Archived News
UP Press turns 38, boosts marketing programs
The UP Press marketing program will be in full swing this year with a series of book caravans and fairs slated from May to November in different venues.
“We’re really pushing our marketing activities because we publish a lot of books but we don’t get to sell them,” said UP Press deputy director Ruth Pison at the 38th anniversary special of the University’s publishing house on 8 April. The UP Press, which publishes an average of 33 titles annually, was established by the Board of Regents on 1 March 1965. In 1997, the Manila Critics Circle chose it as “Publisher of the Year”.
Pison mentioned that a system-wide book caravan was conducted during the first quarter of 2003 to jumpstart UP Press’ major marketing campaigns for the rest of the year. The book caravan featured a road show that took authors and books to seven UP campuses around the country.
Besides the caravan, a UP Press bookshop at the Balay Kalinaw opened. All UP Press books were sold at 10 to 15% discount from 12 March to 20 April.
In May, the UP Press will bring its books to De La Salle University, Ateneo De Manila University, and University of Nueva Caceres. It will also make its rounds of book fairs in Manila, Bacolod, Iloilo, and Davao.
For the said events, about 20 literary books of various genres have been selected from the estimated 400 titles published since 1965. Included are the inexpensive lines under the UP Jubilee Student Edition and Likhaan Anthologies. These books aim to make contemporary literature in English and Filipino more accessible to students. Some of these books are written by award-winning authors like Gemino Abad, Butch Dalisay, Virgilio Almario, Jun Cruz Reyes, Mes De Guzman, F.H. Batacan, Krip Yuson, and Pete Lacaba.
UP Press director Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo said that the marketing activities are part of the over all modernization plan of the Nemenzo administration. “Our marketing campaigns are geared towards professionalizing, expanding, and making the UP Press a leading academic publishing house in Southeast Asia.” (Charmine R. Gultiano)
UP Baguio professor is new faculty regent
“As faculty regent, I should be the voice of the entire faculty in the Board,” says Prof. Julius Mendoza of UP Baguio (UPB) who took his oath as the new representative of the faculty in the Board of Regents (BOR) last 27 March 2003 at the UP Manila. He replaces Dr. Carlos Baylon of the UP Visayas.
A Philosophy teacher at the UPB for 26 years, Mendoza sees a direct connection between his field and his function in the BOR. He says Philosophy has to do with fundamental questions that are used in investigating basic premises and principles. The BOR, the highest governing body in the University, discusses policies and proposals that are applied to all constituent universities. In analyzing these policies and principles, he says fundamental questions are asked.
“I should look at the issues from a certain angle, how they promote or impede the highest objectives of the academe.” Mendoza explains further. He adds that he looks at things from the perspective of the faculty, focusing on academic growth.
Previous faculty regents have told Mendoza that he would now be considered the champion of the faculty, bringing their concerns and problems in the BOR. To be an effective faculty regent, Mendoza emphasizes the importance of being a good listener. He sees it as his function to listen to the opinions, feelings, and sentiments of the faculty regarding pressing issues.
Mendoza plans to meet students and faculty by conducting consultative visits to the different constituent units. Aside from being consultative, these visits will also be academic in nature. He finds it very important that students and faculty know who are the experts, intellectuals, artists, authors, and creators in the UP. This is why he plans to organize lectures where these experts can share their knowledge with the different members of the UP community. Mendoza succinctly puts his vision and mission in perspective when he says, “It’s all about the flourishing of teaching, learning, and excellence.” (Arlyn VCD Palisoc Romualdo)
NO LESS THAN Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain led the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Jose Rizal Eye Center (JREC) at the UP-Philippine General Hospital (PGH) on 5 March 2003.
The occasion also marked the turn over of the third tranche of the grant from the Spanish government to construct the JREC, which is estimated to cost 7 million Euros (P371 million). His Excellency Miguel Angel Cortes, Secretary of State for International Cooperation of Spain, said the JREC aims to prevent blindness in the Philippines through specialized eye care. For this purpose, the center will be equipped with the infrastructure and technology required for the proper surgical and post-surgical care of patients.
 |
| Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain |
A program for training in ophthalmology is also being considered by proponents of the JREC. The training is aimed not only to improve the quality of education in ophthalmology in the country but also to balance the number and distribution of specialists in the various regions.
The 1995 National Survey on Blindness revealed that the Philippines has a very high prevalence of blindness, with 77 percent caused by cataracts. Accord-ingly, the government promulgated a national program for the prevention of blindness through the Department of Health (DOH). It is within this context that the JREC intends to contribute to the well-being of Filipinos.
UP President Francisco Nemenzo said it was fitting that the Spanish government should entrust the project to the UP-PGH as it has the best ophthalmologists in the country to run the JREC. He also assured Queen Sofia that the center will serve the Filipino poor who cannot otherwise afford specialized eye care.
Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit, for his part, said that the JREC would be a lasting reminder of the close relationship between the Philippines and Spain.
The JREC was initiated during the visit of Queen Sofia to the UP-PGH on 4 February 2000. During that visit, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between the UP and the Agencia Española de Cooperacion Internacional (AECI). The MOU included the phases for the formulation and implementation of the construction and operation of the center.
The architectural plan for the JREC was finalized in November 2002. The plan identified three components—the cons-truction of the center, the acquisition of the equipment necessary for the operation of the center, and the exchange and scholarship program for ophthalmolo-gists.
The Filipinas Eye Center Foundation, Inc. will manage the center. Its board of directors is composed of representatives from the UP System, UP-PGH, UP College of Medicine, UP Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Philippine Academy of Ophthalmology, DOH, Eye Bank Foundation, AECI, and the Embassy of Spain in Manila. (ROD P. FAJARDO III)
THE FAMILY OF Don Anselmo Trinidad Sr. and former president Corazon Aquino led the inauguration of a newly-renovated lecture room at the UP College of Business Administration (CBA) on 15 March 2003. The renovation of the Don Anselmo Trinidad Sr. lecture room, which costs P269,000, is a project of the Trinidad family entered into the UP Modernization Fund Campaign (UPMFC) of President Francisco Nemenzo.
The Don Anselmo Trinidad Sr. lecture room was named by then UP president Vicente Sinco to honor Trinidad, a CBA alumnus who spearheaded the construction of CBA building in 1958. Trinidad, along with fellow alumni Fanny Cortes Garcia and Pio Pedrosa, laid the cornerstone of the CBA building, and completed the project in 1978.
Trinidad was also a founding member of the UP Business Research Foundation formed in 1971. The other founders were Garcia, Pedrosa, Jaime Laya, Juan Quintos, and Cesar Virata.
 |
TOP L-R: Atty. Cesar R. Vidal, Mr. Jean Henri D. Lhuillier, Ambassador Philippe J. Lhuillier, Dean Erlinda S. Echanis, and AVP for Development Gilda C. Rivero at the turn over of the P. J. Lhuillier Foundation, Inc.’s donation to the UP Business Research Foundation, Inc. |
Former faculty regent Dr. Angelita Trinidad-Reyes, Trinidad’s oldest child, said that the formal opening of the lecture room also commemorated her father’s 100th birthday and 20th death anniversary. Reyes personally invited Aquino, a family friend, to grace the event.
Besides the inauguration, the family also unveiled the framed photocopy of an oil painting “Table X” by Federico Aguilar Alcuaz. Table X featured Trinidad and his business friends Edmundo Reyes and Peter Go gathered in one table of the Hilton Hotel.
 |
BOTTOM
L-R: UP President Francisco Nemenzo, Justice Flerida Romero,
former president Corazon Aquino, Chancellor Emerlinda Roman
of UP Diliman, and former regent Angelina Trinidad-Reyes at
the inauguration of the Don Anselmo Trinidad, Sr. Lecture Room.
|
Meanwhile, the ROPALI Group of Companies and the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Foundation, Inc. donated P500,000 and P100,000, respectively, for the professorial chair grants of the UPMFC. The ROPALI Group of Companies include Ropali Corporation, Philippine Rural Banking Corporation, Agri-Business Rural Bank, RP Alingog Development Corporation, Lupa Realty Holdings, Motorali Corporation, Huxley Land Development corporation, ADA Manufacturing Corporation and Philippine Markets and Technologies Corporation.
Present during the donation ceremony were ROPALI chair Roberto Alingog, a CBA alumnus and member of the UP MBA Society Board of Directors, and Beth Bermundo of the PSE.
In a related development, the P. J. Lhuillier Foundation, Inc. turned over an endowment fund of P500,000 to the UP Business Research Foundation, Inc. on 7 March. Dean Erlinda Echanis of the CBA said that income from the fund will be used to replace the ceiling, paint the walls, and reconstruct the floor of the 100-seater lecture room on the third floor of the college building.
Renovation on the lecture room, according to Echanis, is expected to commence in July 2003. The lecture room is used by undergraduate students for their accounting courses. In December 2003, Echanis said that the CBA class of 1973 is expected to turn over a donation for the renovation of another 100-seater lecture room. “We hold our annual homecoming every first Saturday of December,” she said. “So, the class of 1973 might turn over their donation on or before that day.” (Charmine Gultiano with reporting by ROD P. FAJARDO III)
THE UP AND Ayala Foundation, Inc. (AFI) signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on the Java Research and Development Center (JRDC) last 3 March 2003, almost nine months after the UP Java Competency Center (UPJCC) was inaugurated.
The UPJCC at the UP-Ayala Technology Park is part of the Asean Java Competency Program (AJCP) in the Philippines. It is a national center focusing on education, research, and development of Java and Internet technologies. It also consists of two components: the Mirant Java Education Center (Mirant JEC) and the JRDC. The JRDC will be a research facility for the study and exploration of Java technologies.
Java is the language or platform for building and deploying networked services, such as those found on the Internet and in private networks. Java is also a flexible software that will run on any network regardless of the hard-ware or operating sys-tem. It is designed to run programs securely on different existing systems and integrates safely with the network.
Under the terms of the MOA, the JRDC is mandated to 1.) support the aims of the AJCP at the UP; 2.) serve as the research and develop-ment (R&D) arm of Mirant JEC; 3.) support projects and the early stage of industry development efforts until proof-of-concept; 4.) provide counsel, guidance, and business network to these R&D projects; and 5.) generate income to support the activities of these projects.
The overall policy and supervisory responsibility for the JRDC project and the attainment of project objectives is given to the JRDC Steering Committee. It sets the criteria and evaluates and selects student, faculty, and industry projects to be undertaken by the center. It will also designate a Business Operations Committee to assist in the tasks mentioned. The committee is composed of the UP Diliman chancellor, the executive director of the UP Technology Management Center, the chairperson of the UP Department of Computer Science, the JRDC faculty coordinator, two representatives from the AFI, a representative from SMPI, and a representative from MPFI.
The MOA also states that the UP is tasked to: 1.) assign and equip an adequate and functional space for the JRDC; 2.) spearhead and supervise, through the Steering Committee, the activities of the JRDC; 3.) hire, supervise, and compensate a faculty coordinator; 4.) waive its share in lease rental until 31 December 2003; and 5.) pay electricity expenses until 31 December 2003 or until the project achieves self-sustaining status, whichever comes first.
The responsibilities of the AFI, on the other hand, are to: 1.) administer the JRDC; 2.) hire, supervise, and compensate a full time business development manager and systems administrator; 3.) waive its share in lease rental and common area maintenance fee until 31 December 2003; 4.) shoulder operational and incidental expenses, except for electricity and equipment maintenance, until 31 December 2003 or until the project achieves self-sustaining status, whichever comes first; 5.) prepare an annual development plan and budget for approval of the JRDC Steering Committee; and 6.) promote the JRDC. (ARLYN VCD PALISOC ROMUALDO)
DAVAO CITY—ALMOST 70 years after he bowed out of the UP, Cesar A. Azarcon feels that he is still very much a part of his alma mater.
“All of my six children went to UP. One of them, Noemi, is currently teaching at the College of Architecture in UP Diliman. My granddaughter and grandson, meanwhile, are studying at the UP Diliman Integrated School and in UP Manila, respectively,” said Azarcon. “Their presence there makes me feel that I am still very much a part of UP.” Azarcon, 88, was one of the oldest members of the UP Alumni Association in Mindanao (UPAA-M) who attended the 26th Regional Alumni Institute Conference held on 28 February-1 March 2003 in this city.
The conference drew about 400 participants from the 19 chapters of the UPAA-M. Azarcon took up Associate in Arts in UP from 1932 to 1934 in preparation for law school. But when he finished the course, his parents discouraged him from pursuing law. “They told me that if I become a lawyer in my hometown— Capiz—I will only end up a politician,” he recalled. “So I transferred to De La Salle University and enrolled in commerce.”
 |
| Cesar A. Azarcon of UPAA-Mindanao. |
Law, however, was what he really wanted to pursue. So right after obtaining his diploma from De La Salle in 1937, he worked at the Ateneo de Manila University as secretary to the dean of the College of Commerce, taught in the same college, and enrolled in the law school. “After my first year [in law school], however, I was required to take up the Citizens Military Training (CMT),” he said. “I was working, teaching, and studying all at the same time then, so I did not have time anymore for CMT.” By this time, the Philippines was preparing for the looming Second World War and all male college students were required to undergo military training.
What Azarcon did was to transfer to the University of Manila (UM), where he could continued his law studies without having to take CMT. Barely two months before graduation, however, the war broke out. There was no graduation. The bar exams were suspended.
In 1952, the bar was resumed. Although he was not able to graduate, the UM considered Azarcon qualified to take the bar. “It took 11 years before I was able to take the exam,” he said. “And I am proud to have passed it. Among those who also made it were the late chief justice Marcelo Fernan, Senator Joker Arroyo, and former ombudsman Estelito Mendoza. Mendoza got an average of 87 or 89, while Arroyo got 76.” About 50 years later, Mendoza and Arroyo would face off as lead defense counsel and lead prosecutor at the impeachment trial of ousted president Joseph Estrada in 2001.
