Tag: September 26, 2007

BRAND new Acer Aspire laptops were distributed by the Educational Technology Center (EdTech) to fourteen faculty members under its Faculty Laptop Acquisition and Rewards Empowerment (FLARE) program last Sept. 5 at the Tan Yan Kee auditorium.

The recipients of new laptops are the following: (Faculty of Engineering) Alex Santos and Lani Pestaño; (Faculty of Arts and Letters) Consuelo M. Gotauco and Analiza Yanga; (Faculty of Pharmacy) Imelda Marollano and Xandro Alexi Nieto; (College of Rehabilitation Sciences) Rachel Ann Lagman and Anne Marie Aseron; (Alfredo M. Velayo College of Accountancy) Arnold Petalver; (Institute of Religion) Aguedo Jalin and Henelida Onal; (Faculty of Medicine and Surgery) George Lim and Nilo Delos Santos; (Faculty of Pharmacy) Aleth Therese Dacanay and Carol Geraldine Pablo.

Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Prof. Clarita Carillo said that the recipients should prove that FLARE really works for the improvement of class instruction.

UNLIKE UST’s remarkable results in the Medical Technology and Master Plumber exams, the University posted only a 76 percent passing rate in the Chemistry licensure exam with no Thomasians landing on the top ten.

Out of 45 UST examinees, 11 failed, 10 of them first-timers.

David Peralta of Ateneo de Manila University topped the exam, garnering 90.25 percent.

The University of the Philippines-Diliman, Ateneo de Manila University, and the University of the Philippines–Los Baños were the top three performing schools.

UST dominated the med-tech board exam with six Thomasians landing on the top ten.

Leading the 699 passers with a score of 87.30 percent was Thomasian Mary Lou Anne Cabacang; followed by Oliver Lubiano, 87 percent; Jacqueline Mupas, 86.60 percent; and Mary Rose Lacanin, 86.40 percent. Two alumni ranked ninth and tenth: namely Engelbert Perillo and Jean Tee.

NATIONAL media outfits bungled their coverage of the resignations of top UST officials, publishing articles riddled with innuendoes, anonymous sources, and even historical inaccuracy.

Poorly written stories appeared in the Manila Standard Today last Sept. 15 and on the Sun-Star Manila website the day earlier, claiming that “mismanagement and irregularities” were the reasons behind the resignations of the prior provincial of the Philippine Dominican Province, Fr. Edmund Nantes, O.P., Rector Fr. Ernesto Arceo, O.P., and Vice Rector Fr. Juan Ponce, O.P.

But they did not have proof except the say-so of a “source.”

They even cited a supposed failure by the University to “secure the global certification recognizing its compliance with the high standards of education,” but again did not check whether there indeed was such a certification.

UNITED States-based medical alumni are worried over the sudden exit of three top University officials over the controversial plan to commercialize and expand the UST Hospital, but have appealed for calm amid difficult times for the University.

The UST Medical Alumni Association in America, one of the biggest donors to the hospital and the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery through a $3 million endowment fund, has pledged to continue support for indigent patients and “toward making our Alma Mater a school noted for academic excellence.”

In a message to members of the alumni association, Dr. Stella Evangelista, the group’s executive director, said the association was “unaffected directly by the leadership changes,” but added, “we are troubled by any problems encountered by the University.”

HIGHLIGHTING the 100th anniversary of the canonical coronation of La Naval de Manila, the Dominican Province of the Philippines will reenact the Marian image’s solemn canonical coronation on Oct. 4 at the Sto. Domingo Parish in Quezon City, the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary.

The reenactment will be made during a High Mass to be celebrated by Msgr. Wojciech Zaluski, charge de affaires of the Apostolic Nunciature (the new Nuncio, Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams, has yet to assume his post and present his diplomatic papers to Malacanang and the Philippine bishops), and 15 bishops coming from all over the country.

President Macapagal-Arroyo will lead civil officials in the reenactment.

According to Rev. Jeff Aytona, O.P., head of the technical committee for the reenactment, this year’s celebration of La Naval is very special.

HE IS CALLED the “Dominican Pope” and has authority over every member of one of the Church’s greatest and most powerful orders, but little known is the fact that the Master of the Order of Preachers also wields tremendous influence over the University of Santo Tomas.

Fr. Carlos Alfonso Azpiroz Costa, O.P. is also Grand Chancellor of the University—an institution considered as one of the Order’s prized possessions—and as such exercises vast powers under the General Statutes of the University.

And so it was that with a sudden blow, he was able to replace the UST leadership, catching everyone, even the three priests he eventually asked to resign — the Filipino Dominican Provincial, the University Rector, and the Vice-Rector — by surprise. The three top UST officials humbly obeyed as part of their religious vows.

DR. CENON Alfonso, UST Hospital president and chief executive officer, has become the latest official to quit following the Dominican leadership’s decision to halt the construction of a 19-story hospital tower that would have required the University’s medical institution to go into more profitable businesses and take a P3 billion bank loan.

“I was asked to resign by the new rector in line with the reorganization of the hospital,” Alfonso told the Varsitarian following a meeting with Acting Rector Fr. Rolando V. De La Rosa, O.P. last Sept. 17.

Alfonso had opted to wait for clearer signals from higher-ups before finally quitting even with the earlier resignations of three top University officials who were also members of the hospital’s board of trustees — Fr. Edmund Nantes, O.P., prior provincial of the Philippine Dominican Province and UST vice chancellor; UST Rector Fr. Ernesto Arceo, O.P., the hospital chairman; and Vice Rector Juan Ponce, O.P.

THE HEAD of the Dominican Order has accepted the resignations of three top University officials over the spinoff of UST Hospital into a separate corporation and a P3 billion loan signed last April for a grand hospital expansion plan.

Fr. Carlos Alfonso Azpiroz Costa, O.P., Master of the Order of Preachers, immediately named two-term rector and former Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) chairman Fr. Rolando V. De La Rosa, O.P. as acting rector and called for a “new leadership team” to handle developments in the University and the hospital.

Putting his foot down, Father Azpiroz ordered the hospital corporation dissolved as well as the cancellation or renegotiation of the bank loan. The project must be reviewed “to protect the patrimony of the University,” he said. (See story below.)