The Varsitarian P.Y. 2015-2016 Issue 03

Volume LXXXVII, No. 3 • October 29, 2015 THE OFFICIAL STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF SANTO TOMAS Manila, Philippines

PROSPECTUS. Rector Fr. Herminio Dagohoy addresses the Thomasian community regarding his plans for the University last Oct. 16 at the Medicine Auditorium.

BASILIO H. SEPE

Five more UST campuses eyed Architecture alumnus finds ‘big break’ in bamboos

By JEROME P. VILLANUEVA

By ERIKA MARIZ S. CUNANAN and MARY GRACE C. ESMAYA A THOMASIAN is making a name in architecture with bamboos.

With passion and determination, Christian Salandanan, found his big break with the use of bamboos, which he considers as “greener alternative” for architecture.

“There are various materials that are being utilized in our modern era, all of which leaves a significant amount of carbon footprint on the long run. We need to find alternatives for those kinds of construction materials,” he said in an interview.

Like the strength of a sturdy bamboo, Salandanan stood firm and steadfast in passing through the challenges he experienced while working with his bamboo thesis during his stay in the University, which he mentioned as “common for any other artists.”

“There are many problems and issues with regards to the material, from its social acceptability down to the material handling. By using facts and technical data on handling the material, everything can be justified,” he said.

Salandanan, who graduated in 2015, placed fifth in the Architectural licensure exam last June.

His u n d e r graduate thesis, “Casa Architecture PAGE 6

Freshman enrollment down ahead of K to 12 LESS than a year before the K to 12 education reform goes full swing, UST saw a slight decline in freshman enrollment, data from the Office of the Registrar showed.

A total of 13,615 freshmen were admitted in the first term of this academic year, down by nearly one percent or 115 enrollees from last year’s 13,730.

The UST-Alfredo M. Velayo College of Accountancy recorded the biggest drop in freshman enrollees at 18.28 percent, or a decline of 876 students from last year’s 1,072.

“We accepted 24 classes last academic year so that means we have fully utilized the classrooms.

So we cannot accept more than this number [of students],” Accountancy Dean Patricia Empleo said in an interview.

The Conservatory of Music’s freshman admission jumped to 391 from last year’s 236, or 65.7 percent—the biggest increase among the colleges.

The Faculty of Arts and Letters took in the most number of

freshmen with 1,438 students, up from last year’s 1,383. The Faculty of Pharmacy followed with 1,178 enrollees, up from 948 last year.

“It’s a good strategy to take a buffer for the decreased number of freshmen for the next academic year ... we will be opening [more slots] for Medical Technology and Pharmacy programs, but still not as much as the number of sections that we have for this academic year,” Pharmacy Dean Aleth Therese Dacanay said.

Other colleges that recorded an increase in freshman admission were the Faculty of Sacred Theology; the Colleges of Nursing, Rehabilitation Sciences, Science, Tourism and Hospitality Management; and the Institute of Physical Education and Athletics.

The pioneer batch of the Institute of Information and Computing Science had 765 enrollees.

The Faculties of Philosophy and Canon Law; the Colleges of Architecture, Commerce and Business Administration,

Education, Fine Arts and Design; and the Graduate School saw declines in freshman admission.

The total student population of UST meanwhile inched up by 2.2 percent to 44,791 students, from last year’s 43,818.

Vice Rector for Academic Affairs Clarita Carillo said the decision to admit freshmen lies with the colleges.

“The decision on the enrollment of freshmen and how many sections to open and how many [students] to admit lies with the dean and faculty council,” Carillo told the Varsitarian.

Secretary General Fr. Winston Cabading, O.P. for his part said: “It is important to note that fluctuations in the number of enrollees per year are expected as the number of available slots change every application year.”

This is the last academic year before the K to 12 program is fully implemented. Instead of graduating to college next year, fourth-year high school students will enroll in Grade 11.

THE UNIVERSITY plans to integrate with other Dominican schools and build satellite campuses beginning next year, in a bid to extend Thomasian education beyond the four walls of the Sampaloc campus.

In his first Rector’s Report last Oct. 16 at the Medicine Auditorium, Rector Fr. Herminio Dagohoy, O.P. said the University would continue to pursue the construction of UST’s satellite campuses in General Santos (GenSan) City in Mindanao and Sta. Rosa, Laguna early next year. “[W]e dream of having campuses outside.

The dream has never died [even with] factors beyond our control. And with the proposed integration of Dominican schools, we might find UST not only [in] General Santos and Sta. Rosa, but also in Legazpi, Iloilo and Quezon City,” Fr. Dagohoy said before hundreds of students, faculty, administrators, support staff, religious and alumni.

“While UST GenSan might take time to materialize, the UST Sta. Rosa campus might happen sooner. The University [has] awarded the site development project to [architects] and the project is scheduled to take off early next year in 2016,” he said.

After the completion of the Buenaventura G. Paredes, O.P. Alumni Building and the University Practice Gym this year, the Rector said UST still has a few more building projects to complete, including the UST Hospital Extension Building and a new Central Laboratory Building, which will house the Science, Pharmacy and research laboratories.

In his speech, Fr. Dagohoy bared a “threeyear, nine-directional” compendium of the University’s milestones, situating UST in the middle of the change in the country’s educational landscape starting next year.

“What made UST exceptional is the ability to maintain its tradition and yet introduce measures to address the present,” he said.

Fr. Dagohoy said new offices built during his administration broadened UST’s functions and strengthened the University’s efforts toward internationalization.

He trumpeted UST’s standing in the Londonbased consultancy Quacquarelli-Symonds’ (QS) Asian and world university rankings, at 143rd and the 701+ bracket, respectively.

He noted that QS had given the University four out of five stars in its “Stars University Rating,” the first among Philippine universities.

UST maintained its outstanding performances in licensure examinations, with Campuses PAGE 11

2 News

Editors: Dayanara T. Cudal and Danielle Ann F. Gabriel

OCTOBER 29, 2015

UST all set for 2015 Bar examination

UST is “all-systems-go” as it prepares to host the 2015 Bar Examinations for the fifth straight year.

Faculty of Civil Law Dean Nilo Divina said feedback from Supreme Court Justices had been positive as regards to UST as venue for the bar exams.

“It’s all-systems-go for UST, the memorandum of agreement has been signed between UST and the Supreme Court,” Divina said in an interview.

The 2015 Bar Examinations is slated on all four Sundays of November. Like in previous years, a liquor ban will be implemented around the campus. The sale of beer and other alcoholic products between 4 a.m. and 8 p.m. will be prohibited during examination days.

UST Security Office Chief Joseph Badinas said there were no reported liquor-related incidents around UST last year, but some examinees came to the University drunk. The Philippine National Police will deal with such cases, he said.

UST’s performance In terms of the University’s performance in the bar exams, Divina said UST was aiming at improving its passing rate and producing a bar topnotcher this year.

Last year, only 69 out of 157 Thomasian examinees passed the bar. No Thomasian made it to the top 10 list.

“Our goal is not only to be one of the topperforming law schools. We want to keep on improving our bar passing percentage, and hopefully get a topnotcher,” Divina said.

