Tag: Special Reports

WITH ALMOST all obstacles cleared, Asia’s oldest University is set to open its first satellite campus soon in Mindanao.

Located at General Santos (GenSan) City and encompassing two barangays (Ligaya and Katangawan), the satellite UST campus will offer programs not available in the main campus, such as marine sciences and agriculture courses, Rector Fr. Herminio Dagohoy, O.P. bared.

“Those programs will really help the area,” he told the Varsitarian in an interview.

THE CONVICTION of former Chief Justice Renato Corona by the Senate impeachment court in 2012 may not be illegal, but it was tainted with “vested interests,” according to a law professor.

President Aquino now faces criticism over his alleged interference with the impeachment process of the ousted chief magistrate.

Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada said in his privilege speech last year that the executive branch gave out an additional P50 million to the Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) or pork barrel to each senator who voted to convict Corona.

THE PHILIPPINES is beginning to count the costs of the devastation caused by Category 4 Typhoon “Yolanda”—so far, nearly 6,000 people have died and 11.2 million people have been affected by the worst storm ever to hit the country. Damage to infrastructure and agriculture in seven regions has been placed at P35.2 billion. Could the residents of Leyte, Samar and other areas have prepared enough?

There was in fact no shortage of warning. Before the typhoon hit, the Department of Science and Technology's Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (Project NOAH) warned several coastal communities of the possibility of three- to six-meter high “storm surges.”

A FORMER Budget secretary thinks President Aquino was bluffing when he said last Aug. 23 that he would abolish the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), popularly known as “pork barrel.”

It was an insincere attempt to resolve the issue, said UP economist Benjamin Diokno, former secretary of the Department of Budget and Management under the administration of President Joseph Estrada who’s now Manila mayor.

The President drew flak over his Aug. 23 announcement, which was interpreted as not abolishing PDAF per se but instead introducing a “modified” system of pork barrel.

PDAF has become a bribe from the president for lawmakers to be lenient in their constitutional duty to scrutinize carefully the national budget, Diokno said.

IS IT wise to elect minors to government posts?

Since its inception in 1991, the Sangguniang Kabataan has been met with criticisms questioning its wisdom and practicability. The SK has so far withstood recurring calls for its abolition.

For Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice, who has filed House Bill (HB) 1122 seeking to abolish the SK, the youth council gives barangay leaders a chance to corrupt the youth instead of training them to be good leaders.

“We all know that corruption is rampant in the local government units, so how can you train the youth with the possibly corrupt leaders as their trainers?” Erice told the Varsitarian in an email.

BINABALAK ng mga opisyal ng Unibersidad na isara na ang kampus mula sa publiko upang siguraduhin ang kaligtasan ng mga nasa loob nito.

Ito ang mungkahi ni Joseph Badinas, pinuno ng UST Security Office. Aniya, mas mainam kung hindi bukas sa publiko ang Unibersidad.

“Kapag hindi ka estudyante ng Unibersidad, hindi ka makakapasok ng campus,” aniya.

Ayon sa panukala, lahat ng hindi estudyante ng Unibersidad ay dadaan sa P. Noval at Lacson para itala ang dahilan ng kanilang pagbisita.

“Lahat ng sibilyan na gugustuhing pumasok kailangan balido ang dahilan," ani Badinas.

NASUGPO nga ba ng sin tax reform law ang talamak na paggamit ng alkohol at sigarilyo sa bansa?

Ilang buwan na ang nakalilipas mula ng implementasyon nito ngunit tila walang malaking pagbabago ang naidulot ng batas, ani Senate President Franklin Drilon, isa sa nagtataguyod nito.

Upang ilayo ang mga tao sa bisyo, mas lalong tumaas ang excise tax ng mga inumin na alkohol at sigarilyo sa halip na gawin itong ilegal. Ayon sa Bureau of Internal Revenue, ang excise tax ay pinapataw sa mga kalakal pang-konsumpsiyon na ginawa sa Pilipinas.

Ayon kay Drilon, datapwa’t umaabot ang buwis na nakukuha nila mula sa sin tax law sa layunin ng gobyerno, hindi pa rin bumababa ang kalagayan ng paninigarilyo sa bansa.

THE DEPARTMENT of National Defense (DND) has drawn flak for its proposal to make Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) training mandatory to help boost the country’s military force.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said in a radio interview that although there were many reservists in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, mandatory ROTC would provide the right training to allow students to assist in times of emergency.

The National Defense Act of 1935, which made ROTC mandatory, had stated that students, from the age of 10 years, were required to undergo military training until age 21. It was repealed by Republic Act 9163 or the National Service Training Program (NSTP) Act of 2001, which gave students other options aside from ROTC.

THE SEARCH for justice is still not over.

After 12 years, two of four persons implicated in the brutal murder of Mark Welson Chua, an Engineering student and Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (ROTC) cadet, remain at large.

The whereabouts of former cadet officers Paul Joseph Tan and Michael Von Rainard Manangbao of the UST Golden Corps are still unknown.

Mangabao is believed to be hiding in Malaysia while Tan had fled to the United States according to Charmaine Chua, Mark’s sister, in a previous interview with the Varsitarian.

Meanwhile, others, namely former cadet officers Arnulfo Aparri and Eduardo Tabrilla, are already serving their sentence.

TO ACHIEVE global recognition, the University needs to boost its research output.

While UST is dominating the licensure exams and is strong in other areas, research has been a constant weakness.

The University ranked 150th in the recent Quacquarelli-Symonds (QS) listing of Asia’s top 200 universities, dropping just two notches from 2012.

For academic year 2012-2013, there were 1,085 master’s degree holders and 472 doctorate degree holders in the University, data from the Office of Faculty Evaluation and Development showed.