Tag: September 29, 2014

A second-year UST medicine student was electrocuted while braving floodwaters on España Boulevard amid the onslaught of Typhoon "Mario" last Sept. 19.

The same live wire that killed Siegfreid Nathan Arcilla, 22, also victimized two others that day. But Far Eastern University student Cedric Fabie, 18, and hotel employee Glendon Benedicto, 22, survived.

Arcilla was killed after his umbrella touched the live wire near UST's Gate 1 around 5 p.m., police investigation showed.

Vendor Radel Sumagang saw the victim lying on the ground and sought the help of UST security guard Geronimo Mazo. But Arcilla did not reach the hospital alive.

THE UNIVERSITY reached another cultural milestone as the UST Archives’ collection of ancient baybayin scripts were declared as national cultural treasures by the National Archives of the Philippines (NAP) last Aug. 22 at the National Museum in Manila.

The baybayin scripts consist of 14 consonants and three vowels which orginated from the pre-Islamic and pre-Spanish era.

Coinciding with the 2nd Baybayin Conference, the scripts were formally recognized by NAP’s national archivist Victorino Manalo. The conference is a forum aiming to create awareness for the importance of the ancient writing system.

ONE SOLUTION to UST’s K to 12 woes will be a “foreign” one.

International students will make up for the lack of freshmen in Academic Year 2016-2017 when the K to 12 program goes in full swing.

“We are for the openness of the University as a Catholic university to admit students coming from [other countries] to form them according to our mission [and] vision,” Secretary General Fr. Winston Cabading, O.P. said in an interview with the Varsitarian.

THE SUPREME Court (SC) has denied the UST Faculty Union’s (USTFU) claim for P26 million in hospitalization and medical benefits from 1997 to 2003, saying the union’s complaint was too late and that it had misinterpreted its collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the University.

The dispute was over whether UST’s annual contributions to USTFU hospitalization and medical benefits fund should be one-time or cumulative given annual increases in tuition.

A SUMMA cum laude graduate of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery topped the August 2014 licensure exams for physicians, a feat last achieved by a Thomasian four years ago.

Eric Royd Talavera, who graduated from UST in 2013, tied with Cebu Institute of Medicine's Raymond Martin Li for first place. Both scored 89.59 percent.

UST alumni Jessica Mae Sanchez and Lean Angelo Silverio, also summa cum laude graduates, shared the fourth spot with Mairre James Gaddi of the University of the Philippines-Manila, all of them scoring 89.25 percent.

THOMASIANS once again joined the cry for government reform as they joined the launch of the People’s Initiative against all forms of pork barrel including the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

The campaign, which coincided with the celebration of National Heroes’ Day, was coined as “Stand Up! Sign Up against all forms of pork!” and was endorsed by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and the Catholic Educators Association of the Philippines.

Organized by the #abolishporkmovement and the Scrap Pork Network, the campaign marked the first anniversary of the Million People March which was participated by Thomasians as well.

FOUR PROGRAMS of the Faculty of Arts and Letters (Artlets) have been granted the coveted Level 4 accreditation status, the highest rank that can be obtained by an educational institution from the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation (PACUCOA).

Economics, Legal Management, Literature, and Philosophy obtained the highest accreditation level after a two-day “survey visit” by PACUCOA accreditors last August 18 and 19.

THE CONSTRUCTION of the University’s first satellite campus in Mindanao is again on hold due to pending documents regarding the conversion of its site from an agricultural land to an institutional land.

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has yet to approve another permit that will allow the further development of the satellite campus in an 82-hectare land in General Santos (Gen San) City, encompassing two barangays: Ligaya and Katangawan.

DAR first approved the conversion of the land in 2003 and issued another order in 2008, extending the development period of the site until 2013.

HINDI kinilala ng Office for Student Affairs (OSA) ang Thomasian Writers Guild (TWG) at Alpha Phi Omega (APO) bilang mga opisyal na organisasyon sa Unibersidad para sa akademikong taon 2014-2015, dahil sa hindi pagdalo ng mga opisyal nito sa taunang Leadership Training Seminar (LTS).

Ayon kay Allan Hernandez, kinatawan ng OSA para sa mga organisasyon, ang pagdalo sa taunang LTS ay kailangan upang kilalanin na opisyal ang isang organisasyon. Mayroong tatlong LTS na dapat daluhan ang mga organisasyon bago kilalanin ng OSA.

“As early as February and March, we were already informing [the organizations] of the tentative schedule of the LTS, and even advised them to block their schedules for [the month of] April,” ani Hernandez sa isang panayam sa Varsitarian.