To prepare for this year’s “case-heavy” Examination PAGE 10

Architecture gets Level I PACUCOA accreditation THE UST College of Architecture is set to gain local accreditation from a local accrediting agency—a first since its establishment in 1930.

Architecture is set to be granted the Level I accreditation status by the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation (PACUCOA) for the period June 2015 to June 2018.

According to the PACUCOA website, Level I accreditation status grants “full administrative and financial deregulation in terms of setting of tuition and other fees and charges for three years.” It also enables authority to revise the curriculum without the Commission on Higher Education’s approval.

Accreditation procedures include consultancy visits, preliminary survey visits, a self-survey, a formal visit, a reaccreditation survey visit, and assessment of requirements.

PACUCOA is a private accrediting agency Accreditation PAGE 10

Graduate School to offer extension programs in Cebu THE UST Graduate School will soon be offering extension programs in the “Queen City of the South.”

The Graduate School has established a partnership with the University of San Carlos in Cebu City, its fourth, to offer extension programs for masteral degrees in Marketing Communication and Fine Arts.

Other universities that the UST Graduate School has partnerships with are the University of San Agustin in Iloilo City for its Master of Laws and Master of Science in Pharmacy programs; Ateneo de Davao for its Master of Arts (MA) in Architecture program; and Aquinas University in Legazpi City for its MA major in Library and Information Science and Master of Laws programs.

According to the UST’s official website, the partnerships aim to further enhance and strengthen UST’s institutional alliances and make Thomasian graduate education more accessible.

Faculty members from the Graduate School will be deployed to Cebu as part of the program. “Without having to be physically present in the University on a regular basis, graduate students may acquire the substance of Thomasian training and be branded as Thomasians after attending the special programs,” the website read.

San Carlos is administered and managed by the Society of the Divine Word. KATHRYN JEDI V. BAYLON and ALHEX ADREA M. PERALTA

ADORATION. Memebers of the Dominican Order join the procession in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary of La Naval last Oct. 11.

AMPARO KLARIN J. MANGOROBAN

Devotion in action highlighted in La Naval de Manila feast THE LAITY were called to turn their devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary by helping the poor during the celebration of the feast of La Naval de Manila at Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City last Oct. 11.

Devotees were encouraged to let the Lord enter their lives and use their faith to support the poor with the theme, “Inang Maria: Kalakbay sa Pagharap sa Hamon ng Karalitaan at Kabanalan.”

Fr. Delfo Canceron, O.P., a Dominican preacher based in UST, recalled how the Blessed Virgin accepted the responsibility of being the mother of Christ in his homily. “Si Maria ay bukasloob sa kalooban ng Diyos kaya

nagsimula ang kasaysayan ng pagkakatawang-tao ng Panginoon,” Fr. Canceron said.

In contrast, people now fail to respond to the call of God due to the rigors of daily life, he noted.

Fr. Rolando Mactal, O.P. prior of Santo Domingo Convent, called on devotees to lend a helping hand to the poor through prayers to the Blessed Mother. A stronger way of showing devotion to the Blessed Mother is through actions, he said.

“When devotees of the Blessed Mother pray the holy rosary, they remember those who are poor, and this can help them turn their devotion into action.

Aside from attending activities like this and praying the rosary, we can also participate in helping other people,” Fr. Mactal said.

Faith on the laity Vina Bunyi, a devotee of Our Lady of the Rosary of La Naval for the past 15 years, said attending the annual feast has been a tradition.

“Tradisyon na talaga namin ito at saka siyempre, ‘yung panata. Estudiyante pa lang ako sa Santa Catalina dumadalo na talaga ako dito,” Bunyi said.

Filipinas Tomelden, a devotee who has attended the feast since 2005, took part in the procession with her daughter.

“Noong college kasi siya, sinasamahan ko na siya sa La Naval, hanggang ngayon.

At siyempre, deboto rin ako,” Tomelden said.

Tomelden said the Blessed Virgin Mary had granted many of her petitions. “I believe in her. One of my petitions before was to be able to work abroad.

I was able to work in Japan for 13 years,” she said.

After the Holy Mass, thousands of devotees processed on the streets around Santo Domingo. The celebration was closed by a farewell song led by the Santo Domingo Male and Boys’ Choir. KRYSTEL NICOLE A. SEVILLA

UST aces CPA Faculty Union chief gets fresh term exams, sinks in Mechanical Eng’g boards THE UNIVERSITY dominated the October board examinations for certified public accountants (CPA), but recorded a lower passing rate in the licensure exams for mechanical engineers last September.

UST was named the second topperforming school in the CPA exams after 364 Thomasians passed out of 382 examinees, or a 95.29-percent passing rate, results from the Professional Regulation Commission showed.

This was significantly higher than last year’s 67.53-percent passing rate, in which 52 out of 77 examinees passed the exam.

Last year, the UST Alfredo M. VelayoCollege of Accountancy added another year to its curriculum. As a result, Thomasian examinees last year were composed of repeaters and those who did not graduate on time.

May Anne Reyes placed seventh and led this year’s batch of Thomasian accountants, with a score of 91.29 percent.

She was followed by Ma. Rosa Reyes who placed eighth with a score of 91.14 percent.

The University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman remained the top-performing school after recording a 98.70-percent passing rate, with 76 out of 77 examinees making the cut.

The national passing rate improved to 41.06 percent, or 5,468 passers out of 13,317examinees, from last year’s 37.02 Boards PAGE 10

AFTER winning a fresh term, UST Faculty Union President Dr. George Lim plans to make sure salaries will not be affected by the University’s plan to transfer college faculty to UST Senior High School (SHS) as part of the transition to K to 12.

Lim said the union would seek a meeting with the Department of Labor and Employment to discuss the benefits and salaries of faculty members to be moved to senior high school.

“We are looking at several alternatives so the faculty member will not feel the difference [in the salary], so there will be no difference at all,” Lim said, without going into details.

Lim said tenured faculty members won’t be removed unless they opt for voluntary retirement, adding that only “contractual faculty members whose contracts end this school year may have to leave.”

In August, UST-SHS Principal Pilar Romero released the guidelines for the transfer of college faculty to senior high school next year, stressing that the number of professors to be taken in would be dependent on the number of enrollees.

The University is eyeing at least 5,000 enrollees for the SHS, which will open in 2016 in response to the K to 12 reform.

Votes split Lim mustered 369 votes and cruised to victory as his two rivals for the USTFU presidency split the larger bloc of faculty members that voted for change in leadership in the USTFU elections last Sept. 28.

Lim

With the support of Medicine faculty, Lim’s “Kabalikat” party also secured the majority of executive positions and board seats.

Rene Luis Tadle, a long-time union executive who quit USTFU’s number two post to run against Lim under the “Lead 4 Change Alliance,” obtained 314 votes while an independent candidate, philosophy professor Jove Jim Aguas, got 175 votes.

Lim, who took over the USTFU presidency in 2011 following the sudden resignation of Dr. Gil Gamilla amid controversy over union funds, will serve a five-year term until 2020.

