Volume XC, No. 10 • June 13, 2018 THE OFFICIAL STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF SANTO TOMAS Manila, Philippines
Faculty members elect CBA negotiators; inclusion of union president questioned By CHRISTIAN DE LANO M. DEIPARINE MEMBERS of the 1,900-strong UST Faculty Union (USTFU) have elected negotiators for the 2016 to 2021 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the University administration, but some have contested the inclusion of union president Dr. George Lim as head of the negotiating panel. Lawyer Jose Ngo Jr. of the UST-Alfredo M. Velayo College of Accountancy, Edilberto Gonzaga of the College of Science, Rebecca Adri of the Institute of Physical Education and Athletics, and Michelle Desierto and Emerito Gonzales of the Faculty of Arts and Letters,
topped the election for USTFU panel members last May 28. In a statement, the newly elected members of the panel vowed to negotiate for a CBA that would “improve the terms and conditions of our employment as faculty members.” “This new negotiation is an opportunity to rectify the errors of the past and rebuild our CBA and thus improve the terms and conditions of our employment as faculty members,” the statement read. Several faculty members, however, questioned the inclusion of Lim in the negotiating panel as chairman, as he was not elected as a member of the negotiating panel
as required by USTFU rules. In a meeting with the USTFU Board last May 31, USTFU Treasurer Joyce Tan moved for the approval of the resolution naming Lim to head the USTFU negotiating panel, which prompted the five panel members to stage a walkout. “It is given that a union can only negotiate effectively if its ranks are united. Thus, we beg Dr. Lim to heed the clamor of the faculty and allow the new panel of CBA negotiators to do its job. And if he would insist in heading the panel of negotiators, then he must follow the USTFU-CBL by subjecting himself to an election or ratification,” faculty members said
in a statement. Article 13, Section 1 of the faculty union’s charter states that “Collective bargaining for and in behalf of the general membership shall be undertaken by the Board of Officers through a negotiating panel the members of which shall be duly elected by the general membership.” In response, Lim said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) had ruled that the faculty union’s commission on elections had legal basis to name him as head of the negotiating panel, being president of the union. Faculty Union PAGE 2
Freshmen tuition up by 6% THE COMMISSION on Higher Education (CHEd) has approved a 6-percent increase in tuition for incoming Thomasian freshmen while tuition in the higher levels will not increase in Academic Year 2018 to 2019. Tuition for college freshmen will increase by P91 per lecture unit and P182 per laboratory unit. For Faculty of Civil Law freshmen, the increase is P153 per unit and for the Graduate School, P123 per unit. Miscellaneous fees will go up by an average of P367.56. Tuition for Grade 11 students of the Senior High School will increase by P1,920 while miscellaneous fees will increase by 4.05 percent or P150. Incoming Grade 7 students of the UST Junior High School will pay an additional P4,274 in tuition and an additional P2.68 percent or P140 in miscellaneous fees. Freshman tuition in the Education High School will go up by P1,005 while miscellaneous fees will go up by 2.67 percent or P102. Tuition PAGE 2
Supreme Court favors UST in tenureship row AFTER a seven-year legal dispute over tenureship, the Supreme Court has upheld the University’s move to dismiss instructors from the College of Fine Arts and Design (CFAD) for failing to obtain master’s degrees. In a 19-page resolution dated April 18, the Supreme Court backed UST’s decision to dismiss CFAD instructors Raymond Son, Raymund Antiola and Wilfredo Pollarco in 2010. The three were unable to finish their master’s studies in five semesters as agreed upon when they were hired as probationary faculty members. Article 15, Section 1 of the 2006 to 2011 UST Faculty Union (USTFU) collective bargaining agreement (CBA) provides that a teaching faculty member should be given a tenure-track appointment after rendering six consecutive semesters of “satisfactory service” on a full-time basis, given that they must obtain their master’s degrees within five semesters or they would be removed from service. The Revised Manual of Regulations for Private Schools Order of 1992, however, requires a master’s degree for undergraduate professors in their field of instruction, as a minimum qualification to acquire a regular status in a private educational institution. “When the CBA was executed between the parties in 2006, they had no right to include therein the provision relative to the acquisition of tenure by default, because it is contrary to, and thus violative of the 1992 Revised Manual of Regulations for Private Schools that was in effect at that time,” the court ruling read. Tenureship PAGE 3
BEGINNING OF LIFE OUTSIDE UST. Thomasians pass through the historic Arch of the Centuries, signifying the end of their college life. MICHAEL ANGELO M. REYES
Writers, artists honor late UST sends off 8,794 graduates PONTIFICAL University sent God could easily touch you when you literary titan Cirilo Bautista THE off a total of 8,794 graduates in this feel that your life is no longer enough for WRITERS and artists paid tribute to the late National Artist Cirilo Bautista during the necrological service for him last May 10 at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Bautista’s works served as the definition of the Filipino identity, said fellow National Artist F. Sionil Jose. “You (Bautista) deserve [the National Artist award] because in your works, there is profound rootedness in our own soil and you have this very, very deep affection for our country,” he said. Bautista, a former Varsitarian literary editor, died last May 6 at the age of 76. Jose described poets and writers as the nation’s “keepers of memory” and urged writers to follow Bautista’s style of “Filipinizing” the English language in his works. “Without the memory, there is no nation. [I] know he has some doubts about his writing in borrowed tongue. His epic is a product of an experimentation in the form. I hope all Filipino poets try to do the same,” he said. Tribute PAGE 8
year’s Baccalaureate Mass, which was followed by a boisterous march out of the historic Arch of the Centuries. Rector Fr. Herminio Dagohoy, O.P. urged the graduating batch to make their lives a “legacy” for the other Thomasians to emulate and follow. “Do not prioritize personal ambition over genuine service and selfreferential interest over the common good,” Dagohoy said in his homily on May 24. He said Thomasians should recognize God’s actions in their lives, which are part of their success as graduating students. “Everything that we do would never be enough to unleash the power of our dreams unless God has touched us by his hand. [I]t is time for us to let you go. Do not lose that space where
everything. God suffices,” he said. Graduating students were given “mission crosses” as a symbol of their lifelong mission to put their Thomasian education to good use outside UST. The Mass ended with the “ceremony of light” to remind the graduating students of their duty to spread the light of the Christian faith. A pyro-musical display accompanied by songs from the hit movie “The Greatest Showman” capped off the rites, followed by a recessional parade through the Arch of the Centuries signifying the end of the students’ college life. The Faculty of Arts and Letters has the biggest number of graduating students this academic year with 1,187, followed by the Faculty of Engineering with 777 Graduates PAGE 5