer and exporter in the world during the 1990s. However, in 2003, viral diseases started to destroy the shrimp population, bringing down the country’s ranking to No. 11.

The decline in the country’s shrimp industry promptedMary Beth Maningas, a professor at the College of Science, to conduct research on how to control the spread of the virus.

GENOME is all biological information of a human being found in the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the genetic material of all cellular organisms and most viruses.

John Donnie Ramos, a professor at the department of Biology in the College of Science, defined genome as the sum total of an organism’s genetic content. The genome contains the approximately 20,000 to 25,000 genes of a person that cluster together to form 46 chromosomes—23 from the mother, and 23 from the father.

Ramos said that a person’s physical appearance and personality traits are not based on the arrangement of the genes, but is due to the presence of genes in the genome. Environmental factors also affect the genes.

“For example, identical twins that originated from a single cell in the womb have the same genome. However, as they grow [and get exposed to different environments], one twin may eventually end up having breast cancer, while the other may not,” Ramos said.

DULOT ng taun-taong failure of elections sa Unibersidad, minsan nang isinulong ang pagbuwag sa Central Student Council ng UST.

Sa forum na “What went wrong… what should be done? Redefining the role of the CSC in the University” noong Hulyo 2000, iminungkahi ni Kathrina Rallanka, pangulo ng CSC noong 1999, ang “Oxford Model” sa pamumuno ng mga mag-aaral sa Unibersidad matapos ang sunud-sunod na failure of elections sa UST. Sa modelong ito, magtatalaga ang mga lokal na student council ng isang mataas na pamunuan na may mga kapangyarihang ehekutibo at lehislatibo. Sa pamamagitan daw nito ay magiging mas maayos umano ang representasyon ng mga estudyante sa UST.