Lim said he would also push for changes in the union’s outdated constitution and by-laws, and prod the UST administration to commence negotiations for the 20162021 collective bargaining agreement.

Tadle said he would continue fighting for the rights of faculty members to be affected by the K to Term PAGE 11

Editor: Mary Gillan Frances G. Ropero

OCTOBER 29, 2015

Special Reports 3

Pork issues hound nat’l budget FOR ITS FINAL year in office, the administration of President Benigno Aquino III is proposing the largest national budget in history and the first annual outlay to cross the P3-trillion mark. Is it pork barrel-free?

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares warns that the graft-prone pork barrel system still persists in the national budget in the form of “lumpsum appropriations.”

The 2016 lump-sum appropriations, he claims, amount to more than P573 billion.

Lump-sum budgets are viewed with suspicion as they do not contain details on how the money would be spent.

“Such amount should surely and obviously be so appealing to our politicians to use as campaign kitty come 2016 elections,” Colmenares, who is running for senator in the May 2016 elections, said in an email to the Varsitarian.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM), however, contends that only 3 percent or P79.3 billion of the proposed 2016 budget may be strictly considered lump-sum funds. These include calamity funds (P19 billion), contingency funds (P4 billion) and funding for local government units (P50 billion).

The government is proposing P3.002 trillion in expenditures for fiscal year 2016, 15.2 percent or P396 billion more than the approved P2.606 trillion budget for 2015, according to the 2016 national budget e-book.

At any rate, the government’s handling of lump-sum allocations has changed, contrary to allegations, said Francis Capistrano, head of the DBM Strategic Communications Unit.

“Noon, lump-sum lang siya na binigay mo `yung discretion to the executive on how to implement the lump-sum fund,” he said.

Now, agencies and lawmakers must first identify their projects including details, before the budget is passed.

This is to avoid misuse of lump-sum appropriations. “[Kailangan] magpakita sa amin ng datos kung saan talaga [gagamitin ‘yung budget] para hindi siya prone sa mga prerogative [and] discretions ng mga lawmakers,” said John Alliage Morales, lead writer of the proposed budget’s

would be given the highest allocations, through budget reforms and reduction of debt burden, according to the e-booklet.

General public services rank third, receiving P517.9 billion or 17.25 percent of the total. Debt burden will account for P419.3 billion or 13.97 percent of the 2016 national budget. Defense ranks fifth with P129.1 billion or 4.30 percent.

e-book.

Capistrano argued that the government needed flexibility on lumpsum appropriations because it would not be able to predict how much funding would be required in cases of urgent projects, as well as relief and rehabilitation during calamities and natural disasters.

In this case, lump-sum funds are not the same as pork barrel, also known as Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF), previously granted to each member of the Congress for spending on projects in their respective districts or constituencies.

The pork barrel has been subject to intense public scrutiny following newspaper revelations in 2013 implicating several legislators in a 10-year, P10-billion scam that funneled taxpayers’ money into fake nongovernment organizations put up by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

The 2016 budget was approved by the House of Representatives last Oct. 9 despite objections from the minority,

including Colmenares, over the lumpsum appropriations. It is still awaiting approval in the Senate.

Revenue-based Capistrano said the increase in the proposed budget was not arbitrary but based on the revenues that the government was capable of raising.

“The budget is based on the capacity of the government to fund it, and this capacity of the government to fund the budget is based on its capacity to collect taxes,” Capistrano said in an interview with the Varsitarian.

A small portion of the national budget is funded by non-tax revenue, which includes fees and licenses, privatization proceeds, and income from other government operations and stateowned enterprises.

Examples of non-tax revenue are collections made by government-owned and -controlled corporations like the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

A fifth of GDP The proposed 2016 budget is equivalent to 19.5 percent of the economy as measured by gross domestic product or GDP, up from 18.7 percent of GDP in 2015. GDP is the value of all goods and services produced by the domestic economy.

In terms of sector, social services will receive the largest allocation next fiscal year, data from the e-booklet showed. The outlay will amount to P1.1059 trillion or 36.84 percent of the proposed budget. This was an increase of 16.1 percent from the 2015 allocation of P952.7 billion.

Social services pertain to programs related to education, healthcare, housing and social welfare and employment.

Economic services will have the second largest share at P829.6 billion, equivalent to 27.64 percent of the proposed budget. This was an increase of 17.3 percent from 2015.

This would be the first time in 30 years that social and economic services

DepEd gets highest budget In accordance with the Constitution, the Department of Education will receive the lion’s share of the budget with an allocation of P436 billion, up by 15.4 percent from its 2015 allocation of P377.7 billion.

The Department of Public Works and Highways follows with P394.5 billion, up by 29.7 percent from its 2015 allocation of P304.1 billion.

Other departments in the top 10 are the Department of National Defense (P172.7 billion); Department of the Interior and Local Government (P154.5 billion); Department of Health (P128.4 billion); Department of Social Welfare and Development (P104.2 billion); Department of Agriculture (P93.4 billion); Department of Finance (P55.3 billion); Department of Transportation and Communications (P49.3 billion); Department of Environment and Natural Resources (P25.8 billion); and Department of Science and Technology (P18.6 billion).

Citizen engagement needed The e-booklet version of the proposed budget is an effort to strengthen citizen engagement in the budget process.

Citizen engagement has been the weakest link in the budget process for years, Capistrano said. “[Citizen engagement is] not only telling the government what you should fund… [but] for citizens to hold government agencies accountable,” he added.

The e-booklet helps in making the budget more comprehensible to citizens because it translates the five-volume spending program into layman’s terms, Morales said.

The proposed People’s Budget e-booklet is available for preview and download at the website of the Official Gazette, www.gov.ph. PAUL XAVIER JAEHWA C. BERNARDO

New bill seeks to protect students from faculty bullying BEWARE, teachers who bully students.

A bill seeks to include high school and elementary teachers among those covered by the Anti-Bullying Act of 2013 and distinguish the “fine line between teacher discipline and abuse.”

The bill mandates the Department of Education (DepEd) to provide training for teachers and assistance to guidance counselors on how to discipline misbehaving students “without resorting to corporal punishment.”

Senate Bill No. 2793 is “not punitive” in nature but rather a guide for school officials to properly instruct students, said Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, principal author of the anti-bullying law.

“We want to raise awareness and to mandate each school to adopt anti-bullying policies, whether committed by students or teachers,” Angara said in an email to the Varsitarian.

The bill states that a teacher or any school employee found to have committed any act of bullying on a student would be fined an amount ranging from P50,000 to P100,000 and/or sent to prison for six months to one year.

Data from the DepEd showed that a total of 6,235 “bullying” cases were filed during academic year 2013-2014, of which 999 involved child abuse and 5,236 were cases of bullying.

Signed into law by President Benigno Aquino III, Republic Act No. 10627 or the Anti-Bullying Act of 2013 requires “all elementary and secondary schools to adopt policies to prevent and address the acts of bullying in their institutions.”

‘Displaced aggression’ Bullying, as defined by law, is any repeated written, verbal, physical act or electronic expression done by one or more students to physically or emotionally harm or threaten another student. It also includes material and substantial school disturbance and damage to property of other students.