Azarcon studied in UP for two years only, but his memories of the University come aplenty. “Our tuition then was only P24 for one whole semester,” he noted. “That amount already included the miscellaneous fees and covered six subjects.”
“There was only one UP campus at that time, the one in Padre Faura,” he said. “It was a small campus but we had everything we needed. We had an infirmary that provided us excellent medical services. The library had a vast collection. And then there was the little theater and the Conservatory of Music that introduced us to the world of the performing arts.”
Even at that time, Azarcon revealed, the UP was already actively involved in the political events of the country. “Pedro Abad Santos, the great socialist of our time, would always come to UP and talk about the political happenings in the country,” Azarcon recalled. “The prominent student leaders were Arturo Tolentino and Ambrosio Padilla. Both were in the College of Law and editors of the Philippine Collegian.” Both Tolentino and Padilla would later become senators.
This was also the time when the political landscape of the country was divided between Manuel L. Quezon on one side and the tandem of Sergio Osmeña and Manuel Roxas (popularly known as OsRox) on the other. “[UP] President Rafael Palma was an OsRox supporter, while Jorge Bocobo, dean of the College of Law, was with Quezon,” said Azarcon. “So that when Palma left UP to run for congressman, Quezon—who eventually won the presidency—readily installed Bocobo as the new UP president.”
Politics aside, Azarcon said his stint in UP was one educational journey that changed his life. “My uncle once told me that when I came home to Roxas City after studying in UP, he was surprised at how well I spoke in English. He said he could not understand a word,” he narrated. “That says a lot about the kind of education we got from our province. We had no radio, no movies, no nothing at all to stimulate our intellectual interests.”
Azarcon credits his professors for such change. “My philosophy professor was an Indian. He was really good,” he said. “My professor in English, meanwhile, was Jean Edades, who came from the US. She was also the wife of Victorio Edades, who became a national artist .”
“Of course, we had our share of terror professors,” Azarcon continued. “For that, we had Prof. Africa. He was the type who never minces a word. One time I got sick and had to be confined in the infirmary for 14 days. When I reported to his class, I asked him if I could take a special test to make up for the quizzes I missed. He replied: ‘You got sick? That’s between you and God. As far as I am concerned, when I give a quiz and you are not there, I give you a grade of 5.’ But of course he allowed me to take a special exam and I passed his subject at the end of the term.”
As for his classmates, Azarcon can only speak with admiration. “I had some really good classmates. The most prominent of them was Enrique Fernando, who later became chief justice of the Supreme Court,” he said. “We also had stunning beauties. Among them were Nelly Burgos, Nina Estrada, and Mita Pardo-de Tavera.” Pardo-de Tavera became a doctor and was health secretary during the administration of former president Corazon Aquino.
Azarcon does not get to see his classmates anymore, even during reunions. “In this reunion-conference, for example, I am the only one from my batch,” he sighed. “But that does not keep me from attending reunions. I feel that this is one way I can support my alma mater.”
Azarcon also receives copies of The Carillon, the UP alumni newsletter. “Through The Carillon, I get updated on what is happening in UP. Last time, I read about a certain Dr. Lim of class 1936 who donated P30 million to UP,” he offered. “P30 million! Can you beat that? People like Dr. Lim inspire me to also do my own share in helping and supporting the UP.” (ROD P. FAJARDO III)
IT WAS ABOUT 5 a.m. on 19 February 2003 when Eric Galapon had everything settled at St. Luke’s Hospital. Gwendolyn Puyat and Meryl Antonio, victims of the car crash accident at the Kamia Residence Hall (KRH) at UP Diliman on 18 February, had been admitted to the hospital. Their parents had also arrived to make the crucial decisions, such as whether Meryl and Gwen would undergo brain surgery.
Galapon and the students who helped in the rescue decided to go back to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) to check on another victim, Precious Baldo. Galapon, a professor at the UP Na-tional Institute of Physics, had wanted to transfer Baldo to St. Luke’s also but the doctors deemed it wise to keep her at the VMMC.
“When we arrived at the VMMC, Precious’ parents were already there. They came all the way from Benguet,” Galapon said. “They came with us to have breakfast at the KRH. Then we went to Camp Karingal [in Sikatuna Village, Quezon City] to file charges.”
From Camp Karingal, Galapon went back to UP Diliman to report to Chan-cellor Emerlinda Roman. “Unfortunately, she was in a meeting at that time,” he recalled. “But she gave me the privilege to talk to her over the phone. I told her the conditions of Precious, Meryl, and Gwen and of the amount of money UP had committed to St. Luke’s and the VMMC.” The chancellor assured Gala-pon that everything would be taken care of. He could go home and rest.
When Galapon reported for work on Friday, 21 February, he found himself unable to concentrate on his work. “From the time I helped in the rescue of the victims (about 7:30 p.m., 18 February) to the time I reported to Chancellor Roman (2 p.m., 19 February), I did not have any full meal and sleep but I was able to function well. I suppose pure adrenaline rush kept me going,” he said. “But when I went back to work on Friday, the rush had already died down. I felt tired.”
On Saturday, 22 February, Galapon decided to put the Kamia incident behind him and go back to writing the paper he was working on with Nobel Prize winner Gerard ‘tHooft. “I thought of going to the gym first to put myself in the right mood. That’s how I pre-pare myself when writing an important paper,” he said. “But as soon as I stepped out of the house, wearing my gym suit, I don’t know why I suddenly thought of going to the VMMC to visit Precious instead.”
At the VMMC, Galapon found several students visiting Precious. He had to introduce himself again to Precious’ parents. “They could not recognize me,” he said. “Probably it was because I was in my gym attire, whereas when we first met I was wearing long sleeves.” He asked to see Precious but was told to wait as the nurses were cleaning her up.
Only a few minutes after, however, a nurse came out of Precious’ room to announce that Precious was in cardiac arrest. When Precious’ father also came out after a very short while, holding her picture, everyone began to cry. Precious was dead.
“Precious died in the 10 minutes that I was there,” Galapon said. “I felt really sad but privileged at the same time. I felt like she waited for me.”
Galapon stayed at the VMMC, thinking that the Baldos might need his help one way or another. And, indeed, he would hear Precious’ grandfather in a heated argument with the doctors. “The doctors wanted Precious’ body autopsied because there was a legal case involved in her death,” he said. “But the grandfather did not want Precious’ body touched because it is not allowed by Igorot custom.”
Dennis, one of the students, was able to contact Atty. Ida La’O, chief of the UP Diliman Legal Office. La’O told Dennis that there was no need for an autopsy. All that they had to secure was the death certificate. The VMMC doctors, how-ever, insisted on the need for an autopsy. “They said that they could not release any death certificate for Precious without subjecting her to an autopsy,” said Galapon. “And if the parents would not allow an autopsy, they would be forced to turn her body over to the National Bureau of Investigation, which would only make things even more compli-cated.”
Precious’ grandfather stood firm against an autopsy. Among the Igorots, explained Galapon, the oldest member of the family makes the decisions. The tension thus began to well up.
Galapon asked La’O to talk to the chief doctor of the VMMC over the phone. La’O explained to the doctor that while an autopsy is needed in deaths that involve legal cases, there is a law that prohibits an autopsy if it goes against the family’s will or custom. She also threatened the doctor that if he insisted on performing an autopsy on Precious, the UP will take the matter to court.
The doctors finally agreed to release Precious without an autopsy. They also issued a death certificate. Galapon and the students then worked on looking for a funeral parlor, following up papers pertinent to Precious’ death, canvassing for necrological services, and coordinating with UP officials. Prof. Boots de Mesa, director of the UP Diliman Office of Student Affairs, and Imelda Jimenez, dorm manager of KRH, arrived later with the money needed for Precious’ release.
At 12:30 a.m., Precious was finally released from the VMMC. “We brought her straight to Funeraria Cruz,” recalled Galapon. “And that was where my role ended.”
As of the interview with UP Newsletter, which took place on 26 February, Galapon was still trying to recover the momentum he had lost for writing his paper. He was right about his fear of involving himself in the Kamia incident: it took so much of his time and energy. The deadline for the paper was 28 February and he was still in wait for ideas. But he had no regrets.
In hindsight, though, Galapon thinks that “what the Kamia incident showed is that UP is not prepared for a crisis of such magnitude. As an old saying goes, a crisis does not make a man, it only shows what a man can or cannot do.”
“In the case of UP,” Galapon continued, “a lot of students were there at the time and scene of the incident. But only a handful actually knew how to rescue the victims. I learned that the victims were just lying on the cement for 20 to 30 minutes and nobody knew what to do with them. Those 30 minutes could have done a lot for them, especially for Precious.”*
“It makes you think,” he said. “UP teaches a lot of courses, but we are at a loss when tragedy strikes.”
Galapon also noticed that among the University officials, only de Mesa and Jimenez seemed to be the ones at the helm during the entire crisis. “At least, they were the only ones visible at the time when the students were being rushed to this and that hospital,” he said. “How could the two of them possibly attend to all of the victims?”
Galapon also lamented the absence of an emergency response team in the campus. “The police were there, but they too seemed to be at a loss,” he said. “I did not even see them coordinating things that would have hastened the rescue of the victims.” (ROD P. FAJARDO III)
__________
* One of the few who helped in the rescue was Bismark Cantero Rimando, a graduate student of the College of Social Work and Community Development. He also extricated the three occupants of the BMW.
THE FILIPINO BAYANIHAN tradition is often manifested in helping neighbors move their houses from one location to another. So when the Open Source Group (OSG) from the Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) decided to name its software after this tradition, a movement from Windows, the usual desktop solution, to an open source alternative, Linux, is implied.
On 20 February 2003, the OSG, headed by Engr. Peter Banzon, turned over copies of the Bayanihan Linux software to the UP through President Francisco Nemenzo. Secretary Estrella F. Alabastro of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) also attended the event. The ASTI is under the DOST.
 |
From
left: VP for Finance Sergio Cao, director Delfin Jay Sabido
IX of ASTI, Secretary Estrella Alabastro of the DOST, Prof.
Edward Deveza of the Office of the Vice President for Development,
President Francisco Nemenzo, OSG project leader Peter Banzon,
VP for Development Rafael Rodriguez, and OSG marketing officer
Manuel Valdez. |
Linux provides the basic framework for the software. It is an operating system that can be used for networking, software development, and end-user applications. The Bayanihan Linux is the result of the OSG’s reconfiguration of a Linux operating system and is designed to fit the needs of Filipinos. It is easy to install and has the equivalents of Windows applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It also supports audio, video, and multimedia applications. Its most important quality, however, is its open-source nature.
Open source means that programmers and users have access to the source code and can modify the software to suit their needs. Because there is very little commercial software for Linux systems, authors are free to change, improve, and write software without compromising quality. Software testing and refinement processes are given more attention, thereby ensuring high quality software that is less prone to crashing.
The Bayanihan Linux is also a free software that can be downloaded on the Internet. Instead of spending a lot of money on software that needs to be upgraded every so often, users are free to upgrade their computer systems to serve their needs. The only expense is the cost of the Internet connection or the CD, if bought in this format.
According to the OSG, the Bayanihan Linux embodies the spirit of the open source movement. Bayanihan connotes people lending a hand to help those in need and, in the same way, the Bayanihan Linux provides the venue for different people to improve software that will help other users. The program provides stability, reliability and, most important of all, freedom from the monopolistic computer software market. (ARLYN VCD PALISOC ROMUALDO)
Environmental Science WeekThe Environmental Science Program (ESP) of the College of Science, UP Diliman and the UP Environmental Science Society (UPESS) will be holding the Environmental Science Week on March 24-28, 2003 with the theme “ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE — THE UNIFYING SCIENCE … MAKING A DIFFERENCE.”
The schedule of activities are as follows:
Monday, March 24, 2003
7:30 a.m. – Holy Mass at Villadolid Hall
10: 00 a.m. – Opening Ceremonies and Ribbon-cutting to open the exhibit
1:30 p.m. – Scientific Lectures and DiscussionsTuesday, March 25, 2003
7:30 a.m. – Tree Planting
1:30 p.m. – Panel Discussion
“Current and Innovative Topics Related to EIA Implementation”Wednesday, March 26, 2003
9:00 a.m. – Video Showing
1:30 p.m. – Scientific Lectures and Discussions
“New Approaches to Environmental Problem Solving”Thursday, March 27, 2003
9:00 a.m. – Video Showing
1:30 p.m. – “Adviser/Advisee Day”Friday, March 28, 2003
9:00 a.m. – Sportsfest
4:00 a.m. – Awarding and Closing CeremoniesEveryone is invited. For more details, please get in touch with Aloha of the ESP Admin., Villadolid Hall, Lakandula St., UP Diliman, Quezon City. You may also call Telefax No. (632) 920-5366 local 7917 or Mobile No. 0918-4457070.
Precious, a painter at heartTHE UNIVERSITY SUFFERED a shocking loss with the death of junior philosophy student Precious Baldo on 22 February. She was 20 years old.
Baldo was one of five students injured when a BMW plowed through the Kamia Residence Hall (KRH) parking lot at 6:30 p.m. last Tuesday, 18 February (see related story on page 1).
Concepcion Dasalla, Baldo’s aunt, said doctors at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center had declared Baldo near death Tuesday evening. She was kept on medication through Saturday but her heart stopped later that day.
Baldo was a native of La Trinidad, Benguet. Her mother is a vegetable vendor while her father works as a meter reader for Benguet Electric Company. She performed well as a student and was a university scholar.
“Ever since she shifted to philosophy from chemistry, naging seryoso na siya sa studies niya,” said Consolacion Cinense, with whom Baldo would play basketball in interdorm games. “Tinanggal nga niya lahat ng extra-co niya before,” added Cinense, who is vice chair for external affairs of KRH.
UP Anido president Richard Gadit also mentioned that Baldo “was really into philosophical discussions. Kaya, no wonder she excelled.” Anido is an inactive regional organization whose academic committee Baldo headed.
