109 years TOWARDS A PROGRESSIVE CAMPUS PRESS | VOL. LXXXV NO. 15 | TUESDAY, 05 FEBRUARY 2013
HALF THE TARGET MARK. Despite not being able to hit the 8,000 target mark to break the Guiness record, the Light Up for Peace event had a total of 4,792 participants who formed the human peace sign last Saturday at the Perdices Coliseum. PHOTO BY Henzonly Hope A. Alboroto
CBA pioneers automated student council elections by Kristine Ann M. Fernandez
COLLEGE OF BUSINESS Administration (CBA) Student Council successfully tested the program for their first ever automated student council elections on March 8. Spearheaded by Caesar Cavales III, senior Business Computers Application (BCA) student and Commission on Elections (COMELEC) chairperson of CBA, BCA department developed this application in order to speed up the
election process. Cavales said: “Due to the number of student population in CBA…some of the students would rather not vote than spend a few of their time writing down their chosen candidate and put it in a ballot box. So I thought that all these problems would be solved if automated voting would be implemented, it will be faster, accurate, and you wouldn’t need any pen and paper.” Instead of pen and paper, students only need to present their validated
identification cards to an assigned COMELEC member for verification. Once verified, the student will keyin her ID number in a box provided in the application to make sure that the voter is enrolled this semester and avoid voting twice. After the confirmation, students can cast their votes by clicking the picture of the candidate. A summary appears at the end of the selection in order for the voters to double check their choices. To finalize their votes, they only have to click the ‘VOTE’ button. The last
stage of verification is the imprinting of the voter’s thumb mark on a printed copy of their votes. COMELEC will keep the hard copy in case a party asks for a recount. “We will have this system audited at the SU office of audit to assure the voters and candidates that the system that they will be using this coming CBA council election is true and correct,” said Cavales. Junabeth Tamparong, incumbent Governor of CBA’s student council, says the project costs around P13,000
because they only spent for the printers and they utilized their available computers in their laboratories. But if they opted with the touch screen monitors and barcode readers, it would probably cost around P50,000. The program was co-developed by fellow BCA students Andrea Caro, Clint Bush Casama, Al Polen Sincay Jr., and Mae Avanzado. After last week’s test run, Cavales received a positive response from the student body assuring them of an efficient and effective elections.~
By Elana Joy Bartlett
Response from Dorm Presidents Pedro Mabanan, Woodward Hall President, gave a written statement: “There are times that they [dormers] prefer to eat outside. [This is] probably because they don’t like the food that is being served [in the dorm]. Should they [SU Cafeteria] wait until such time that no dormers will decide to eat the food from our cafeteria?” SU cafeteria does have a supervisor. But according to Espino, this supervisor is not always present. “It’s really up to the cooks to check the food,” Espino added. The cooks have been oriented time and time again, and if their performances do not improve, they are reassigned. This is done to make sure that the dormers get “good food”. Espino said: “While we admit that we have lapses and that there are some dishes that the residents don’t relish, we must also recognize the fact that each person has his/her own likes and dislikes in food, and we cannot possibly satisfy everyone’s taste.” Justin Val Virtuzado, Vernon Hall President, said: “Well, sometimes
the food has blood, and sometimes the meat is too tough… There was a time my dorm mates warned me to not drink the soup because a dead cockroach had been in it… but the food’s not really that bad. [Hopefully] there would be more variety, and the food would be wellcooked… I do understand it’s hard to cook the food well because there are so many dormers… There are times when the dorm food does taste good. I just hope it would be like that all the time.” Only used as reason “Dormers leave SU dormitories because they say the food is terrible; when maybe in reality all they really want is freedom from the curfew rule,” Espino said. She added: “If the students claim that the dorm food makes them sick, then they should prove it. [They should] preserve that particular piece of food, or at least tell their dorm managers right away. The dorm managers will then inform us. Then we can take the necessary steps to try to make sure the same thing will not happen in the future.”~
BPI-DOST ‘Rubber’ beef and ‘fly’ soup (Part 2) names awardees
By Ma. Josebelle Bagulaya
THREE SILLIMANIANS WERE adjudged as this year’s Bank of the Philippine IslandsDepartment of Science and Technology (BPI-DOST) Science awardees. The awardees were chosen for the quality of their research work, academic performance and leadership background. Senior students Kin Israel Notarte, Kharyl Mae Fulmaran and Rosette Jill Fernandez were selected along with thirty students from ten partner universities that include University of the Philippines and Ateneo De Manila University. Partner universities nominate top three students with the best research papers for the annual BPI-DOST awards, which “encourage promising scientists and researchers to reach the higher levels of excellence in their respective fields.”