“In psychology, bullying is a displaced aggression,” psychology professor Arlo Salvador

said in an interview.

Salvador said there was a problem with how school officials dealt with bullies, pointing to their “curative rather than preventive” approach.

Instead of merely disciplining the “bully,” teachers should conduct a long-term assessment on the “aggressor” and provide follow-up reports to parents.

“Hindi lang sagutin ng magulang, teachers, administrator, or medical committee [ang kalagayan ng isang bully]. [Dapat isagawa] ang multidisciplinary approach,” Salvador said.

Signs of being a bully must be addressed as early as possible to prevent the student from reaching the point of extreme physical aggression, he added.

Some of the short-term effects of bullying are fear and lack of self-confidence, which may eventually result in aggression if not prevented, Salvador said.

Safety a priority In handling cases of bullying, Angara said the primary responsibility of school authorities was to guarantee the safety of students within school premises.

Under DepEd Order No. 40 outlining the cabinet department’s Child Protection Policy, private and public schools were required beginning 2012 to form Child Protection Committees to decide on bullying cases.

The committee is to be composed of school officials, teachers, parents, students and community representatives, to allow a balanced discussion and to arrive at a fair decision.

The policy aims to “promote zero-tolerance policy for any act of child exploitation, violence, discrimination, and other forms of abuse.”

No serious cases in UST A document from the UST Counseling and Career Center showed that 12 UST students from the secondary and tertiary levels had filed “minor”

cases of bullying.

A preliminary survey meanwhile found that 124 students, or 37 percent of the total 334 students of the UST Education High school, the laboratory school of the College of Education, considered themselves victims of bullying.

UST Education High School (EHS) Principal Loreto Sauz however clarified that no serious cases of bullying had occurred under her watch. Thus, there had been no need to call parents to CPC meetings.

In UST Junior High School (JHS), no serious bullying cases were also reported. However a “slight increase” in “cyberbullying” cases was reported last academic year, JHS Assistant Principal Marivic Torres said in an email.

Torres attributed the increase of reported cyberbullying cases to the surge in social media use, particularly Twitter and Facebook.

“The faculty especially the homeroom advisers remind the students on proper decorum or responsibilities especially in using social media,” Torres said.

Students more effective in campaign Sauz said student-leaders were more effective anti-bullying advocates, compared with teachers.

“Students will be responsible enough if they see their fellow students promote the advocacy,” Sauz said.

One of the projects assigned to the EHS student council this school year is the Bullying Prevention Campaign, where students can join art activities like slogan- and poster-making contests.

UST-JHS has also stepped up its anti-bullying campaign.

In 2013, Geronimo Sy, assistant secretary of the Department of Justice, conducted a seminar with school officials and the JHS Parents’ Association to take steps toward “a heightened awareness campaign on bullying and cyberbullying.”

Last year, the JHS began its “Respect, Empathy, Acceptance, and Compassion bring

Harmony” or REACH Program to “stop bullying in the school environment through a collaborative community.” MONICA M. HERNANDEZ, with reports from JOHN CHESTER S. FAJARDO and MARY GILLAN FRANCES G. ROPERO

4 Opinion

OCTOBER 29, 2015

Editorial

Scrutinize candidates THE PRESIDENCY is no easy job, but there sure was no shortage of aspirants wanting to take it just the same.

After the five-day period set by the Commission on Election (Comelec), a total of 130 people filed their certificates of candidacy (COC) for president, the highest number in Philippine election history, easily beating 2010’s 99 candidates.

They included a man who described himself as an “intergalactic space ambassador,” another who goes by the name “Archangel Lucifer,” and a few others who said they were running because they had been told by the heavens to do so.

Their presence provided comic relief in what was supposed to be a serious undertaking at the Comelec main office in Intramuros, Manila.

(Don’t forget that we’re going to choose our next leaders soon and the last thing we need is a bunch of jokers making a mockery of our elections.)

It is easy to see that the perennial presence of so-called nuisance candidates in the national elections may be a microcosm of how Filipinos could be so puffed-up about their self-worth that they could entertain delusions that they would be qualified for top leadership.

The Omnibus Election Code defines “nuisance” candidates as those who make a mockery out of the election system, seek to confuse voters through similarity of names between candidates, and those who have no good faith in running for office.

It is interesting how many people want to be the president of a country that is still far from being developed. Obviously, many of them are not aware of the huge responsibilities that they may inherit from the previous administration.

Most of these presidential hopefuls do not even have the slightest idea about how big of duty they will have to take if they will win in the election.

It does not suffice that one knows how to read and write, nor does having a noble and genuine advocacy, in order to make a good leader. One must at least have the knowledge and experience about our political system and the problems that our country is currently facing. Leaders are not born, they are made—through proper education and experience.

Of course, the Comelec is expected to trim down the list and eliminate nuisance candidates.

By the time the commission is done, we’ll probably be left with four to six “serious” presidential candidates.

The joke—or to some extent, freak show—that was the filing of COCs actually mirrored a larger travesty that is, the way we generally elect our leaders. We talk about maturing as a democracy Editorial PAGE 10

FOUNDED JAN. 16, 1928 LORD BIEN G. LELAY Editor in Chief ANGELI MAE S. CANTILLANA Managing Editor ARIANNE F. MEREZ Associate Editor DAYANARA T. CUDAL News Editor DANIELLE ANN F. GABRIEL Assistant News Editor MARY GILLAN FRANCES G. ROPERO Special Reports Editor ERIKA MARIZ S. CUNANAN Features Editor ALILIANA MARGARETTE T. UYAO Literary Editor MARIA KOREENA M. ESLAVA Patnugot ng Filipino MARIE DANIELLE L. MACALINO Witness Editor DARYL ANGELO P. BAYBADO Acting Circle Editor RHENN ANTHONY S. TAGUIAM Online Editor ROBERTO A. VERGARA, JR. Assistant Online Editor AVA MARIANGELA C. VICTORIA Art Director BASILIO H. SEPE Photography Editor News Kathryn Jedi V. Baylon, Clarence I. Hormachuelos, Alhex Adrea M. Peralta, Jerome P. Villanueva Sports Carlo A. Casingcasing, Delfin Ray M. Dioquino, John Chester P. Fajardo, Philip Martin L. Matel, Randell Angelo B. Ritumalta Special Reports Paul Xavier Jaehwa C. Bernardo, Monica M. Hernandez Features Mary Grace C. Esmaya, Maria Corazon A. Inay, Vianca A. Ocampo Literary Zenmond G. Duque II, Cedric Allen P. Sta. Cruz Filipino Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas, Bernadette A. Paminutan Witness Krystel Nicole A. Sevilla, Lea Mat P. Vicencio Science and Technology Mia Rosienna P. Mallari, Kimberly Joy V. Naparan, Julius Roman M. Tolop Circle Amierielle Anne A. Bulan, Ma. Czarina A. Fernandez, Ethan James M. Siat Art Kirsten M. Jamilla, Freya D.L.R. Torres, Iain Rafel N. Tyapon Photography Alvin Joseph Kasiban, Amparo Klarin J. Mangoroban, Miah Terrenz Provido

FELIPE F. SALVOSA II Assistant Publications Adviser JOSELITO B. ZULUETA Publications Adviser Letters/comments/suggestions/contributions are welcome in the Varsitarian. Only letters with signatures and corresponding contact details will be entertained. Original manuscript contributions must be typewritten, double-spaced, on regular bond paper, and should include a signed certification bearing the author’s name, address, year, and college. The identity of a writer may be withheld upon request. The editors will not be responsible for the loss of materials. Contributions must be sent to THE VARSITARIAN office, Rm. 105, Tan Yan Kee Student Center Bldg., University of Santo Tomas, España, Manila.