Maricel Arce, Baldo’s close friend and roommate at Kalayaan Residence Hall said, however, that Baldo would have wanted to pursue fine arts studies. “First love niya ang pagpi-paint. Kaso, wala nga lang pera. Mahal mag-FA,” explained Arce.
Baldo was into abstract painting. She received formal training on painting and drawing at the Benguet State University (BSU) Laboratory School where she finished high school. Jessa May, Baldo’s 13-year old sister, has fond memories of painting lessons from her sister: “Nagtuturo nga siya ng libre sa mga summer workshops sa BSU. Isa ako sa mga estudyante niya.”
Baldo was the second of four children. She is survived by her parents Bernardo and Nancy, and sisters Beverly, Bernice, and Jessa May.
Baldo’s remains were brought to Benguet last 24 February after a two-day wake at the UP Chapel. Interment was on Saturday, 1 March. (CHARMINE R. GULTIANO)
Kamia tragedy
“The Doctors gave up on Precious. She was as good as dead.”(First of Three Parts)
THRICE HE THOUGHT of just walking away. Thrice he felt a tug at his heart asking him to stay with the victims.
At about 6:15 p.m. on 18 February 2003, Dr. Eric Galapon, professor of quantum theory at the UP National Institute of Physics (NIP), was in the middle of his class when he heard a loud explosion. More explosions followed suit, accompanied by screams.
“The noise seemed to be coming from across the NIP building,” Galapon told UP Newsletter. “When I looked out the window, I saw people running to and from the Kamia Residence Hall. I could also hear them shouting ‘Si Precious! Si Precious!’ So I already sensed that there was an accident but the plants in the NIP parking lot prevented me from having a clear view of what was really happening.”
Still, Galapon did not think the accident was serious. Based on the explosions he had heard, he thought that it was just another fender-bender. He decided to resume his class.
One of his students suggested that the commotion might be related to fraternity rumbles. This time, Galapon was bothered. “So when I was about to go back to my class, I felt something heavy in my heart,” he said. “I could not seem to let go of what I had just heard without having verified what really was happening.”
Galapon thus went down and stood in front of the NIP building to see for himself exactly what was the cause of the commotion. Across the street, he saw a badly damaged bumper that seemed to have fallen off a vehicle by violent force. He also saw the debris of a wheel. People were massing up around both.
Having already verified that it was, indeed, a vehicular accident, Galapon decided to go back to his classroom again. “I was still thinking that it was just a minor collision,” he said. “I mean, I did not think something really bad could happen inside the campus.”
Again, Galapon felt the heavy tug at his heart. It was probably the scientist in him. He could not bear letting go of things without seeing with his own eyes what these were. He thus decided to go near the scene of the accident. “My students even teased me for having walked out of the class,” he recalled.
When Galapon got to the Kamia parking lot, the blinding lights from two video cameras prevented him from readily making sense of the incident. But he heard people shouting, “Don’t move them! Don’t move them!” By then, the presence of video cameras and the screams gave him a hint of the gravity of the accident and of how much time had elapsed. Everything seemed to happen very fast, said Galapon, who thought, “From the time I heard the explosion to the time I went down, I thought that it took only two minutes.”
Galapon’s eyes finally got used to the blinding lights. The first thing he saw was a big car that was turned over like an upturned turtle. Walking closer to the car, he was surprised to see four young girls lying next to it. They all had cuts and bruises and were bloodied. Asking around, he was told that the girls were hit by the car.
Galapon learned that the girl right next to the car was Precious Baldo, a third year student of the College of Social Science and Philosophy (CSSP). Next to Baldo were Meryl Antonio, fourth year in B.S. Chemistry, and Gwendolyn Puyat, first year in B.S. Material Engineering. The fourth was Giancarla Ambrocio, also a first year student of the CSSP.
“It turned out that the location of the girls relative to the car had to do also with the degree of the injuries they sustained,” said Galapon. “Precious and Meryl looked unconscious and the blood gushing from their napes were in much bigger volumes. Blood was all over their faces. But I saw the pupils of Precious’ eyes moving. Gwen was trying to stand up but the people there were holding her back. Gian, meanwhile, was able to sit up later. She seemed the least hit.”
When Galapon realized he did not know any of the victims, he felt that urge again to just walk away. “Looking at the seriousness of the victims’ conditions, I knew that once I involved myself in rescuing them, it would take so much of my time. I knew that it was not just a matter of picking those students up,” he said. “I was thinking of my nearing deadline for a European paper I could not afford to lose. That paper would give me the chance to work with Nobel Prize winner Gerard ‘tHooft and other noted physicists in the world. I was also doing critiques on five papers for a US magazine.”
But Galapon felt again that heavy tug at his heart. “It was as if it was telling me: ‘Hey, you cannot just leave them’,” he said. So he went back to the victims and asked around again for pertinent information. He was dismayed to learn that no ambulance was coming to fetch the girls. The ambulance of the UP Health Service was supposedly unavailable at the time. He saw some policemen but they were no more than onlookers by the sidelines. “They did not even cordon off the area where the accident took place,” he noted. “They allowed people to get near the victims. There was total confusion.”
Galapon, however, was even more alarmed when he realized that nobody was taking charge of facilitating the rescue of the victims. “That was then I decided to take the lead,” he said. “I brought a student with me to look for boards that we could improvise as stretchers. It was a lucky coincidence that it was Kamia Week so the dormitory had display boards that were sturdy enough for stretchers.”
The crowd was able to make at least three improvised stretchers; Gian no longer needed a stretcher as she could already stand up. Students who had undergone training from Red Cross came out and supervised the transfer of the victims to the makeshift stretchers.
The next problem was vehicles that would transport the victims to the hospital. “There was a police car nearby and, without asking permission from the police, we flung its doors open and got Gian in first, then Meryl. At least, four people escorted them to the hospital,” said Galapon. “When it came to Gwen, I saw an Ikot jeep approaching Kamia. So I instructed the students to stop it. The driver and his passengers were kind enough to understand our situation.”
Transferring Precious to a stretcher proved to be very difficult because of her condition. Different people were assigned to handle different parts of her body. Those with training from the Red Cross supervised the transfer. A pick-up parked across the Kamia driveway was used to transport Precious to the East Avenue Medical Center. Galapon joined three students and a security guard of NIP in escorting Precious. At University Avenue, however, the vehicle got stuck in traffic. The NIP security guard went down and re-directed the traffic so they could advance but to no avail.
One of the students suggested that instead of going to the East Avenue Medical Center, they should just proceed to the New Era Hospital, which was just a few meters away. They spotted a police officer on a motorbike who kindly led them away from the traffic until they got to the hospital.
Galapon commends the nurses and doctors at the New Era for readily taking care of Precious. “They stuck a lot of wires onto her body and put out machines to monitor her condition,” he said. “They pumped a lot of blood out of Precious. They had to do that because the blood might clot and suffocate her. They did that continuously for a long time.”
Imelda Jimenez, dorm manager of Kamia Residence Hall, arrived and instructed Galapon to transfer Precious to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC). “Then she left immediately because I think she also had to go to East Avenue to attend to the other victims,” said Galapon. “So I was left to arrange Precious’ transfer to VMMC.” Galapon had to surrender his ID and write a promissory note assuring the New Era Hospital of payment.
At the VMMC, Galapon said they were at the lobby for about 30 minutes with no nurses and doctors attending to them. “It was a good thing that the nurse and the doctor from the New Era Hospital who accompanied us did not leave us,” he said. “The nurses and doctors at the VMMC were just passing by us as if they were not seeing Precious in her condition.”
Galapon finally ap-proached one of the doctors, only to be told: “Do you have money?” Galapon rep-lied, “Let us not talk about money here. The University of the Philippines is behind this kid. Should something happen to her, you will answer to UP.” After saying this, Galapon said the nurses and doctors suddenly began to mass up around Precious and attend to her needs.
Still, Galapon felt that the doctors and nurses were not doing their best for Precious. “If in Kamia I could still see the pupils of Precious’ eyes moving, at the VMCC she seemed completely uncon-scious,” he said. “The doctors assured me though that they were doing everything they could for Precious.”
While Galapon and the students were busy attending to Precious, he noticed another patient in the same room. “When I first saw that patient, I thought she was already dead,” he recalled. “She looked stiff. Her mouth was wide open. Her hands were twisted like hooks. And her feet were bent in a strange way.” But he did not pay much attention to her, until one of the students cried: “Sir, I know that girl! She’s one of our students! She’s Gwen!”
“When I heard that, I could not believe it at first because I could not think of anybody doing that to Gwen,” said Galapon. “I mean, what happened to her? Why was she alone?” He learned that Jimenez had transferred Gwen also to the VMMC. Apparently, Gwen was given the same treatment initially given to Precious by the VMMC staff.
“So I had to tell the doctors that Gwen was also our student and that UP was also behind her,” Galapon said. “Suddenly, the doctors and nurses also began paying atten-tion to Gwen.”
After a long wait, a doctor asked Galapon if he was family to Pre-cious and Gwen. “Of course, I said no, but since their families were not there, I said I was standing as guardian of the two girls,” he said. “Then the doctor pulled me aside and told me that Precious had no more than a 10 percent rate of survival.”
Gwen, meanwhile, continued the doctor, had all the signs of surviving the ordeal. But time was critical. She had to be transferred to a hospital that had all the facilities she needed, such as a CT Scan and brain surgery equipment. The doctor suggested St. Luke’s Hospital.
“I could not understand the logic of transferring Gwen to another hospital, while Precious had to be left behind when she also needed the same, and maybe even more high-tech equipment that would be needed for Gwen,” Galapon said. “The doctors explained that they could not allow Precious’ transfer because she might die along the way and they did not want to be blamed for that.”
“To me, however, the doctors simply gave up on Precious. When they declared that she only had a 10 percent rate of survival, she was as good as dead,” Galapon stressed. “So why not just transfer her also to St. Luke’s? She might or might not die along the way, but at least we would be giving her a fighting chance to survive. To just leave her at the VMMC with the doctors not doing anything was nothing more than simply slowing her death.”
Galapon talked to Jimenez about Precious’ condition. Jimenez talked to the doctors about the possibility of transferring Precious also to St. Luke’s. The doctors, however, stood firm on their decision to keep Precious at the VMMC. (ROD P. FAJARDO III) (To be continued)
BMW crash victim dies; driver charged
PRECIOUS BALDO, ONE of five students hit by the blue BMW sedan that plowed through the parking lot of Kamia Resi-dence Hall (KRH) on 18 February 2003, passed away last 22 February.
Baldo, who was in her third year at the College of Social Science and Philosophy (CSSP), sustained a fractured skull. She was in critical condition for four days at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center.
 |
 |
| Ambrosio | Antonio |
 |
 |
| Baldo | Puyat |
Assistant Prosecutor Lilibeth Sampaga of the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office (QCPO), meanwhile, issued information on 20 February stating that there is enough ground to merit the filing of criminal negligence charges against Richard S. Ong, driver of the BMW.
The information also stated that Ong “feloniously and willfully” drove the BMW with plate number BPS-111 and that Ong and his three companions were allegedly drunk at the time of the incident.
Ong, a seventh year student of geodetic engineering at UP Diliman and whose mother claims to be working at the UP College of Business Administration, has been charged for reckless imprudence resulting in damage to property with multiple physical injuries.
 |
| The BMW's twisted wreckage |
With Baldo’s death, however, the charge has been amended to reckless imprudence resulting in homicide, multiple physical injuries, and damage to property. UP Diliman legal counsel Percival Cortez told UP Newsletter (UPN) that this carries a maximum penalty of six years’ imprisonment. This is aside from the payment by the offender of all the expenses incurred related to the incident.
Ong also faces expulsion from UP as his case has already been brought to the UP Diliman Student Disciplinary Tribunal. “This could be a big blow to Ong,” Cortez said. “After seven years in the College of Engineering, he will not be able to finish his course there after all.”
Records of the UP Diliman Police Department (UPDP) show that the BMW driven by Ong was running at high speed along Quirino Avenue when it hit the tricycle of one Arnel S. dela Cruz. The car then suddenly swung right, crashed into a ramp, and bumped a motorcycle owned by Shakey’s Pizza before plowing through the five students who were on the driveway of KRH. The students were all waiting for a concert—“Death to Pop”—which was to be held at the parking lot of the residence hall.
Cortez pointed out that Ong might have also violated the Motor Vehicle Law on three counts—one, for driving under the influence of liquor; two, for driving an unregistered vehicle; and three, for driving without a license. (According to UPDP reports, Ong claimed to have misplaced his license during the commotion that followed the crash.) “But I must stress that these are just allegations,” he said. “These still have to be proven in court.”
A check with the Land Transportation Office showed that the BMW was registered in the name of Atty. Ma. Grace Lechelle Soriano Bonifacio of San Carlos City, Pangasinan but that the registration had expired on 7 January 2003. Ong’s temporary driver’s license, on the other hand, expired 17 February, the day before the incident.
Four of the victims are students of UP Diliman—Baldo; Gwendolyn Puyat, first year, B.S. Material Engineering; Meryl Antonio, fourth year, B.S. Chemistry; and Giancarla Marie Ambrocio, fourth year of CSSP. The fifth student, Gerry Hipol, is from the Technological University of the Philippines.
Imelda Jimenez, manager of the KRH, told UPN that Ambrocio, who sustained cuts and broken bones, has already checked out of the UERM Hospital and is now back at the dormitory. Puyat and Antonio had to be transferred from East Avenue Hospital to St. Luke’s Hospital owing to their need for brain surgery. Puyat is still confined at the intensive care unit but is showing signs of recovery.
Jimenez also said that the Alliance of Concerned Dormitories and the UP Anido, an organization of UP students from the Cordilleras of which Baldo was a member, have launched a fund-raising campaign to help the victims’ families meet medical and hospital expenses. The Kamia House Council and the Diliman University Student Council, meanwhile, have organized prayer for justice and healing sessions.
