Tag: Vol. LXXXI

WHILE influenza A(H1N1) has become the world’s immediate health concern, students should not forget that there are other diseases to watch out for as they go about their daily activities in the University this rainy season.

“Dengue fever, typhoid fever and leptospirosis and influenza are the most prevalent diseases,” said Dr. Ma. Salve Olalia, UST Health Service director.

Influenza has three types — A, B, and, C — but all produce the same symptoms of fever, muscle and joint pains, runny nose, and cough. People can catch the flu by simply staying in crowded and poorly ventilated places.

The A(H1N1) flu virus has arrived in UST, but Thomasians are not taking matters sitting down.

Following a new Department of Health memorandum, the school has modified its preparedness plan against the flu virus, refusing to immediately suspend classes and operations in infected areas.

Four Thomasians have gone down with the virus as of June 24, prompting school officials to shut down four buildings for at least a week.

As per government protocol, the patients were not identified. Health Service director Maria Salve Olalia said they were now “recovering.”

Despite the four cases, Secretary General Fr. Isidro Abaño, O.P. said there would be “no university-wide suspension of classes in compliance with the DOH directive.”

Olalia said three of the patients had traveled abroad while the fourth one from the Faculty of Engineering was supposedly infected by a friend from another university.

THE UST Main Building, the Philippines’ first earthquake-proof structure, is qualified to be proclaimed a natural treasure and a UN World Heritage Site, but the University should work for its nomination before it’s too late.

Speaking at the formal opening of classes last June 15, Architecture Dean John Joseph Fernandez warned that the “focal point of the campus” is slowly deteriorating.

“The Main Building is currently experiencing a slow process of deterioration due to its age, drastic environment changes and numerous interventions that were done in the past,” Fernandez said in his Discurso de Apertura at the Santissimo Rosario Parish Church.

He cited repairs at the Faculty of Civil Law, Office of the Vice Rector, and the Public Affairs and Alumni Affairs offices that led to “unacceptable” interferences, which are contributing to the building’s deterioration.

YOU DON’T have to wait for the next Varsitarian issue to get the latest UST news. The paper now has breaking news on its website (www.Varsitarian.net).

The first breaking news stories appeared on the Varsitarian.net when the University opened the school year last June 15 with the Misa de Apertura, and the discovery of the first confirmed cases of Influenza A(H1N1) virus in campus. Stories were flashed online just a few hours after the events took place.

The website will also contain information regarding Varsitarian’s extra-editorial activities such as the V Fiction Workshop, Inkblots National Campus Journalism Fellowship, Ustetika Literary Awards and Pautakan quiz contest.

The paper has also created social networking sites in Multiply and Facebook to reach Thomasians even beyond the University borders.

The archives section will also continue to provide previously published articles.

LIVE simply, don’t party.

The Office of the Secretary General has banned acquaintance parties and other student-organized events outside the University, instructing student councils to practice “simplicity of life” in collecting membership fees and even in selling “identity” shirts.

In a memorandum issued last May 28, Secretary General Fr. Isidro Abaño, O.P. said the University needs to conserve resources amid economic difficulties.

“Students, through the local councils, are allowed to sell only one college shirt starting academic year 2009-2010 priced at not more than P150,” the memo stated. “Membership fees to be collected by recognized student organizations must (also) not exceed P200.”

The Students Organizations’ Coordinating Council (SOCC) said it had notified all university organizations prior to the release of the memo.

THE UNIVERSITY has modified the annual Thomasian freshmen orientation as cases of A(H1N1) virus in the campus continue to rise.

The traditional Thomasian walk was also subject to approval of the Secretary General.

Public Affairs director Giovanna Fontanilla said the orientation was moved from auditorium to classrooms to avoid congregation of student crowds in an enclosed venue.

THE COLLEGE of Tourism and Hospitality Management welcomed the new academic year with a curriculum revamp that scrapped Spanish and Japanese subjects in the first year level and renamed its B.S. Tourism course to B.S. Travel Management.

The new curriculum will have a combination of Tourism and Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM) subjects so that the students could apply for managerial positions, Acting Dean Ma. Cecilia Tio Cuison said.

It will also offer four additional subjects namely Tourism and Hospitality English, Tourism and Hospitality Ethics, Professional Cookery, and Hotel Operations and Administration.

Tio Cuison said the additional English subject would be beneficial for students when they deal with foreign clients in the future.

“We already coordinated with Dr. Madrunio of the Department of Languages about the specialized English subject for Travel Management students,” Tio Cuison said.

ACTING Civil Law Dean Roberto Abad has been included in the shortlist of candidates to fill up two vacant seats at the Supreme Court

Abad, a practicing lawyer, was first nominated by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) to replace Associate Justice Ruben Reyes last January, but failed to make it to the shortlist. Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice and Civil Law professor Diosdado Peralta replaced Reyes on February.

This time, Abad is vying for one of the two vacant seats in the 15-man high tribunal left by Associate Justices Dante Tiñga and Alicia Austria-Martinez.

Abad said five other nominees submitted by the JBC were all “very competent.” Asked who were his toughest rivals for the post, Abad pointed to Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Francisco Villaruz and Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justice Josefina Guevarra Salonga, describing the two as among the “most outstanding lawmen” of the land.

TWO RESIDENT Thomasian researchers were named “research fellows” by the society of researchers in the Philippines during its 20th anniversary last May 19 at the Centro Escolar University in Manila.

Emily Tan and Allan De Guzman were named “research fellows” — the highest distinction given by Philippine Society for Educational Research and Evaluation — as a tribute to their significant contributions for the advancement of educational research frontiers through numerous publications.

In fact, one of Tan’s works titled “Research Experiences of Undergraduate Students of a Compulsive University” was published in the International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education last year.

Tan said the study was intended to provide information on the experiences of undergraduate students.

ACADEMIC YEAR 2009-2010 opened Monday, June 15 amid a call for unity and collaboration ahead of UST’s quadricentennial, in opening ceremonies marked by a departure from centuries of tradition due to the swine flu pandemic.

Fr. Quirico Pedregosa, Jr., O.P., head of the Filipino Dominican province and University vice chancellor, called for “unity amid diversity” among administrators, faculty members, and students in his homily for the Misa de Apertura or opening mass.

“Work together for peace, justice and unity,” Pedregosa told the crowd at the Santissimo Rosario Parish Church, adding that he looks forward to "joyous" festivities for UST's 400th year in 2011.

He encouraged the Thomasian community to work for the common good and “allow the gifts of the Holy Spirit within us to reign.”

The opening of classes in UST was moved to June 15 as a precautionary measure following the outbreak of the influenza A(H1N1) virus in the Philippines.