Adding insult to injury PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III has expressed “disappointment” over reports that some college students had asked the filmmakers of the celebrated historical movie, “Heneral Luna,” why Apolinario Mabini is shown sitting in the entire movie, disclosing their ignorance of Philippine history since the “Brains of the Revolution” was a paralytic.

But the gross ignorance of history is merely the tip of the iceberg for the highly inefficient and ineffective Philippine education system.

In all other areas of education, especially sciences and mathematics, and even English language instruction and culture and the humanities, the Filipino student practically wears the dunce cap.

The education sector, despite historically being given the largest share of the national budget, remains a very problematic sector, one that somehow reflects the failures of the Philippine nation.

The Philippine government should not expect to produce the best kind of students if it does so little to improve the quality of education.

For next year, the proposed general appropriations act (GAA) will once again give the sector the biggest allocation—P367.1 billion—from the P2.6trillion overall budget, largely to implement controversial K to 12 program.

Despite the big budget and the bright promise held out by education officials for the K to 12, many are pessimistic that the Department of Education (DepEd) won’t be able to foster quality education.

As if realizing that his observation on the ignorance of Filipino students about

Mabini and Philippine history would be taken against his government and its failure to foster quality education, Aquino pointed out K to 12 had yet to be fully implemented.

In his defense, Education Secretary Armin Luistro said the lapse in history knowledge as disclosed in the Mabini incident should not reflect on the whole education system. He pleaded to check with curriculum supervisors and teachers if Philippine national heroes were being taught in classrooms.

It is bad enough that some students reach college without a

clear understanding and appreciation of Philippine history; but it is worse when they had to rely on a movie to do the teaching.

Not that “Heneral Luna” is a bad movie. It is a good movie, perhaps a great one.

But the fact that it nearly got booted out of theaters because its earnings weren’t enough for commercially minded cineplexes that had been pampered by stupid Hollywood movies featuring Batman, Spiderman and socalled superheroes wearing belts on the underwear, should indicate the poor cultural education and taste of Filipinos, education and taste acquired through 10 years of instruction from the graft-prone, incompetent and ultimately bankrupt system fostered across the generations by the DepEd. Now that two more years have been added to the bankrupt system, can we expect relief and alleviation?

So it is unfair that students are shouldering all Headstrong PAGE 10

Millennials on Martial Law IT’S SURPRISING, to say the least, that as we mark the declaration of Martial Law every Sept. 21, voices expressing approval for the darkest period in our history grow even louder. It’s shocking that many of these voices belong to “Generations Y and Z,” and they go so far as to say Martial Law should be imposed again in the country.

The Generation Y, the so-called “millennials,” or those born between the ‘80s and the ‘90s, and the Generation Z or those born in the early 2000s, are the technologically advanced generation—accounting for 87 percent of Facebook users and 37 percent of Twitter users, according to the Pew Research Center.

These generations take for granted what they currently have—the freedom of expression, assembly, and of the press—precisely the freedoms taken away by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos during Martial Law. If those in Generations Y and Z who are pro-Martial Law have not only been posting Facebook statuses about the Marcos regime but

Generations who have not experienced Martial Law are the ones who find it very convenient to say that it would be good for the country, that it would be a good form of ‘discipline.’ have also been reading about it, they would have known better than to engage in revisionist history.

The statistics on human rights violations are staggering: 3,257 extrajudicial killings, 35,000 people tortured, and 70,000 incarcerated, according to research by Alfred McCoy, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin.

Also, that the Martial Law proclamation, while dated Sept. 21, 1972, was announced by Marcos over national television on Sept.

23. On that same day, seven television stations and seven major newspapers were shut down, while four senators and approximately 8,000

individuals were arrested.

The generations who have not experienced Martial Law are the ones who find it very convenient to say that it would be good for the country, that it would be a good form of “discipline.”

However, it was discipline out of fear: fear of being detained or of “disappearing” for an uncertain amount of time, or worse never to return.

If Martial Law is again imposed, Facebook, Twitter and other social media would probably be banned, and Generations Y and Z would probably not survive being unable to post their selfies and all their complaints about the government, the traffic, their

professors, or their love lives.

There’d be a curfew, which means no late-night partying.

Generations Y and Z grew up in the age of Google and e-books, but cannot even bother to research and verify facts before posting their opinions.

“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it,” said Spanish philosopher and novelist George Santayana, and this speaks a lot about what is to come when the misinformed millennials take over.

If there is one similarity about the character of Joven (youth in Spanish) in the historical biopic “Heneral Luna,” and the present-day youth, it is that we have not lost our eyesight and our ability to express ourselves.

We have the democracy, and the freedom of speech that comes with it, which our national heroes and forefathers have fought for with their blood and sweat.

We are now more capable than ever to read and learn about our country’s history, the only thing that will save us from repeating our previous mistakes.

OCTOBER 29, 2015

Opinion 5

Modern evangelization through entertainment Fusion—and fission— We have seen the of cultures deterioration of values

NOONTIME television, once the domain of cheap laughs, silly contests and other frivolities, is finally evolving into a medium that can help evangelize the youth.

Church groups such as Youth Pinoy have lauded the efforts of Eat Bulaga’s “Kalyeserye,” the hit segment of the longestrunning noontime show on Philippine TV, for promoting values such as modesty and patience to the youth.

Amid positive reviews for the show, Fr. Conegundo Garganta, executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Youth of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, reminded viewers to not only focus on the show’s “kilig factor,” but also the message of purity of love that the characters Yayadub and Alden Richards

in the entertainment sector, with the TV networks’ obsession for ratings and advertising profits.

(collectively, “AlDub”) espouse.

The recent Catholic Social Media Summit saw the timely launch of the Catholic Social Media Awards, the first winner of which was Eat Bulaga’s Kalyeserye. The citations for Maine Mendoza, the Catholic schoolgirl who is now Yayadub, and even Wally Bayola, the comedian who plays the role of conservative guardian Lola

Nidora, are well-deserved, despite opposition from some in the Church leadership.

It has been a while since a TV network featured an entertainment program that promotes positive social values, considering all the teleseryes and other shows promoting and celebrating the themes of adultery, sex and violence over the years.

Some of these shows (and the personalities involved) have won awards

from Catholic institutions, including this University, even if their positions on many issues do not coincide with the Church’s.