On the part of the Administration, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Ma. Theresa Jazmines said her office is setting aside an amount for financial assistance to the victims. “We have also asked our Office of Guidance and Counseling to help the victims and their families cope with the ordeal they are going through,” she added.
The UP Diliman Legal Office has taken it upon itself to file the complaint against Ong on behalf of the victims as a form of assistance. “For now, we can only assist the victims because once things settle down, they might want to get a lawyer of their own choice to represent them in court,” Cortez explained. “We really do not know until when the victims and their families would want our assistance.”
Ong’s lawyers, Cortez volunteered, have also indicated that they are willing to offer financial assistance to the victims. Cortez stressed, however, that the offer should not be interpreted as an admission of guilt on the part of Ong. “It could purely be for humanitarian purposes, which the court allows,” he said. “In a case like criminal negligence, the offending party, if found guilty, will be required to pay for the damages anyway.” The Ongs had agreed to shell out an initial amount of P200,000 to cover medical expenses without constituting any form of settlement of the case. ( ROD P. FAJARDO III)
UPOU TV program on RPN 9 premieres January 25
Wats UP sa Barangay, a series of eight episodes produced by the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) through the UPOU Foundation airs on 25 January 2003, Saturday, from 8:30 to 9:30 am over RPN Channel 9. The program is the TV broadcast supplement of courses in the Certificate in Barangay Administration (CBAd) being offered in the distance mode by the UPOU.
CBAd, a nonformal program, aims to provide barangay officials nonformal education in managing barangay affairs and strengthen their capacity for barangay governance.
The CBAd program is composed of the following short courses: Barangay Administration and Governance, Barangay Justice, Barangay Leadership, Barangay Financial Management, Barangay Development Planning, Barangay Legislation, and Community Mobilization. The first episode of Wat's UP sa Barangay, to be hosted by Chancellor Librero and Vice Chancellor Melinda F. Lumanta, is on Barangay Administration and Governance (BAG).
The featured guests are Dr. Romeo Obedoza, a professor at the College of Public Affairs, UP Los Baños and writer of the BAG course, and barangay officials from various towns in Laguna. Dr. Grace J. Alfonso, Director of Audio-Video Teaching and Learning Laboratory, directs the program. It is expected that more than 350,000 barangay council members throughout the country will benefit from CBAd courses.
For more information, contact the Continuing Education Program, UP Open University, Los Baños, Laguna, with tel. nos. (049) 536-6001 to 06 and e-mail address info@upou.org.
UP Baguio elevated to university status
THREE YEARS after having been granted the status of autonomous college, the UP College of Baguio (UPCB) is now the seventh constituent university of the UP System. The Board of Regents (BOR) approved on 2 December 2002 the proposal to elevate UPCB to university status. The UPCB will be renamed UP Baguio and will position itself as the regional university of UP in Northern Luzon.
“The elevation of UPCB to university status means that it can now function as a full constituent unit in all aspects—academic, administrative, and research,” Dean Priscila Macansantos of UPCB told UP Newsletter. “In essence, it means autonomy for UPCB.” Macansantos will act as chancellor of UP Baguio while the search process takes place and until the BOR formally appoints one.
Prof. Victoria Costino, director of the UP Baguio Office of Public Affairs, said the proposal to elevate UPCB to university status was originally scheduled for discussion at the BOR meeting on September 25 but was stricken out of the agenda because of two issues that had yet to be resolved at the time. The first involved the change in the status of the Management Sciences Division from an independent to an attached unit of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, while the second involved the University Assembly (UA), whose role and functions were not clearly delineated vis-a-vis the University Council (UC). The constituents of the UPCB, noted Costino, had proposed the establishment of the UA because the UC only involves faculty members with a rank of assistant professor and up, while the UA will involve all the three sectors—faculty members, administrative staff, and students—that comprise UPCB.
During the dialogue with UPCB faculty, however, Vice President for Academic Affairs Ma. Serena I. Diokno pointed out that a conflict of interest could ensue between the UC and UA since certain academic policies, such as appointment and tenure, might also be viewed by some as faculty welfare issues. Difficulties might arise regarding which body could resolve a conflict in case of an impasse.
On October 18, the College Assembly (CA) decided to do away with the UA and establish instead an informal structure that would still ensure trisectoral consultation. The only difference, said Macansantos, is that the trisectoral consultation will not formally be part of the organizational structure of UP Baguio but, just like the CA, would be a venue whereby constituents can ventilate their concerns. As for the Management Sciences Division, there was agreement among its faculty members for it to be an attached unit of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy.
Considerable growth
The considerable growth of UPCB since its establishment in 1961 as a degree-granting unit of UP was cited in the proposal to elevate it to university status: “UPCB has fast-tracked the reengineering of its academic programs and has adopted most of the structures necessary for full constituent university status.” Moreover, “a review of its faculty resources shows a reasonably strong core of faculty able to support its academic programs, research, and extension thrusts.”The UPCB currently offers 12 degree programs in the fields of the humanities, social sciences, natural and physical sciences, mathematics, and management and physical education. The UPCB has also carved a niche in the field of research through the Cordillera Studies Center and has become an authority on issues concerning the Cordilleras, such as its environment and resources, governance and public policy, and local history and institutions. In 1998, the Commission on Higher Education designated the UPCB as a center of development in such disciplines as biology, mathematics, and physics.
When the BOR approved the elevation of the UPCB from a regional unit of UP Diliman to an autonomous unit under the Office of the UP President on April 15, 1999, the intention was to give the college more freedom as preparation for university status in the future. In early 2000, President Nemenzo formed a committee to assess the overall capacity of the UPCB as a full constituent university. The committee report, submitted in late 2000, included in its recommendations the UPCB’s possible niche as a constituent unit of the UP System. Accordingly, it recommended changes in certain areas in UPCB academic programs, organizational structures, and faculty resources.
Based on the recommendations of the committee, the UPCB implemented major changes in its academic programs between 2000 and 2002. Several courses were abolished—B.A. in Comparative Literature, B.A. in Philippine Literature, B.A. in Mass Communication, B.A. in Speech Communication, B.A. in Theater Arts, Certificate in Fine Arts, Diploma in Urban and Regional Planning, the double major program in B.S. Physics-Mathematics, and the M.A. in Mathe-matics Education—and in their place were instituted the B.A. in Language and Literature, B.A. in Communication, Certificate in Visual Arts, B.S. in Physics, and M.S. in Mathematics.
Meanwhile, the M.A. in Management, majors in business administration, public administration, educational management, health services management, and industrial relations were revised into the M. A. of Management Program, which has a generalist approach. The double major program of B.A. in Social Sciences, was also revised into the B.A. in Social Sciences major in social anthropology or economics, minor in psychology, history, political science, or philosophy. Under review for revision also are the M.A. in Language and Literature, M.A. in Social and Development Studies, B.S. in Biology, and B.S. in Computer Science.
Development plan
The UPCB also prepared a five-year development plan in consonance with the five-year plan of the UP System. Included in the UPCB plan were the review of all academic programs, faculty development, participation in the review and revitalization of the General Education Program, and the modernization of facilities. Accordingly, some faculty members were awarded fellowships to pursue advanced degrees, including the six who were sent to UP Diliman for their doctoral studies.The UPCB also improved and computerized its laboratories and libraries with help from the Academic Program Improvement Fund. A purchase of 20 computer units was made and an additional computer laboratory was set up.
Developments in infrastructure in the UPCB were just as fast-paced as the implementation of changes in its academic programs. The academic and administrative wings of the Main Building were rebuilt. The perimeter fence for the entire six-hectare campus was completed. The construction of a three-storey building housing the administrative offices, Management Sciences Division, and a number of classrooms started in November this year.
As a constituent university, the UP Baguio will have a chancellor who will be assisted by a vice chancellor for academic affairs and a vice chancellor for administration. The Office of Public Affairs, the Office of Student Affairs, and the University Legal Counsel will work directly under the Office of the Chancellor.
The vice chancellor for academic affairs will supervise the Office of the University Registrar, University Library, Cordillera Studies Center, Learning Resource Center, Sentro ng Wikang Filipino, Gender Studies Program, and Ugnayan ng Pahinungod and Extension Services. The vice chancellor for administration, meanwhile, will have charge of the offices of Human Resource Development, Budget, Accounting, Cash, Supply and Property Management, Security, Computer/Local Area Network, Campus Planning, and Development and Maintenance.
The UP Baguio will initially operate five academic units, namely, the College of Arts and Communication, College of Science, College of Social Sciences, Institute of Management, and Program in Human Kinetics. The colleges will be headed by their respective deans, the Institute of Management by a director, and the Program in Human Kinetics by a coordinator. (Rod P. Fajardo)
UP regents stand firm on chancellorsTHE BOARD of Regents (BOR), the highest policy-making body of the University of the Philippines (UP), confirmed the appointments of Dr. Emerlinda R. Roman, Dr. Marita T. Reyes, Dr. Wilfredo P. David, and Dr. Ida M. Siason as chancellors of UP Diliman, UP Manila, UP Los Baños, and UP Visayas, respectively, on 25 September 2002 despite a call for revocation for one of the nominees. The chancellors took their oaths on 31 October and commenced their three-year terms on 1 November.
Dr. Luis Rey I. Velasco, nominee for chancellor of UP Los Baños, had filed a motion for a temporary restraining order on the appointment of the chancellors at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court. Velasco questioned the election procedure adopted by the BOR. The court, however, denied the motion.
Atty. Marvic Leonen, UP general counsel, pointed out that the BOR decision is an academic issue and not a legal one. “UP recognizes the fact that not everyone will agree with the BOR appointments,” he explained. “But the University believes that filing a case in court is not the proper way to address such grievance because it is not a legal issue. There is no legally vested right to the appointment of a chancellor.”
At the 25 September meeting during which the BOR confirmed the appointments, Leonen said, “the Regents maintained that they do not see any cloud of doubt as to the choice of the four chancellors and reaffirmed the validity of the manner in which they voted. The BOR is a collegial body and, as such, makes decisions as a group.”
The BOR also approved the appointments of the following vice chancellors last October 31--Dr. Amelia P. Guevara, academic affairs (Diliman); Prof. Ulpiano P. Ignacio Jr., administration (Diliman); Prof. Ma. Theresa M. Jazmines, student affairs (Diliman); Prof. Roland G. Simbulan, planning and development (Manila); Dr. Mayvelyn De Dios-Gose, administration (Manila); Dr. Diana Edna G. Corda, academic affairs (Visayas); and Prof. Rowena Paz L. Gelvezon, administration (Visayas).
The BOR also confirmed the appointments of Dr. Antonio J. Alcantara as dean of the UP Los Baños School of Environmental Science and Management, and Dr. Nemah N. Hermosa as acting dean of the UP Open University Faculty of Education.
On 2 December, the BOR approved the appointments of Dr. Carolyn I. Sobritchea as director of the University Center for Women’s Studies, Prof. Eufracio C. Abaya as director of the UP Diliman Office of Initiatives in Culture and the Arts, Dr. Jaime Z. Galvez-Tan as vice chancellor for research of UP Manila and as executive director of the UP Manila National Institutes of Health, Dr. Glenn D. Aguilar as vice chancellor for planning and development of UP Visayas, and Dr. Ebonia B. Seraspe as vice chancellor for research and extension of UP Visayas. (Arshad Ahmad Iqbal)
UNITED NATIONS rapporteur for the human rights of indigenous peoples (IPs), Dr. Rodolfo Stavenhagen, shared his report to the UN titled “Human Rights and Indigenous Issues” with members of various indigenous groups and the academe last 4 December 2002 at the Palma Hall, UP Diliman.
Appointed by the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), Stavenhagen as UN rapporteur has the task of gathering information on violations of indigenous peoples’ human rights and fundamental freedoms from all relevant sources such as governments, organizations, and IPs themselves.
Stavenhagen presented the report during the fifty-eighth session of the UN-CHR held last February 2002. The report dealt with major concerns confronting IPs such as territorial rights, preservation of culture, education, poverty, government, and legal systems.
According to Stavenhagen’s report, IPs “have maintained a special relationship with the land,” this being the source of their livelihood and the “basis of their very existence.” When a national government therefore fails to demarcate territories for IPs and when major development projects like the construction of dams are undertaken without their consent, their territorial rights are violated.
He stressed that their right “to preserve, practice and develop their own culture” is linked to the issue of self-identification. But the preservation of their culture entails not simply “the artificial preservation of indigenous (or tribal) cultures in some sort of museum, but also the right of every human community to live by the standards and vision of its own culture.”
In consultation with IP organizations, governments, and experts of the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples (WGIP), and other specialists, Stavenhagen intends to identify topics that deserve special attention, which may include: the impact of development projects on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous communities; evaluation of the implementation of recent legislation at the national level related to the rights of indigenous peoples; human rights issues for indigenous peoples in the realm of the administration of justice, including, where relevant, the relationship between positive and customary (non-written) legal systems; cultural rights of indigenous people as reflected in bilingual and intercultural education, as well as the preservation and development of their own cultural heritage; economic and social rights – regarding indigenous children, especially girls, in different settings, such as migration, trafficking of women and girls, violent conflicts, the informal economy, etc.; participation of indigenous peoples in decision-making processes, automatic arrangements, governance and policy making, with special regard to the full implementation of civil and political rights; old and new forms of discrimination against indigenous people, within a gender perspective. (ARLYN VCD PALISOC ROMUALDO)
THE PHILIPPINE electronics industry accounts for 67 percent of the country’s exports today. The future of this industry, however, looks bleak unless the pertinent research and development programs are strengthened and sustained.
This is the main contention of Dr. Rowena L. Guevara, chair of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) Department, UP Diliman. The EEE hosted this year’s Third National Electronics and Communications Engineering (ECE) Conference, which was held 27-29 November.
The country, Dr. Guevara revealed, has “a huge electronics industry that covers the entire spectrum of the hardware aspect of information technology.” This includes the fields of fiber optics, cellular telephony, broadband communications, laser technology, fuzzy systems, and plasma science.