First in the world Notarte’s groundbreaking study on “Fractionation, Phytochemical, Screening and Bioactivity Analyses on Green Alga, Bornetella oligaspora, Solms-Laubach, Using Sea Urchin Embryonic Development and DPPH Free Radical Scavenging Assay” focuses on the anticancer and antioxidant properties of green alga. His thesis, Notarte said, is the world’s first research study on the biomedical application of green alga. “The effect was promising since the chemicals caused little apoptosis indicating that the compounds having anti-cancer property have less killing effects to normal cells,” the biology student said. The study attempts to extract the biochemical and therapeutic properties of green alga (bornetella oligospora) by separating its different chemicals. The sea urchin embryonic system was used as the anticancer test and the continued on page 4
LAST SEMESTER, a female dormer was hospitalized due to what she claimed was “bad dorm food”. Today, some dormers claim that they get upset stomachs because of the same reason. “How can they be so sure that the dorm food was really what made them sick? Some claimed that that was the case, yet we later found out that they had also eaten somewhere else,” Jasmine Jean Espino, Silliman University Cafeteria Manager said. No Food poisoning “If the food was really that bad, if there was really “food poisoning”, then it would affect a lot of people, not just one or two,” Espino added. She explained that if that were the case, the university would shoulder any liability, because the school is responsible for its students, especially minors. “Once, when a report came of a cockroach’s part being served with the dilis, we stopped serving dilis to our dormers to avoid the reoccurrence,” she said.
Mayor challenges political dynasty
by Samantha Colinco
THE SUCCESS OR failure of political dynasties depends on an educated, discerning and watchful citizenry and not on the political families alone, Bais City Mayor Karen Villanueva said in a forum last Jan. 29. “It is the opportune time for us to exercise the right that should a family be actually doing well they may be given the opportunity to serve again. But if not, then by all means eradicate the family from abusing the powers of government ever again,” she said. A child of a political family herself, Villanueva said political dynasties are not “bad in themselves but only gain their mark when power corrupts the individual.” “[It becomes a problem] when
members of the family begin to believe that they are exceptions and that they are above the law therefore they can get away with anything,” Villanueva told 150 students and teachers at the Silliman University Hall. She added that the country does not need laws to prohibit political families from running for office, but it instead needs to educate citizens and put justice systems to address issues of abuse. “Let us be acutely aware, watchful and evaluative of all individuals who enter into the field of public service . . . Should a law be passed to ban families from collectively serving their communities, it will only succeed to weed out the honest and well-meaning ones,” she said. Villanueva also said that political
families, which people view as a “threat” to civil service, are just like any other family. She added that if society accepts generations of doctors, lawyers and teachers, then the same rule should apply for public service. “Would it be so wrong if a child would pick up the traditions - with gripping intensity - of the passion to serve? Would it be so wrong for a child to admire her father or mother and dream one day of becoming like them?” she added. Present in the forum on “Perpetuating political families: The pros and cons,” sponsored by the Salonga Law Center for Law and Development were Iriga City Mayor Madelaine Alfelor-Gazmen and Dumaguete City Vice-mayor Alan Gel Cordova.~
THE ABSENCE OF WAR Thousands of students from the different schools and universities in Dumaguete lined up and joined to make history happen last Saturday for the “Light Up for Peace” event. PHOTO BY Alexandra Iso