We have seen the deterioration of values in the entertainment sector, with the TV networks’ obsession for ratings and advertising profits. Kalyeserye’s success is an opportunity for the media to offer more valuesoriented shows catering to the youth.

The popularity of Eat Bulaga’s Kalyeserye is more importantly an opportunity to reach out to the youth, the future of the Church, that the Church leadership must grab.

As Pope Francis has said, quoting Pope St. John Paul II in his message for the upcoming World Youth Day in 2016, “the youth is set to carry the flame of Christ’s merciful love.”

BEING Chinese-Filipino is like swimming through Yin and Yang.

Like many Tsinoys, I was born and raised in the Philippines. I speak better in Filipino and English than in Chinese. I have not even set foot in China and have considered the Philippines as my only home.

I spent my younger years with my other Chinese-Filipino or full-blooded Chinese classmates, talking and acting like typical Filipino children. We were baptized as Christians, but our families also pray and give offerings in Buddhist temples.

We were also taught the values of perseverance, discipline, and humility, but these are not as heavily imposed on us as maybe the case in typical Filipino households.

We celebrate Christmas and New Year but we also celebrate Chinese holidays, especially the Chinese Lunar New Year, with colorful lanterns, dragon and lion dances, fireworks, ang paos, and Chinese operas.

Many Chinese customs and traditions have also influenced several Filipino practices and values.

Most Filipinos have learned to respect us with our keen perspective for living a Filipino lifestyle despite the duality of our culture.

We must realize that racism starts with the smallest joke, which can send the wrong message to other people.

But there will always be racism—even in its slightest form—against us who are different from the rest. Sometimes, people do not even realize that we, too, are Filipinos, even if we are half-Chinese.

With the territorial conflict between the Philippines and China, some people look at us with distrust.

I often hear the word “Intsik” and many Tsinoys get irritated even if it’s said as a joke.

We must realize that racism starts with the smallest joke, which can send the wrong message.

Others should realize that it is already hard for us to fit in this society as Chinese-Filipinos.

Although I am living between two different ethnicities, with their own distinct qualities, I have learned to strike a balance, just like the harmony of the Yin Yang.

Filipino and Chinese cultures, despite their differences, can perfectly complement each other.

And, this is what made me who I am today.

Stage

Country

FROM PAGE 11

FROM PAGE 6

admits there is more pressure for him in competing since he came from a family of athletes.

In addition to fulfilling his personal goals, the lanky sixfoot-two leaper says that he is doing it for his father who earlier promised his coach, the late Bill Villanueva, that he would produce a homegrown Filipino that could clear beyond the five-meter mark.

At the time, FilipinoAmerican Edward Lasquete held the record at 5.0 meters set in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

When the third year Electrical Engineering student finally passed Lasquete’s record by a whisker at 5.01 meters in July 2014, Villanueva was not able to see his prodigy’s promise for he had passed away.

Obiena is thankful since everything came into place for him to exceed everyone’s expectations, which he had never thought as a small and sluggish child.

“Sa ngayon, napakasaya ko kasi maraming tao ang naniniwala na maabot ko ang Olympic standard, which was impossible a few months ago.

Gusto kong ipakita na kaya ng Filipino na makapag-hit ng qualifier sa Olympics, which is very rare,” he said. PHILIP

He was able to witness his students grow from kids who did not know how to hold instruments to an orchestra that performed in the concluding mass during Pope Francis visit to the Philippines in Luneta last Jan. 18.

He acknowledged that the UST not only trained him tobecome an accomplished musician, but also provided him opportunities and necessary tools to become an inspiration to others through service.

“It’s the holistic growth that is most important, what you learn outside the classroom is more valuable.

Improve yourself where you can contribute something,” Bautista said. “You have to work based on your passion, your own motivations. It’s about taking care of the tree and not the fruit. Train your students to become better than you.”

The vibrant beats and melodies that come from his compositions remain as reflections of the colorful music he shares with our fellow Filipino youth.

His love for our country continues to shine through the tunes of his classical compositions as he travels the provinces, playing his own tribute to the country. VIANCA

MARTIN L. MATEL

A. OCAMPO

6 Features

Editor: Erika Mariz S. Cunanan

OCTOBER 29, 2015

Architecture alumnus finds big break in bamboos FROM PAGE 1

Salandanan

Kawayan: A research and the development complex,” was recognized as the thesis of the year in the First National Architectural Thesis Competition in 2014.

The study was also recognized in the second Archi-World Academy Awards, an international competition for architecture students which was held in Munich, Germany last February. The award

led him to what he considers as hitting two birds in a stone—not only did it boost his morale, but also paved the way for an internship with Anadram Architects in India.

Recently, Salandanan’s innovation bested 125 artists in the World Bamboo Design Contest, a competition under the 10th World Bamboo Congress in Damyang, South Korea.

Salandanan placed third in the Architecture category, but he believes that the best thing that he earned is encouragement. “I wanted to scale my performance and skills on a global scale.”

The competition had three categories—household goods, transportation and architecture. It aims to boost innovations in bamboo product design and ingenuities to sustain the use

of bamboo.

Through the competition, Salandanan was able to connect with different people of different cultures around the world.

“Regardless of their age or race, sharing their own stories on how they want to contribute to the world will always be priceless,” he added.

Salandanan, currently working as a freelance designer, admitted he is

clueless on how he will answer the question “what’s next?” “I still don’t know what my next concrete move will be, but one thing is for sure. I will pursue and continue exploring on the limitless possibilities of bamboo as a building material,” he said.

But he knows how to answer the question “what builds him” concretely— the Thomasian values and competence that pushed him to aim for a spotlight in the architecture industry.

Aiming for the falsetto WITH a fan base of almost 9,000 followers in the music website SoundCloud, this Thomasian artist is just waiting to be discovered by a bigger audience.

But Chiara “Chir” Cataran already had her own moment in the spotlight. The Musical Theatre student has her own plethora of awards, recordings and formal training to set her apart from other aspiring artists.

In the recently concluded 19th World Championships of the Performing Arts in California, Cataran bagged one of 32 silver medals won by the Philippine contingent for her victory in the Senior Solo Voice category.

The team brought home 47 gold medals, 49 bronze medals, 13 industry medals, and even won second place in national costume.

“Nakita ko kung hanggang saan na ‘yung dapat na level ng performance for a world-class competition, which made me step up my game,” she said, admitting that she is no stranger to training.

Trained in the performing arts at a very young age, the San Pablo native may have invested a lot on her musical inclination.

With a sister who is also a skilled pianist and with years of exposure to music school and teachers, Cataran discovered a passion that led to numerous song covers in Facebook and good times with the piano and the ukulele.

Her stay in the Conservatory also paved the way for her training in acting and basic contemporary ballet.

This training has also earned her awards such as first place in the Solo Voice category of the National Music Competitions for Young Artists in 2005 which caught the eye of award-winning composer Soc Villanueva, and eventually led to her introduction in the entertainment industry.

“You can’t just sit there and wait for opportunities to come,” she said. “You have

Cataran

to find a way, or make one.”