However, Filipino engineers in these fields are involved mostly in manufacturing and assembly and not toward “high-value added” training, such as product design and development. This puts Filipino engineers at a disadvantage and she warned that if this trend prevails, the industry will become vulnerable to the “technology advances and aggressive marketing and business strategies of China, Vietnam, and Thailand.”
The ECE conference was aimed at preventing this scenario. It brought together engineering professionals and students from the academe, industry, and research and development institutions for them to present technical research papers that answer the need for advancement in the field of ECE. It featured, in parallel sessions, a total of 87 papers from Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, Mapua Institute of Technology, UP, University of San Carlos, University of Sto. Tomas, and the Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). The topics of research varied from software applications, microelectronics, power electronics, and communications, to digital signal processing and robotics.
Representatives of various companies also attended the event to shed light on the pressing needs of the industry. Cesar Quiason, strategic business development manager of Intel, the world’s largest semiconductor company and one of the sponsors of the event, stressed in his keynote speech the importance of research and consultation projects undertaken with the academe. “There is a need for companies to link potential partners for research and development,” he said.
The other sponsors of the conference were the Institute of Electronics and Communications Engineers of the Philippines (IECEP), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Manuel Lopez Development Center, Nokia, and Zilog. (CHARMINE R. GULTIANO)
THE COLLEGE of Arts and Letters (CAL) held its coveted Gawad Leopoldo Yabes, a dean’s award, in recognition of excellence in performance by faculty members and administrative personnel last 25 November during its weeklong Pagdiwata 2002 celebration.
The Gawad Leopoldo Yabes has served as an inspiration to sustain outstanding work performance for two years now, said CAL dean Rosario Torres-Yu. “Ang vision talaga ng kolehiyo namin ay pagpapahusay o academic excellence in the service of the people. In fact, yung mga faculty namin dahil mahuhusay sa field nila ay lumalabas sa unibersidad at tumutulong sa iba’t ibang groups.”
Torres-Yu said this is the same reason they named the award after the late Dr. Leopoldo Yabes. The late former dean of CAL embodied the spirit of excellence in all aspects of his life. He was an outstanding teacher, a distinguished administrator, a prominent scholar-critic, and a prolific writer.
Dr. Nicanor B. Tiongson, chair of the Search Committee of the award, said that there was a good turnout for this year’s search. A total of 28 nominees were received for the faculty category and six for the administrative level. There were two sets of criteria used in judging the nominees. For the outstanding administrative personnel the bases were length of service and quality of work according to supervisor’s evaluation. For the outstanding faculty members, the bases were the results of the student evaluations in the last two semesters, research and publications, professional growth, awards and distinctions, and extension work.
This year’s awardees all come from the Department of English and Comparative Literature (DECL) and Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature (DFPL). They are Rogelio L. Alderite (DECL), Julieta C. Cordero (DECL) and Rosanna M. Dacanay (DECL) for the Outstanding Administrative Employees; Mila D. Aguilar (DECL), Elyrah L. Salanga (DFPL), and Nelson P. Turgo (DFPL) for the Outstanding Instructors; Prof. Eugene Y. Evasco (DFPL), Prof. Jovy M. Peregrino (DFPL), and Prof. Pedro Cruz Reyes Jr. (DFPL) for the Outstanding Assistant Professors; Dr. Aurelio S. Agcaoili (DFPL), Prof. Thelma E. Arambulo (DECL), and Dr. Lydia R. Arcellana (DECL) for the Outstanding Associate Professors; and Dr. Glecy C. Atienza (DFPL), Prof. Maybelle K. Guzman (DECL), and Dr. Cristina P. Hidalgo (DECL) for the Outstanding Professors.
The awardees received certificates of recognition, books from Anvil Publishing, and cash prizes from the CAL Foundation. (CHARMINE R. GULTIANO)
IT WAS a night of good food, good performances, and great company when the annual UP Writers’ Night was celebrated at the Executive House, UP Diliman last 6 December 2002. The event was organized by the UP Institute of Creative Writing, headed by Professor Virgilio Almario and the UP Writers’ Club president Sandra Nicole Roldan.
Two things made the affair extra special. The first was the all-night rengga started by Rio Alma for Filipino and Butch Dalisay for English. Rengga, which the organizers called narrative corpse, is taken from the surrealist game, Exquisite Corpse, where a group of people create stories or sentences based on what had been previously written. The two rengga notebooks were in circulation through the night and there are hopes that they may be published someday.
The second was the revival of the Writers’ Club. According to Roldan, the last group of members came from batch 1993, so the club has been inactive for almost ten years now. The main objective of the club is to promote creative writing by teaching basic principles and techniques to aspiring writers and by conducting workshops for those who are already starting to make a name for themselves.
Roldan added that membership in the club is open to everyone and that there are currently thirty-five active members who come from academic institutions such as the University of Santo Tomas and Ateneo de Manila University aside from the UP.
The Writers’ Club plans to hold “Bukambibig,” a series of poetry readings to promote literature in UP colleges that do not focus on the humanities such as the colleges of Engineering and Science. It is hoped that with the help of Dr. Lilia Quindoza-Santiago the project will materialize before the end of the second semester. (ARLYN VCD PALISOC ROMUALDO)
Maroons soar past Eagles, 53-49UP pulled a big surprise at the 65th UAAP basketball tournament when the Fighting Maroons downed second-seed Blue Eagles, 53-49, last July 28, 2002 at the Makati Coliseum. UP’s triumph broke Ateneo’s winning streak, leaving La Salle as the only unbeaten team in the tournament.
 |
| Tabique |
Rookie point guard Lino Tabique Jr. rallied the Maroons to victory with a stunning second-half performance. Tabique netted 10 points, including eight in a third-quarter run that started it all for the Maroons. Vito Arnaiz and Michael Bravo also scored 10 points each.
 |
 |
| Arnaiz | Bravo |
Ateneo’s Rich Alvarez leveled the count at 49-all still 34.4 seconds remaining before UP’s Michael Bravo completed his free throws off Wesley Gonzales to take the lead, 51-49, still 28.3 seconds left. Blue Eagles point guard Lewis Alfred Tenorio’s last-minute attempt from the three-point zone bounced off the ring before Tabique sealed the victory for the Fighting Maroons off a foul by Tenorio only 8.8 seconds to go.
UP joined Adamson University, University of the Sto. Tomas, and University of the East in third place with 2-2 cards. La Salle is on top, 4-0, followed closely by Ateneo, 3-1.
UP MANILA continues to live up to its name as a center of excellence in the health sciences with the outstanding ranking of its students in licensure examinations and the various awards won by its professors.
Dr. Yolanda R. Robles of the UP College of Pharmacy reports the 100 percent passing rate of the college in the July 2002 licensure exams. All 48 examinees passed while eight led the top ten examinees.
The top eight examinees are: Mildred Tolentino Recongco, at first place with a grade of 93.27 percent; Romualdez Villanueva Ferrer, second, 92.00 percent; Ronald Artuz Luna, third, 91.75 percent; Aimee Christina Gaw Chua, fourth, 90.65 percent; Pia Cervantes Campo, fifth, 90.37 percent; Schenneth Talatala Padura, sixth, 89.28 percent; Cyrus Chua Laborde, ninth, 88.53 percent; and Andrea Marie Arnaldo Macabuag, tenth, 88.00 percent.
Meanwhile, two professors from the UP College of Allied Medical Professions have won prestigious awards. Prof. Maria Eliza Ruiz was named Outstanding Professional for Physical Therapy 2002 by the Philippine Regulation Commission (PRC) last June 21.
Prof. Maria Lucia Magallona, on the other hand, was conferred the Professional Award in Allied Medical Professions at the UP Medical Alumni Association’s general homecoming last June 17. (Jo Florendo B. Lontoc)
The University of the Philippines (UP) downed the University of the East (UE), 59-54, in the opening match of the 65th University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum on July 13, 2002.
 |
Veteran off-guard Michael Bravo sealed the win for the Fighting Maroons with five straight points, including a triple with two seconds left that pegged the final count. Bravo registered a total of 25 points and 11 rebounds, while rookie JR Reyes and Vicente Arnaiz added nine and eight markers each.
Forward Ronald Tubid, meanwhile, led the way for the Red Warriors with 19 points. Ollan Omiping and Paul Artadi netted eight points each.
The Maroons broke away from a 40-all count early in the fourth quarter behind a 12-2 run highlighted by a rare four-pointer by Bravo off Tubid and held their ground for the win. The defeat was a big letdown for the Warriors who got off to a hot start and took control in the first two quarters before the Maroons, led by Reyes, uncorked a 15-2 spurt and took the lead for the first time at 33-28.
The Maroons’ tough defense limited the Warriors to just a single field goal by Arnold Booker in the first seven minutes of the third quarter.
Maroons coach Allan Gregorio, who took over the post from his younger brother Ryan, who is now calling the shots for Purefoods in the Philippine Basketball Association, described UP’s victory over UE as an “upset win.”
Former Vice President Salvador H. Laurel and Dr. Gloria Andrea T. Aragon lead the roster of winners of the 2002 U.P. Alumni Awards as the Most Distinguished Alumni. Joining them are 27 other alumni who will be honored with Outstanding Professional Awards and other distinctions for their exemplary contributions in various fields. The awarding will be held at the 2002 Grand Alumni Homecoming on June 15, 2002 at the Bahay ng Alumni in U.P. Diliman.
 |
| Laurel |
Laurel has served the country in both executive and legislative departments as vice president, secretary of foreign affairs, senator, and assemblyman. He organized the Citizens Legal Aid Society of the Philippines (CLASP) in 1967 to make free legal services available to the poor. The society became the impetus for the creation of the Citizens Legal Assistance Office in the Department of Justice as its government counterpart.
 |
| Aragon |
Aragon graduated magna cum laude of U. P. Medicine Class 1940, and eventually became dean of the college and director of the Philippine General Hospital. Her extensive research in reproductive medicine has contributed to a number of breakthroughs in the treatment and prevention of complications related to reproductive diseases. She also helped establish the seven-year Integrated Arts-Medicine (INTARMED) curriculum with its emphasis on research.
Retired Justice Jose C. Campos Jr. is this year’s Lifetime Distinguished Service awardee.
Winners of the Outstanding Professional Awards are Dr. Ricardo C. Carrasco (Allied Medical Professions), former BIR Commissioner Dakila B. Fonacier (Business Administration), Dr. Gloria G. Salandanan (Education), US National Academy of Engineering member Dr. Jose B. Cruz Jr. (Engineering), internationally renowned scientist Dr. Augusto E. Serrano, Jr. (Fisheries), UPLB College of Forestry Dean Dr. Lucrecio L. Rebugio (Forestry), Justice Florentino P. Feliciano (Law), Campaigns & Grey Chair Ma. Yolanda V. Ong (Mass Communication), Dr. Luis M. Mabilangan (Medicine), Dr. Gavino C. Trono, Jr. (Natural Sciences), Dr. Josefina A. Tuazon (Nursing), Silliman University chair of the Board of Trustees Prof. Leonor M. Briones (Public Administration), Civil Service Commission chair Karina C. David (Social Sciences), and U.S. Department of Agriculture assistant deputy administrator Dr. Perfecto R. Santiago (Veterinary Medicine).
The UPAA Community Service Award will be conferred on Sis. Marie Valeriana (Paula) V. Baerts, ICM (BSOT ’68), founder and chair of Tahanang Walang Hagdanan. Atty. Sebastian L. Angliongto will receive the UPAA Service Award.
Outstanding graduates for the year are Duke M. Bajenting and Karen Kate O. David. The UPAA Northern California (Berkeley) Chapter and the UP College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Foundation, Inc. will also receive citations as UPAA outstanding alumni chapters.
Retired Lt. Gen. Jaime S. De los Santos, the first Filipino and ASEAN national to lead the 24-nation UN Peacekeeping Force in East Timor, will be given the UPAA Special Recognition Award for the individual category, while the UP College of Law Class of 1952 and the UP College of Medicine Class of 1952 will receive the award for the group category.
A Special Presidential Award for Service will be given to Makati City Mayor Jejomar C. Binay and Atty. Avelino J. Cruz, while Paris-based artist Juvenal G. Sanso will receive the Special Presidential Award for the Arts.
It is History 101 with a twist. The political, cultural, religious, and economic landmarks in Philippine history from the pre-Spanish to the contemporary era were adequately covered but only as backdrop to a single dominant perspective--health and medical practice. Such is what happens when physicians turn into historians.
From the birth of medicine in the country to the current search for alternative medicines, renowned medical practitioners Dr. Conrado S. Dayrit, Dr. Perla Dizon Santos Ocampo, and Dr. Eduardo R. de la Cruz traced the growth and development of medicine and health in the country in History of Philippine Medicine 1899-1999. The book is a pioneering attempt to put together the many historical accounts pertaining to the practice of medicine in the Philippines and the country’s policies on public health and safety and medical education.
In the foreword by Secretary of Health Manuel Dayrit, he noted that even while much has already been written about the growth and development of medicine and health in the Philippines, “all we had were unorganized collections of monographs and brochures that provided limited snapshots of the medical scene.” Never before, noted Secretary Dayrit, did anyone attempt “a comprehensive historical account of medical practice in the country.”
The book is an interesting interplay of Philippine history and landmark developments in medical practice in the country. One example is the account on the establishment of the Board of Health for the city of Manila during the Filipino-American war years. The primary intention in the creation of the Board was to provide health care to the American troops. That the natives residing in Manila benefited from the Board’s purpose was rather incidental. During the Japanese Occupation (1942-1945), on the other hand, the Japanese Imperial Army seized control of the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Intramuros and the Quezon Institute for their use. Other hospitals, however, as well as schools of medicine, including the UP College of Medicine and the Philippine General Hospital, were open to the public.