The 23-year-old vocal performer has been producing acoustic albums for Universal Records since 2011 and is on her way to release a new album, “By Popular Demand 12.”

Cataran’s talent is the product of multiple inspirations and years’ worth of training under the tutelage of different teachers.

For instance, she opted to try singing Pop and Broadway to cater to a wider audience despite a Classical vocal upbringing.

“I was told that my sound was ‘different’ and that’s because aside from my formal training, I also studied the singing techniques of my favorite singers until I found my own,” she said.

Her teachers included Eugene de los Santos, the assistant dean of the Conservatory, and Mary Patrice Pacis of the same faculty. Michael Lavine, a Broadway vocal coach, also trained Cataran when he visited the country.

An inspiration closer to home came in the image of Thomasian Jason Dy, The Voice Season 2 champion, which she admitted to have admired since the start of his journey.

“I was there when he was still starting out, nung hindi pa siya napapansin masyado,” she said. “But he did everything and he worked real hard to get to where he is now. He made me believe that hard work pays off, and that dreams really do come true.”

Since her introduction to the industry, she has done demo recordings and back-up vocals for singers such as Angeline Quinto, Jed Madela, Toni Gonzaga, Nikki Gil and Christian Bautista.

She has also worked with composers such as Jonathan Manalo, famous for “Patuloy Ang Pangarap,” “Pinoy Ako,” and “Di Lang Ikaw,” and Jungee Marcelo, famous for “AkoNalang,” “Nasa ‘yo na ang Lahat,” and “Salbabida.”

Outside the spotlight Cataran did not intend to go to the Conservatory of Music the first time she stepped in the University. She originally intended to pursue a degree in Accountancy but shifted to the Conservatory after realizing her dreams to perform onstage.

“I knew I was on the right track when people started showing their appreciation for my craft,” she added. “I remember someone back then telling me that I am ‘going to make it big someday.’ Those words gave me so much hope, and this is one of the reasons why I am determined to reach my dreams.”

Though while other artists are too focused on ensuring their place in the spotlight, Cataran still has the time to read novels, travel, and be on time to watch her favoriteAmerican television series.

“While you’re at it (reaching your dreams), don’t forget to enjoy the journey—it counts!” she said. MARIA CORAZON A. INAY

A musician’s ode to the country

By VIANCA O. OCAMPO

Bautista

LIKE A finely tuned instrument that produces wondrous harmonies, Kabaitan Bautista’s unwavering nationalism and strong influence among the youth continue to reverberate like the beat percussions.

Bautista, a Baguio native, acquired his sense of nationalism from his parents who gave their kids unique names reflecting their Filipino identity. Bautista eventually used nationalism and patriotism to create his music. Having heavy metal rock as his favorite genre, Bautista had a rough transition from screams and amplified tones to the melodious classical tunes, as he entered the Conservatory of Music.

“Pumasok ako nang hindi ako marunong mag-notate ng notes, nang hindi ako marunong magbasa ng mga score. Naaliw naman ako, kaya ko naman pala,” Bautista said.

Despite a few stumbles, he was able to learn how to create orchestrations for operas, symphonies, and string quartets.

Bautista became one of the most promising students of his batch, graduating as cum laude with a degree in Music, major in Composition and minor in Piano performance.

In his last year in UST, he served as secretary of the Central Student Council, president of the Conservatory of Music Student Council and a member of Ayala Young Leaders Congress. He was awarded the Quezon Leadership Award and two St. Dominic De Guzman Awards for his service in both councils.

“If not everyone can see what your leadership is for, it’s all pointless. Kapag hindi kayo isang grupo, there is only a limit to what you can do,” Bautista said.

Finding joy in serving others, he later on harnessed this devotion to teaching, dedicating his time to kids in different provinces of our country, and joining various community programs sponsored by the University. Immersions in places like Tarlac and Olongapo further enkindled his

love for teaching.

Tuning in to the country’s song Bautista’s compositions, such as “Contagion on a theme by Nirvana” and “Harry Potter Fantasy and Super Mario Capriccio based on a theme by Koji Kondo,” have been presented in the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Some of his pieces were also showcased in other countries like France and Indonesia.

As a teacher and volunteer, he got to teach kids how to play classical and native instruments such as the kulintang, a set of gongs used by tribes in Mindanao, and angklung, a bamboo instrument from Indonesia which he used in some of his compositions. “‘Yung mga kids sa Leyte first time nilang makakita ng violin, cello, at contrabass. Kahit sa Manila, maraming estudyanteng hindi pa nakakahawak ng flute,” Bautista said.

Bautista cited Antonio Africa, his mentor from the Conservatory of Music, as one of his greatest inspirations who told him to always push his students to become more than what they are.

“What else would teaching be for if the next generation will be worse? Ano na lang ang kahahantungan ng kultura natin kung magiging kapantay lang natin yung mga nagtuturo sa atin ngayon?” Bautista said.

One of the highlights of his career was helping Fr. Marlowe Rosales, an alumnus of the University, in teaching the Christ the King Youth Symphony Orchestra in Samar.

“Dito ko na-experience na may batang walang cellphone. Pero ‘yung bata na ‘yun, siya’ yung pinakamasipag at pinakamagaling tumugtog ng cello,” Bautista said.

Although Bautista found it difficult to simplify and contextualize musical concepts for the kids, he saw the job as a reward that provided him with a great sense of fulfillment.

Country PAGE 5

Editor: Basilio H. Sepe

OCTOBER 29, 2015

UAAP SEASON 78

wT

C

HEER DANCE

COMPETITION Photos by: A.J. Kasiban, Amparo Klarin J. Mangoroban and Basilio H. Sepe

(Rigth) Salinggawi tops the dance category with 354 points. (Below to right) The UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe marks its best finish in seven years, placing second in the 2015 UAAP Cheerdance Competition at the Mall of Asia Arena on Oct. 3.

UE Pep Squad (Above) The UP Pep Squad finishes third with their “Utak at Puso” routine.

Adamson Pep Squad

(Above) The National University Pep Squad bags its third straight UAAP cheerdance title, garnering 668 points, with its “Evolution of Man” motif. (Right) Salinggawi scores 651.5 points and wins UST’s fifth silver medal in cheerdance history. (Below) Salinggawi wows the crowd with their African-inspired routine.

FEU Cheering Squad

Lenspeak 7

8 Filipino

Patnugot: Maria Koreena M. Eslava

IKA-29 NG OKTUBRE, 2015

Adorasiyon Ni BERNADETTE A . PAMINTUAN IKA-12 ng Oktubre, 1999, katanghalian, Benguet Kumakalampag sa bubong ng bus ang malalaking patak ng ulan at animo’y bubutasin iyon. Isang oras na ang lumipas nang magsimula akong sumakay mula Itogon. Batid kong halos walong barangay na ang aming nilagpasan at malayu-layo na ako sa mapanghusgang mga mata nina Kuya Konde at Kuya Apo. “Ano na? Iiwan mo kami?” nagngingitngit at may halong pangungutiya ang tinig ni Kuya Apo nang katukin ako sa aking silid kaninang umaga. “Para ano? Para magpaka-inutil sa Maynila? Hindi ba’t ginawa na iyon ng mga magulang natin? O nasaan sila ngayon?”