Tucked in the appendix section of the book is a collection of oddities and artifacts on the shifting trends in Philippine health and medicine. One of these is a 1951 essay, “The Pathology of Bangungut” by Dr. J. Z. Sta. Cruz. The essay traces the history of bangungut and dissects the theories regarding its causes. Bangungut must have caused such a stir during the time that the national government even created on October 8, 1956 a committee exclusively mandated to unravel its mysteries.
The History of Philippine Medicine could have only been written by Dayrit, Santos-Ocampo, and de la Cruz who were active participants, initiators, and close observers of many of the landmark events in Philippine medical history. Dayrit is one of the founding fathers of the Philippine Heart Association. He has published more than 200 scientific papers in national and international medical journals. He is the immediate past president of both the National Academy of Science and Technology and the Federation of Asian Scientific Academies and Societies. Recently retired as vice president for medical affairs of United Laboratories, Dayrit is still active in teaching, research, and in medical and scientific association activities. He is also currently the medical director of the Victor R. Potenciano Medical Center.
Santos-Ocampo, who is also a prominent academician, served as chancellor of UP Manila in 1993-1999. She attained the rank of university professor, the highest rank in UP, in 1988. An international figure in pediatrics, she has been president of the International Pediatric Association and the Philippine Pediatric Society. She spearheaded the 17th International Congress of Pediatrics in 1983. In 1982, she was president of the Philippine Medical Association (PMA). She is currently the executive director of the International Society of Tropical Pediatrics, honorary president of the Association of Pediatric Societies of the Southeast Asian Region, member of the Expert Advisory Panel for Maternal and Child Health of the World Health Organization, and president of the National Academy of Science and Technology. She has authored a number of scientific publications and textbooks.
A diplomate and fellow of the Philippine College of Physicians, de la Cruz sits as president of a number of pharmaceutical companies. He served as president of the PMA in 1979 and wrote History of Philippine Medicine and the PMA in 1984. He became a fellow in Philippine cardiology in 1968, and was a member of the Philippine Medical Care Commission and the Board of Medical Education in 1979-1980.
History of Philippine Medicine 1899-1999 was launched on May 22, 2002 in time for the 33rd Philippine Heart Association Convention at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel.Former Vice President Salvador H. Laurel and Dr. Gloria Andrea T. Aragon lead the roster of winners of the 2002 U.P. Alumni Awards as the Most Distinguished Alumni. Joining them are 27 other alumni who will be honored with Outstanding Professional Awards and other distinctions for their exemplary contributions in various fields. The awarding will be held at the 2002 Grand Alumni Homecoming on June 15, 2002 at the Bahay ng Alumni in U.P. Diliman. (Rod P. Fajardo III)
UP Alumni and friends raise P4M for the new UP CAL BuildingIn four months, UP Alumni and friends successfully raised at least 4 million pesos for the purchase of classroom equipment for the new UP College of Arts and Letters (CAL) Building. The college initiated the fund raising campaign through the Internet.
The CAL is currently constructing a new building because it does not have its own building for classrooms. The college shares classrooms with the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (CSSP) in Palma Hall.
For the construction of the CAL Building, 20 million pesos came from former House Speaker (now Quezon City Mayor) Sonny Belmonte and the UP System Administration through President Francisco Nemenzo and UP Diliman Chancellor Emerlinda R. Roman. For the inner shells of the building’s top three floors, the college received pledges from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (though Rep. Nanette Castelo Daza), Sen. Francis Pangilinan, Sen. Blas Ople, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., and Sen. Edgardo Angara. The college hopes these pledges will materialize within the year.
Donations to the CAL are coursed through the College of Arts and Letters Foundation, Inc., which is composed of the CAL dean and college secretary, the 5 department heads and the faculty, and alumni representatives.
The CAL Building is situated near the old Arts and Letters Building ( now the Faculty Center) and the Jorge Vargas Museum. All UP students taking general education classes and upper division classes in the Arts and Letters will use the CAL Building. (Jose Wendell P. Capili)
Smooth, high-tech registration for freshmenThanks to technology, experience, and cooperation among the different UP Diliman units, freshmen registration last May 14 to 20 went smoothly for both students and UP Diliman administrators.
Previously, enlisting some 3,000 freshmen resulted in long queues and a heavy work load for administrators, given the usual paper-mode or manual enlistment. With the benefit of the pre-enlistment process available through the Computerized Registration System (CRS) Online, however, the long queues have been eliminated and the registration process was a more pleasant experience for incoming freshmen.
 |
Though not without problems, CRS Online helped a lot in facilitating the registration of the freshmen by putting online the processes involved, from confirmation, filling up of the student directory, up to pre-enlistment. This utilization of the Internet resulted in shorter queues and less movement of registrants from building to building during the actual registration period.
Online pre-enlistment, offered for the first time to freshmen from April 22 to May 3, also enabled the Diliman administrators and colleges to deal with the complications brought by the Revitalized General Education Program (RGEP) to the enrollment process.
Earlier there were concerns that with the implementation of the RGEP, where students are free to choose the GE courses they want and block-sectioning would not be applicable anymore, the administrators would find it difficult to make supply and demand of course offerings and schedules meet.
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Amelia Guevarra, who is also the ex-officio chair of the UPD CRS team, said: “The beauty of [online pre-enlistment] is that it helped us plan.” This is because, she added, “one of the features of CRS is you can see the supply-demand statistics any time during the pre-enlistment period.” Based on the statistics, the CRS team could then coordinate accordingly with the departments concerned.
The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (OVCAA) was proud to say that with the computerized system, 67 per cent or 1,693 of the 2,527 students who pre-enlisted online got all their first choices of courses and time slots when they registered during the said enrollment period.
Those who had full satisfaction of their choices only needed to get their Form 5-A, already filled up by the computer, have this signed by an adviser, and make the necessary payment.
Meanwhile, registrants who did not pre-enlist, or who pre-enlisted but were not satisfied and had to enlist in alternate subjects, or who changed their mind on their previous choices, had to go through the traditional process of queing up to enlist during the registration period. However, the need to go from one department to another to enlist or to verify the availability of subjects was eliminated with the centralization of the enlistment at the UP Institute for Small-Scale Industries (ISSI). Twelve computer terminals were set up to provide registrants with information on subjects in which they could enlist.
“There were problems, including some miscommunication within colleges, but because of the experience of the CRS team in registration and admission, we anticipated these problems and responded immediately with solutions,” Vice Chancellor Guevarra said.
It helped that the applicants apparently had access to and knowledge about the Internet. Based on the figures from the OVCAA, 2,155 of the total 3,750 UPCAT qualifiers availed themselves of online confirmation of enrollment, as against 323 who confirmed personally, by telephone (202), fax (132), mail (54), telegrams (2), and other means (31).
Vice Chancellor Guevarra wants to give credit to the UPD CRS team for both their technical expertise and knowledge of the nuances of the UP registration and admission system, which enabled them to solve problems accompanying this first in school registration in the country. The technical team of the CRS is composed of very young faculty members, alumni, and student assistants from the Department of Computer Science.
Guevarra equally thanks the different UP Diliman units. “The registrar’s office, the deans, the college secretaries, the department chairs and their faculty were very cooperative and we got all the support we needed from [UPD] Chancellor [Emerlinda] Roman,” she said.
“Based on our experience this year, we hope to improve the system,” Guevarra added. (Jo. Florendo B. Lontoc)
College of Science dean wins environmental science awardDR. RHODORA V. Azanza, dean of the UP Diliman College of Science and editor in chief of Science Diliman, a refereed science journal published by the University's Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Development (OVCRD), is this year's recipient of the Hugh Greenwood Environmental Science Award. The award recognizes outstanding scientific and technological research that contributes to environmental protection and conservation.
 |
| Azanza |
Azanza won the award as recognition for her pioneering research on the biology and physiological ecology of Pyrodinium bahamense var. compressum, a microalgal species and the world's major accusative organism of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) that affects many aquaculture and fishery sites. Her internationally recognized research has made significant contributions to environmental conservation and to the development of algal seafarming, which provides additional habitats and breeding grounds for fish and other marine life. Her latest paper on the PSP-causing organism, titled "The primary cause of toxic algal blooms in Philippine and Southeast Asian waters," was published in AMBIO (Journal of Human Environment). It is primarily an investigation on Pyrodinium bahamense as Southeast Asia's leading cause of PSP.
In her paper, Azanza studied the incidence of harmful algal blooms (HABs), such as Pyrodinium blooms, in the marine ecosystems of the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, and Indonesia from 1976 to 1999. Algal blooms are the result of the proliferation of microalgae in marine or salty waters but without causing a discoloration of water. Unlike red tide, where discoloration occurs and which is not necessarily harmful, HABs can cause massive fish kills and/or the contamination of seafood with toxins. These toxins can be passed through the food chain to other organisms and to humans, resulting in neurological, gastrointestinal, or respiratory disorders and, in some cases, even death.
Azanza has been coordinator of the Southeast Asian Red Tide Alert Network since 1993 and is currently vice chairman of the UNESCO-Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Panel on Harmful Algal Blooms. She has published several papers in international journals. Her paper on the life history and culture of the red tide organism won the 1995 DOST NSTW Award for Outstanding Research and Development in Biological Sciences.
A mid-term assessment: UP matches the dynamism of the outside worldOn June 30, 1999, the Board of Regents elected Dr. Francisco Nemenzo as the 18th President of the University of the Philippines. This June 2002, the Nemenzo administration comes midway into its term.
In his investiture address in March 2000, President Nemenzo spoke of key initiatives aimed at reviving what he described as an antiquated university. Included among these were revitalizing the GE program, redefining UP’s mission, and modernizing the University.
Achieving and rewarding excellence
Now on its third year on a reduced budget, the University still strives to continue its commitment to academic excellence.Realizing that much of its intellectual resource remains untapped and cognizant of the exodus of some of its talents because of a highly competitive outside market, UP created measures to encourage its faculty and REPS to remain and excel in their own fields through a reward system that is encumbered by fewer bureaucratic requirements.
In November 1999, the Academic Distinction Program and the Creative and Research Scholarship Program were established to raise the level of scholarship in UP to internationally accepted standards and to strengthen the creative and research output of the UP faculty. These programs comprise a system of awards and merit-based incentives that are aimed at fortifying UP’s capacity for knowledge.
At the recently held Academic Distinction Awards for 2001, 170 faculty members and REPS were awarded the International Publication Award (IPA) for coming out with a record high of 155 Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) publications. This was a significant rise from the 94 publications in 1999. Under the rules of the award, a faculty member or REPS will receive P50,000 for a scholarly article published in an international peer-reviewed journal indexed by the ISI. On the other hand, an author of a book or a chapter of a book published by a recognized international academic publisher will receive a cash award of P100,000 for a book and P50,000 for a chapter, respectively.
The first President’s Award for Innovation in Teaching was instituted this year. A cash award of P75,000 was given to regular faculty members who utilized a novel teaching approach to stimulate learning or to make learning more effective.
Creative endeavors, such as the production of works in music, dance, theater, painting, sculpture, and literature have not gone unrecognized. In 2001, the International Award for the Arts, which carries a cash prize of P50,000, was handed out to four faculty members. This year, faculty members and researchers who have published outstanding creative works and original research in Filipino were awarded the Gawad para sa Natatanging Publikasyon sa Filipino.
In 2000, UP also secured the highest promotion fund in its history. A total amount of P98,060,916 was released to cover the first year of promotion for 2,525 faculty and 5,919 staff members. An additional 71 faculty and 984 staff members who had reached the highest status of their ranks were given sagad awards based on their performance.
Modernizing the University
President Nemenzo has stressed the importance of computerization on numerous occasions. Computerization, he believes, “is the trigger for a cultural revolution in a University. It will force all…to learn new and more efficient ways of doing things.”In June 2000, UP Diliman implemented online registration through the Computerized Registration System (CRS) to eliminate the queues that have been a characteristic of the UP registration process. This summer, CRS was used by incoming freshmen to confirm their enrollment for the incoming semester.
Libraries and laboratories have been key sites for improvement in the Nemenzo administration. UP is continuously acquiring system-wide licenses to numerous journal databases, such as the OVID technologies, Lexis-Nexis, MAELISA, and PROQUEST. Subscription to these databases enable UP researchers to keep up with the latest developments in their disciplines through the Internet.
The College of Law Library launched their Electronic Law School project this year, making available local and international legal documents. The libraries of UP Diliman and UPLB, meanwhile, have been successfully networked in order to provide students with Internet access even in the comfort of their dormitories. The UP Diliman Main Library’s office hours have been extended up to midnight since January 2000 to accomodate students’ needs. At present, in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, there are fifteen research and seven instructional laboratories that are accessible to students 24-hours a day. UPLB has begun the modernization of its laboratory and has identified the upgrading of the facilities of BIOTECH as its top priority. In June 2002, the Department of Geography in UP Diliman will unveil its upgraded Geographic Information System Laboratory.
Revitalizing the GE Program
What is perhaps the centerpiece of the Nemenzo administration’s achievements are reforms in the present General Education program. This school year, the Revitalized General Education Program (RGEP) will be implemented in all of UP’s constituent universities except in UP Mindanao, which has not acted on the proposal.The RGEP framework opens the program to faculty and departments wishing to engage in the university’s GE curriculum. New courses may be offered alongside existing GE courses and students can choose subjects within the RGEP framework. (Mae Astrid Tobias)
Pathways to a 21st century UPThe run-up to 2008 is understandably marked with excitement and anticipation. It is when UP turns a hundred years old--certainly an occasion to retrace the timeline. But while it helps to look back and learn from past mistakes and achievements, it is also important to look to the future and prepare for what is yet to unfold.
UP is celebrating its 94th founding anniversary this June. It is six more years before the centenary but, in this age of fast-paced development, perhaps now is the right time to ask: What are we to expect of UP in 2008? Where is UP heading?
President Nemenzo, in his investiture speech two years ago, said that while the celebration of UP’s centenary lies beyond his six-year term, which ends in 2005, his administration will lay the groundwork to ensure that by 2008, “we shall have a University worthy of our pride.”
The Administration devised a ten-point agenda parallel to this vision. To sum up, these are the University’s goals for 2000-2005: to pursue academic excellence, modernize the University, revitalize the general education curriculum, develop UP’s science and technology capability, improve administrative efficiency and financial management systems, encourage scholars to discover new knowledge through research and creative work, improve student academic performance, enhance faculty and staff welfare and benefits, develop and implement resource generation projects, and enrich Philippine culture and nurture civic virtues.
In the pursuit of academic excellence, the Administration is moving toward a more focused rather than comprehensive university. This means UP is channeling its resources toward excellence in a focused range of academic programs instead of many but mediocre projects. The University will thus review and upgrade existing programs. Accordingly, the faculty profile will be upgraded by producing more Ph. D. holders through fellowships here and abroad.
New programs will be developed only when they are necessary, viable, and of good quality. A system of rigorous peer review will be instituted for proposals. In the meantime, a common instrument for measuring the performance of academic units is being designed, which is geared toward degree-granting depart-ments and institutes, and will look into the academic credentials and perfor-mance of the faculty in instruction, research and publications or creative work, and extension. Pertinent policies are also being examined, instituted, or revised to create an academic environment conducive to teaching, research, and service to the nation.
Modernizing UP entails the rehabilitation, restoration, and replacement of its facilities. Nemenzo believes that “modernized facilities will provide the needed environment for improved methods of teaching and learning, a higher level of intellectual productivity, and enhance the UP community’s overall capability to create and innovate.”
The Administration is revitalizing the University’s General Education program to broaden the students’ horizon; foster nationalism balanced by a sense of internationalism; and develop critical, independent, and creative thinking. Under this initiative, UP will allow the inclusion of new liberal arts courses in addition to existing ones. The Revitalized General Education Program is aimed at enabling the University to meet the rapid developments in the world of learning. In the meantime, the faculty is encouraged to conceptualize new courses or reorient some of the basic undergraduate courses toward general education.
So as not to be outpaced in the fiercely competitive environment of globalization, UP aims to take the lead in research and graduate instruction in information technology. Accordingly, the University is expanding its Technology Business Incubation Project and is developing science and technology parks and strengthening its academe-industry linkages.
Over the years, UP has experienced tremendous growth. It now has six constituent universities (CUs) and one autonomous college. With the CUs located in different parts of the country, there is a need to decentralize operational functions and units. Doing so will improve UP’s administrative efficiency and financial management systems.
In the 2000 Asiaweek survey of universities in Asia, UP’s research output was found to be lagging behind those of the other universities in the region. UP scored 2.41 out of 20 percentage points, which is equivalent to a rank of 60 out of 77. Clearly, there is a need to develop a research culture in the University. Toward this goal, UP is providing incentives to full-time faculty and REPS for outstanding contributions in teaching innovations, research, and publications. The establishment of the Creative Research and Scholarship Program is another means to promote research and creative work in UP. The University is instituting the Intellectual Property Rights Office to protect the faculty’s research, inventions, and creative work through patents, copyrights, and licenses.
Students are a priority concern of the Administration. Thus, it recognizes the need to continuously enhance student welfare and performance by making the Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program and the Excellence-Equity Admission Scheme responsive to their needs without neglecting UP’s commitment to admission standards. This is also the Administration’s way of increasing access to UP education since students from private schools (who therefore can afford costly private education) have been observed to have an edge in the UPCAT.
In the past, UP salaries were comparable with those of private schools, such as Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University. The approval of the Salary Standardization Law (SSL), however, ended such parity. Now UP finds it increasingly difficult to recruit the best graduates or retain its young professors who hold advanced degrees. To address this concern, the University is working for merit promotions and studying the possibility of increasing housing benefits and expanding medical benefits, among other schemes aimed at enhancing faculty and staff welfare. Also, the Administration will campaign for ways to free UP from the SSL.
Given the University’s limited budget and diminishing state support, the Administration has to look for other sources of funds. One possibility is to establish linkages with private industries, government agencies, and foreign universities. The help of UP alumni is deemed extremely valuable in this undertaking.
Cognizant of the impact of globalization on nationalist cultural orientations, UP recognizes the need to strengthen the inculcation of civic virtues and a desire to serve the people in its studentry. The University is thus committed to provide students with a firm grounding in Filipino culture, to sharpen their capacity to discern from a staggering array of data those that are relevant to Philippine conditions, and to create structures for interdisciplinary interactions. Also, UP aims to redirect extension work to help other educational institutions in the country, and to support Filipino literary, artistic, and cultural works, as well as programs for regional studies and public policy studies.
These goals, aimed at pole-vaulting UP into a 21st century university, were designed with a clear view of Philippine realities. These goals were set in the context of insufficient government support, unattractive salaries, and the increasing cost of education. On a happier note, the Administration expressed confidence in alumni and industry support for UP.
In the end, the journey toward the age of new technology is guided by Nemenzo’s words: “We have cause for distress but not for despair. Notwithstanding its decline in recent years, UP is still the finest collection of brains in the country. [Properly harnessed] they give us hope that UP will regain an honored place among the best universities in Asia.” (Rod P. Fajardo III)
UP protests PRC rule restricting faculty appointmentIn June next year, only licensed professionals will be allowed to teach subjects for licensure examinations. Violators will be subject to administrative and/or criminal charges.
Section 11 of the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) Modernization Act of 2000 requires that “all subjects for licensure examinations be taught by persons who are holders of valid certificates of registration and valid professional licenses of the profession and who comply with the other requirements of the (Commission on Higher Education).”
 |
UP, however, believes that the requirement jeopardizes the current efforts of the University to improve the quality of higher education in the country. In a letter to PRC chair Antonietta Fortuna-Ibe dated April 22, 2002, UP Vice President for Academic Affairs Ma. Serena I. Diokno said, “We fail to see how this new requirement relates to the purpose of the law. UP has provided quality education to students in various courses of study within a prescribed curriculum without the requirement that the faculty have a valid professional license for the discipline.”
In addition, she pointed out that Section 11 infringes on the academic freedom of the University and all institutions of higher learning as enshrined in the Constitution. She cited a Supreme Court ruling that states: “It is the business of the university to provide that atmosphere...in which there prevails ‘the four essential freedoms’ of a university to determine for itself on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught, and who may be admitted to study.”
Section 11, according to Diokno, preempts the judgment of the University as to who it deems best to provide instruction for a certain subject. A specific example, she said, is the UP National Institute of Geological Sciences (NIGS) where most of the faculty members teaching geology subjects, which are subjects for licensure examinations, are not licensed geologists. She said that many members of the NIGS faculty hold undergraduate degrees not in geology but in related disciplines, such as physics, mathematics, computer science, biology, chemistry, and meteor-ology. As for those who hold geology degrees, they have chosen not to practice the profession and have earned Ph. D. or D. Sc. degrees. Still, “the University has shown that the NIGS faculty mem-bers, with their high level of education and expertise not only in the field of geology but in complementary disciplines, have trained our students well, as proven by the results of licensure examinations of UP graduates,” noted Diokno. “This advantage will be diminished under Section 11 of the PRC Act.”
If anything, the Administration said, Section 11 only jeopardizes the future of students. Diokno cited the case of College of Business Administration students who may not be able to complete their course requirements simply because their professor in Obligations and Contracts is not a certified public accountant. UP conducted its own survey of the laws regulating the practice of the various professions in the country and found that majority do not consider teaching a practice of the profession. “We’re arguing that the PRC Act is a general law, while laws regulating the practice of the various professions are specific laws pertaining to each,” Diokno pointed out. “The rule in statutory construction is that a general law does not replace a specific law. Our position, then, is that those professions that do not classify teaching as a practice need not comply with the new requirement.”
The Administration also pointed out that the provision violates the due process clause guaranteed by the Constitution since, under the provision, faculty members of colleges and universities who are not licensed professionals in the subjects they teach cannot continue teaching. This is the effect of the provision even if the faculty members have tenure, have been teaching the same subject for years, and have acquired valuable expertise. “This is loss of employment and income by legislation, equivalent to loss of property within the protection of the due process clause,” Diokno said.
UP further questioned the special treatment given to foreigners under the PRC Modernization Act. Under the Act, they are exempted from the licensure requirement or are given special temporary permits to practice their professions in the country. This, the Administration pointed out, infringes on the equal protection clause under the Constitution. The equal protection clause includes equality of employment opportunities for all, irrespective of nationality. “But,” added Diokno, “in relation to Section 11, it now appears that foreigners may teach subjects for licensure examinations without necessity of a professional license or certificate of registration from the PRC, while Filipinos shall not be allowed to do so, despite the fact that the services will be the same.” (Rod P. Fajardo III)
The Dictionary for Every FilipinoThe UP Diksyonaryong Filipino is the first ever systematic and most comprehensive monolingual dictionary in Filipino. Published by the UP Sentro ng Wikang Filipino (UP-SWF) and Anvil publications, it is a product of a five-year research by a team of experts in the field of linguistics and lexicography led by its editor-in-chief Virgilio Almario.
According to Almario, one of the distinct qualities of the UP Diksyonaryong Filipino is it is the first-ever attempt to properly use the entire 28 letters of the new Filipino alphabet. More importantly, the dictionary shows how the Filipino language can be expansive. Using Tagalog as the base, the lexicon incorporates words from the different languages of the Philippines such as words from Ilocano, Bisaya and even from minority languages and not just Spanish and English words. For this, a group of consultants representing the major languages were employed in the making of the dictionary. Through this method, other languages in the country can participate in the making of the National Language. Even archaic Tagalog words have been included. Almario stressed that a lot of dictionaries, even Tagalog ones, are discarding old tagalog words.
Almario also added that the dictionary is an attempt to make Filipino a more academic and intellectual language. They have included words often used in the academe and provided them with definitions depending on how there are used by a particular field. Words from other Filipino languages were also given technical definitions so that they can be used in an academic context. An example given by Almario was word lawas which is translated as body as in body of water, heavenly body. It is now more appropriate to use the term lawas ng tubig or lawas ng pangkalawakan. This process has been used before in the same way that the word katarungan was taken from the Cebuano tarung to become the Tagalog word for justice. The attempt here is to expand the use of the other languages. “So that we can truly say that the Filipino language is getting richer and more dynamic not by inventing a new word or borrowing from Spanish or English, the native languages are participating.” Almario said.
The UP Diksyonaryong Filipino also provides its readers with the proper accentuation and pronunciation of the entries. A lot of the dictionaries out in the market have neglected this particular purpose. Almario mentions that there are good Tausug and Ivatan dictionaries but they themselves do not guides to proper pronounciation through the use of accents.
Almario emphasized that if the UP dictionary proves to be credible, it can stand as the authority for spelling and pronunciation among other things. But for now, what is more important according to him is that “we have a much better dictionary available for every Filipino and it is a dictionary that can be used academically, at the same time.” (Mae Astrid Tobias)
100% pass CE, EE board examsAll nine civil engineering (CE) and two electrical engineering (EE) graduates of the College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology (CEAT)in UP Los Baños passed their professional licensure examinations. These were held in May and April 2002, respectively.
Leading the nine new civil engineers is Jim Joel C. Madrigal, who placed 16th among 907 successful examinees out of 3,001 aspirants. The other eight are Neil Barcial, Allan Fullante, Hyacynth de Leon, Romina Salonga, Florinda Solano, Erickson Manuel, Theresa Mariztinh Martinez, and Joann Medrano.
The two electrical engineering graduates who passed their licensure exams are Joselita Bueno and Fortunato de Castro.
CEAT’s BSCE graduates have consistently registered a 100 percent passing rate in the licensure examination for the last 10 years.
UPLB’s graduates in civil, chemical, agricultural, and electrical engineering have notched high passing rates and made it consistently to the top 20 in their respective licensure exams. (JB Reponte)
UPV thesis abstract wins award in BeijingA thesis abstract on mudcrab production was selected for a Student Award for Aquaculture 2002 in a conference held last April 23-27, 2002 in Beijing, China.
The conference was organized by the Asian Pacific Chapter of the World Aquaculture Society (WAS), which is recognized as the lead society in aquaculture information in the Asia Pacific region. The award was given to Rolando Cerezo, a graduate student at the Institute of Aquaculture, College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, UP Visayas, for his paper titled “The effect of different types of shelter in the production of mudcrab, Scylla serrata juveniles in concrete nursery tanks”. The study features the effect of various forms of shelter meant to protect mudcrab from predators. Each type of shelter helps increase the rate of survival of mudcrab under laboratory conditions.
Mudcrab, commonly known as alimango, is a popular seafood usually served during special occasions. A kilo costs around P180 to P200. The cost can be reduced if the rate of mudcrab survival can be increased with the use of the shelters designed by Cerezo.
Cerezo is enti-tled to a year’s free membership to the WAS and its Asian Pacific Chapter. His study will be featured in World Aquaculture Maga-zine. A member of the faculty of the Pangasinan State University, Cerezo hopes that other students would likewise go into research that will benefit consumers.
UP deploys gurong pahinungods nationwideTessa Calvendra graduated from the College of Education in April this year. This June, she would have been earning her wages as a teacher in the UP Integrated School. Instead, she has volun-teered to be sent to Turtle Islands in Tawi-tawi, where she will receive a monthly allow-ance of P5,000 and will be sepa-rated from her family for a year.
Last June 5, 2002, in a simple ceremony held at the Balay Kalinaw, 12 Pahinungod volunteers from UP Diliman and 6 from UP Los Baños were deployed nationwide as part of the Gurong Pahinungod program. These GPs, as they are fondly called, are sent to teach in public schools in various underserved provinces all over the country.
In accordance with their goal to uplift the quality of basic education, UP Pahinungod, in cooperation with the Department of Education, has been fielding volunteers for five years now in places as far as Tawi-tawi and North Cotabato to handle classes in Science, Mathematics, English, and Social Studies. The volunteers are required not only to teach but also to undertake community and school projects outside of class hours.
The Gurong Pahinungod program has been instrumental in keeping many schools in the provinces open. One of these schools is the National High School in Laac, Davao. Hampered by the lack of teachers, the school remains operational through the continuous deployment of GPs.
“Volunteerism,” according to President Nemenzo, “is a new word for an old practice.” The UP students have always been involved in some kind of volunteerism long before the term was coined. Nemenzo cited his own experiences when he tutored his own jail guard when he was incarcerated during the martial law era.
“The Pahinungod systematizes the volunteer work of the UP students and graduates,” he added.
The UP, President Nemenzo stressed, should have an interest in strengthening basic and secondary education in the country and help as many students as possible to pass the UP College Admissions Test or UPCAT. He also mentioned that he and UP Diliman Chancellor Emerlinda Roman are looking into the possibility of linking the projects of UP Pahinungod with the ROTC in order to get more students involved in going back to the grass roots. (Mae Astrid Tobias)
Bongga ka ‘dayUP scholars come out with RP’s ‘pink book’
During the second half of the 1960s, a tiny book came out from Beijing, China which became a precious and indispensable possession for all leftist activists. “The little red book,” consisting of quotes from the great Marxist-Leninist leader Mao Tse Tung, has probably been the most powerful educational and propaganda tool for cultural workers all over the world.
 |
An
impersonator from the De La Salle University faculty entertains
the literati as Tony Hidalgo, publisher, looks on during the book
launch.. |
Last 26 June, a small pink book had its launch at a jampacked watering hole in Malate, Manila. There was nothing outwardly flashy about the book. It was unapolegetically pink and cute, a perfect gift. This unassuming collection is the first book of gay quotes in Asia, as its compilers claim. Later in the evening, the publisher, Tony Hidalgo of Milflores Publishing Inc., called it “the little pink book.”
 |
| J. Neil C. Garcia |
The book’s promise
It helps that the compilers/editors are scholars/writers from the University of the Philippines’ Creative Writing Center. J. Neil Garcia is an Associate Professor from the Department of English and Comparative Literature and a Ph.D. student of the department’s Creative Writing Program. He is remembered for introducing a course on gay literature in the Philippines, for his scholarly works and as an anthologist of Philippine gay literature. Ronald Baytan of De La Salle University and Ralph Semino Galan of the University of Santo Tomas are Ph.D. and M.A. students of the same program. The three did two years of research for this book. Mr. Hidalgo says he is happy that the book is great fun and yet profound.The world’s conversion into gayness may not exactly be the intention of the people behind the book, but the book does hold its own value among books being published locally today. Not only does the book promise to introduce the reader to hours of amusement, owing to the colorful language of the gay text, which usually gets conveniently dismissed as mere camp; but the book can be a take-off for larger issues, both personal and political, concerning the Filipino gay.
The sources of the quotes, both gay and “straight,” sources make the book a study of the gay “habitus”—including language and modes of thought—and its impact on “straight” society. Thus, the inclusion of quotes from canonical writers like Jose Rizal, Jose Garcia Villa, Nick Joaquin, Gilda Cordero Fernando, Edith Tiempo, and Ophelia Dimalanta, as well as known entertainers like comedian Joey de Leon as “She-man,” starlet Stella Strada, movie queen Rita Gomez, etc., in a collection riddled with quotes from the unabashedly gay. This gives specificity to the oft-repeated thesis: “It’s a gay world after all.”
Sample quotes
One notices that some of the quotes rely merely on the “bakla” voice—known for its incomparable panache. “You’re nothing but a second-rate, trying hard copycat!” is a dominant leitmotif for its sheer impact as camp.But, more often than not, the quotes do prove fun and practical. No gay person can deny the humor and yet undisputable truth behind this line from Honorio Bartolome de Dios’s “Lalaki”: “A gay’s way to a man’s heart is through bottles of beer.” A little sad, but nonetheless true, and spoken with such gay frivolity. The understatement makes it all the more a wise saying. It speaks of a gay person’s knowledge of what he or she wants and, at the same time, his/her awareness of the complexity of gay relations.
Some of the quotes propose some earth-shattering truths, which Filipino gays are only now opening themselves to: “’Wag kang mag-iilusyong iibig ang isang tunay na lalaki sa isang bading! Ang bading ay para sa bading.” (Rene Villanueva’s Dobol)
The book promises to be a digest of gay life itself—its different pathos, moods, ideals, dreams and aspirations, frustrations, tragedies, conditions, triumphs.
Function as identity
It may be hard to put a finger on the thread that runs through the 280 quotations. What exactly is a “Pinoy gay quotation”? What is gayness, for that matter? The book problematizes the questions. No matter, for there seemed to be no doubt among the heterogenous crowd, who attended the launching and who got a preview of the quotes, that they are indeed gay quotes, even as the quotes do not add up to any one stereotype of the gay person.It can be said that for the gay people already “out,” the book is indeed a gem, a practical guide to live by, “the little pink book,” indeed. It is also a symbolic of their force and pride as an active community, a manifestation of a living culture. In this day and age when society’s knowledge is practically nil or tainted by prejudice, such affirmative acts are significant.
For the lonely gay reader, the book will give him or her an affirmation of his/her membership in a community. As the editors themselves say in the Foreword: “This is the one book we’d have loved to read as dinglets (young gay men)! Imagine the thrill, the sense of confident empowerment we’d have received from this collection of quotes from Philippine gay culture’s most influential minds.”
For the general hetero public, the book is an affirmation that humanity is more colorful than it used to be portrayed. There are more shades to black or white or red. The book affirms a realization that pink can make the world a happier, gayer place to live in.
As it is, the book is a welcome addition to the emerging Philippine gay literature. Thanks to the three self-confessed gay activists for taking on this great and pioneering archival work. (Jo Florendo B. Lontoc)
("Bongga Ka, ‘Day: Pinoy Gay Quotes to Live By" will be available not only in the major bookstores, but in major beauty parlors, as well. This according to Milflores Publishing Inc.)
UP eyes collaborative projects with Cuban institutes
During his visit to the United States last June 19-July 16, 2002, President Francisco Nemenzo attended the annual summit of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) in Berkeley, California from June 20-22. The APRU is an organization of university presidents in the Pacific Rim region, where members discuss common concerns.
This year’s agendum was on the setting up of a network that will allow member universities to share online graduate courses. Nemenzo said he expressed interest in the project but did not commit joining the project on a specific date for two reasons. “For one, I don’t think our computer facilities are prepared for the program, which requires highly sophisticated equipment. Also, it would eat up a lot of bandwidth, which we cannot sustain,” he said. “For another, UP does not really have an extensive lineup of online graduate level courses that we can share with them.”
From July 10-12, Nemenzo was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to attend the convention of the UP Medical Alumni Society of America (UP MASA). UP MASA is the number one fund donor to UP, although most of their donations are intended for the UP Manila College of Medicine and the Philippine General Hospital. “It was the UP MASA, actually, who shouldered the plane tickets for me and my wife,” Nemenzo said.
During the 18-day interim period between the APRU and UP MASA affairs, Nemenzo visited other alumni chapters in San Francisco, Central California, and Los Angeles. Then, Nemenzo made a side trip to Cuba.
During Nemenzo’s first year in office, one of the first diplomats to pay him a courtesy call was the ambassador of Cuba. That visit resulted in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between UP and Cuba’s University of Havana for the exploration of collaboration.
The MOU, however, was not consummated due to the geographic distance between Cuba and the Philippines. “Either an official of the University of Havana comes here or somebody from UP goes there so we can identify which areas we can work on,” Nemenzo said. “For some reason, none from both institutions were able to do so.”
At the University of Havana, Nemenzo proposed a collaboration on three areas he knew Cuba particularly excelled in. These were biotechnology, community medicine, and physical education. Unfortunately, Nemenzo was informed, these areas are no longer part of the University of Havana’s curricular programs as they have already been made into separate institutions. But these institutions work closely with the University of Havana since the people there are its graduates.
The University of Havana arranged for Nemenzo to meet with the Rector of the University of Medical Sciences and visit the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and the University of Physical Culture. He also met with the researchers of the Center for the Study of Asia and Oceania.
Still, Nemenzo said, the officials of the University of Havana were earnestly interested in pursuing joint projects with UP. The former committed itself to introducing UP academics to key personalities in the Cuban institutions of biotechnology and medicine, since the people there are its graduates.
For its part, the University of Havana expressed interest in collaborating with UP in the fields of history and public administration. Nemenzo said the histories of the Philippines and Cuba run along parallel lines. Both countries were captured by the Spaniards at around the same period. The University of Havana was founded at about the same time as the University of Sto. Tomas. The Philippines and Cuba revolted against Spain also at about the same time. Another experience the two countries share is the experience of American colonization over them after the Spaniards had left.
The University of Havana believes that aside from such parallelisms, the Philippines and Cuba must have some relationship in the past that probably requires more research. Nemenzo was shown the University of Havana’s version of the Oblation, called the Alma Matter. The Alma Mater is a sculpture of a seated woman on whose sides are the emblems of the university’s first colleges. One of these colleges is Anthropology, which studies the people and culture of Cuba in the early period, specifically, peninsulares, insulares, creoles, and chinos. According to the University of Havana’s historian, there were no Chinese in Cuba at that time. These Chinos, the historian said, must have been Filipinos who were brought to Cuba by the Spanish friars as their acolytes, teachers in catechism, and caretakers of the Church.
As for the second area of possible collaboration, the University of Havana wants assistance from UP in setting up its College of Public Administration. “They want ideas from us on how they can establish the college,” Nemenzo said. “While, like UP 50 years ago, they are getting advice from American professors in universities like Harvard, they want advisers who understand and appreciate their social revolution. They even invited me to be a visiting professor at the end of my term as president.”
Nemenzo is confident that UP will benefit a great deal from collaborating with the University of Havana. He said that when Fidel Castro rallied the Cubans against the US in 1959, Cuba experienced a roller coaster of economic upswings and uncertainties. Through all these, Cuba held its grounds and proved that a third world country can live as a nation without surrendering its sovereignty to a powerful and intrusive neighbors.
Whatever uncertainties Castro’s revolutionary leadership may have brought to Cuba, his government’s commitment to education cannot be questioned. Upon his appointment as Prime Minister, Castro immediately made wiping out illiteracy a major campaign. The literacy campaign in Cuba is cited by UNESCO as a model for the Third World. Education in Cuba is free from elementary to university level.
Cuba gained prominence in the international scene when it registered breakthroughs in biotechnology, community medicine, and sports. Castro pumped an estimated $1 billion into biotechnology over the last 16 years, establishing such institutions as the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, the Molecular Immunology Institute, the National Bio-Medical Institute, and the Finlay Institute. Such attention and support from the government enabled Cuban scientists to develop a number of new medicines, which are sold abroad and yield as much as $125 million annually for Cuba’s economy. Among Cuba’s most popular invention is the hepatitis B vaccine, which was developed at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology a few years ago. Finlay also developed VAX-SPIRAL, which fights human leptospirosis or canicola fever. Cuba, moreover, is one of the very few countries where an AIDS vaccine is being tested on human beings.
With international patents on 66 pharmaceuticals tucked under its belt, Cuba easily impressed the world with its sophistication in biotechnology. The World Health Organization recognized Cuba as model country in the medical field. Envious of, and perhaps threatened, by such an unparalleled achievement, the US accused Cuba of developing biological weapons, as well. Castro flatly denied the charges, saying the US has not been able to present a single shred of evidence to support its charges.
Interestingly, aside from vaccines, one of Cuba’s products in genetic engineering is giant tilapia. Nemenzo said the University of Havana officials told him that the research on the product started in Tigbauan, Iloilo. The Philippine government, however, did not pursue the research. Cuba did. Today, the giant tilapias are one of Cuba’s main sources of protein.
In the field of medicine, Cuba put up a separate university solely for medical purposes. Like the UP College of Manila, the Instituto Superior de Ciencias Medicas encompasses within its mandate practically the entire spectrum of medical practice--public health, nursing, physical therapy and, of course, medicine.
Cuba, according to Nemenzo, has a unique health care system where doctors and nurses are well distributed all over the country. One doctor and one nurse are assigned per community with about 600 residents. The doctor oversees the health of the entire community. He visits members of the community on a regular basis and keeps health records of each. He is also mandated to mobilize the community when the government is implementing health drives to keep certain diseases at bay.
Treatment is first administered on the community level, at the doctor’s clinic. Only when the illness is beyond the community doctor’s capability is the patient brought to a polymedic, which has more advanced health facilities, and which is assigned to serve a cluster of several communities. Above the polymedic is the hospital. “In Cuba, they call hospitals one step to the graveyard because only very serious cases are brought there,” Nemenzo said. In a country where the number one thrust is prevention not the treatment of diseases, it says a lot.
In world athletics, Cuba boasts of an outstanding record: fifth place in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain; eight in the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Olympic Games; and gold medalist in several events in the Pan-American Games. Cuban athletes are a force to reckon with in boxing, track and field, volleyball, and baseball.
Nemenzo said Cuba also has a separate school for training of coaches. Graduate coaches are spread all over the country in search of potential athletes, especially the young ones. Once a talent has been identified, he or she undergoes rigid training in preparation for the Olympics.
In the sports university, Nemenzo said, athletes are not taught merely how to play their game. The university has mathematicians, physicists, and physicians all dedicated to sports, studying the athlete’s body movements and how these can be best put to advantage during the game. “Sports is actually a science in Cuba,” remarked Nemenzo. “It takes 12 years of training before a Cuban athlete is sent to a competition of Olympic proportions.” (Rod P. Fajardo III)
:: NEWS LINKS
• FORUM Online
• UPDate
• Bagumbayan
• Madayaw
• Carillon Online
• Phil. Collegian
Copyright © 2003 UP System Information Office. All Rights Reserved. For comments and feedback, click here.