Hindi ako kumibo. Gusto kong sabihin sa kaniya na mula pagkabata, wala akong ibang hiniling kung hindi ang makita sina itay at inay. Sa kuwento ng Lolo, maglalabing-isa na si Kuya Apo noon habang pitong taong gulang naman si Kuya Konde kung kaya’t pawang galit ang nabuo sa kanilang mga puso nang hindi na bumalik galing Maynila ang aming mga magulang.

“Kapag may nangyari sa‘yo at hindi ka na nakabalik dito, huwag mong sasabihing hindi kita kailanman pinaalalahanan.” Ibinalibag ni Kuya Apo ang kawayang pinto at dinampot mula sa mesa ang kaniyang hard hat bago tumungo sa direksiyon ng minahan.

Isang taong gulang pa lamang ako nang magpasiya ang aming ama na sa Maynila sumugal sa kapalaran kasama ng aming ina. Hindi raw niya masikmura ang buhay ng isang minero. Bilang isang purong Ibaloi na tubong La Trinidad, Benguet, napakahalaga ng kabundukan sa kanilang pangkat. Hindi maatim ng kaniyang konsiyensiya na bunga ng pagsira sa kalikasan ang pagkaing aming pinagsasaluhan noon.

Iyon lamang ang alam ko tungkol sa kaniya. Nakakatuwang isipin na kung ano ang kinamumuhian niyang gawain, iyon ang kasalukuyang bumubuhay sa amin.

“Miyong, hindi ka na ba talaga mapipigilan?” Marahang hinahaplos ni Kuya Konde ang mapupulang balahibo ng isang tandang at pilit na ikinukubli ang matinding pagkadismaya.

Umiling ako. Tumango na lamang siya at hindi ako nilapitan. “Mag-ingat ka kung gayon. Gabayan ka sana ni Kabigat. Huwag mong aasahang humihinga pa ang Lolo sa iyong pagbalik. Malubha na ang kaniyang kalagayan.” Bumuntong-hininga siya.

“Nawa’y hindi ka parusahan ng egmasas sa pagtalikod mo sa kabundukan.”

Kinilabutan ako sa pagbanggit ng parusa. “Babalik ako, Kuya,” mahina kong tugon.

“Huwag kang mangako ng hindi mo kayang tupdin.”

Ibinulong ko na lamang sa malamig na hangin ang aking pangako.

Alam kong makararating iyon sa Kabunian, ang aming mga panginoon, at mauunawaan nila ang aking kalagayan.

Sa pagbaba sa unang lambak mula sa aming tahanan, lumingon ako sa huling pagkakataon.

Ika-14 ng Oktubre, 1999, Pasig Unang araw ko pa lamang sa lungsod subalit dama ko na ang sinasabi nilang malawak na agwat ng mahirap at mayaman. Sa isang talipapa kung saan ako napadpad sa pagtunton sa address na iniabot sa akin ng Lolo, nasilayan ko ang isang batang pamilya.

Bata sapagkat batid kong wala pang dalawampung taong gulang ang ina ng dalawang marurungis na paslit. Ilang minuto pa ang lumipas nang may isang itim na kotseng nagbaba ng bintana upang magtapon ng basura. Kumaripas ang mga bata at nag-unahan sa pulang supot na initsa sa bangketa. Gutom at matinding kahirapan. Mahirap ka na nga, wala pang magmamalasakit sa iyo.

Ibang-iba sa Itogon.

Matapos magtanung-tanong, pumara ako ng dyip. Kumakalam na ang aking sikmura at tila hinahanap ang mga lutong Itogon. Wala nang ibang natitira sa aking baon kung hindi ang

isang maliit na supot ng biskwit. Sa mga ganoong pagkakataon ko naaalala ang mga sermon ni Kuya Apo. Marahil, ito na ang sinasabi ni Kuya Konde na parusa sa akin ng egma-sas: ang pagganti ng kabundukan sa mga lumilisan dito.

“Saan ho ito bababa?”

Naalimpungatan ako sa aking pagiisip. Pinagtitinginan na ako ng mga kasakay ko sa dyip sapagkat pangatlong tanong na pala iyon ng tsuper.

Dali-dali kong kinapa ang maliit na piraso ng papel sa aking bulsa. “Ah… eh… sa Malinao po.”

“Halatang bagong-salta,” bulong ng isang babae sa kaniyang kasama.

“Mukhang katutubo,” tugon ng isa. “Tignan mo ang mga paa. Baka tumatawid pa ‘yan sa bubog.” Sabay silang naghagikhikan.

Nagkibit-balikat na lamang ako at nagkunwaring hindi sila naririnig.

Mas malaki ang agwat ng mga laking-probinsiya at mga intelektuwal (o minsa’y mapagkunwaring intelektuwal) ng lungsod.

Bumaba ako sa gilid ng isang lumang simbahan. Hindi ko alam kung saan ako patungo kaya napagpasyahan kong pumasok at magmasid.

Tahimik sa loob at kaunti lamang ang tao. Naalala ko tuloy ang mga Katoliko sa Benguet. Payapa silang namumuhay sa paanan ng kabundukan at sila iyong mga taong palaging nakangiti kung makakasalubong mo sa bayan.

Sa dingding sa gilid ng altar matatagpuan ang rebulto ng isang napakagandang babaeng akay-akay ang kaniyang lalaking anak. Kaparehongkapareho ito ng nasa simbahan sa La

Usapang Uste Ni JASPER EMMANUEL Y. A RCALAS

Tomasino Siya Alam ninyo bang Tomasino ang kauna-unahang Asyanong pilosopo na nagbigay ng panayam sa harap ng prestihiyosong grupo ng mga pilosopo sa Europa?

Si Alfredo Co ang bukodtanging Asyanong nagbigay ng panayam o “lecture” sa Conference Mondiale des Institutions

Ika-18 ng Nobyembre, 2014, magbubukang-liwayway “Halina’t lalarga na tayo!”

Labinlimang taon ang matuling lumipas. Aakyat akong muli sa kabundukan ng Benguet. Alam kong wala na si Lolo subalit naroon pa rin sina Kuya Apo at Kuya Konde. Kamusta na kaya sila? Mababawasan kaya ang parusa sa akin ng kabundukan ngayong isasalba ko ang buhay niya?

Isinilid ko sa brown envelope ang mga dokumento mula sa korte at sa DENR bago iniabot ang isang lata ng cookies para sa batang pamilya sa terminal ng bus.

“Wow! Salamat po, Father!”

Kumpisal: Mga Kuwento ni Chuckberry Pascual

UST Physical Cultural Club MGA HERKULES kung tawagin noon ang mga kasapi ng isang samahan sa Unibersidad na nagpapahalaga sa kalusugan at kahubugan ng pangangatawan.

Taong 1928 nang itaguyod nina Rizal de Peralta at David Unson ang UST Physical Cultural Club na naglalayong payabungin ang kultura ng pag-eehersisyo sa buong Unibersidad at palawigin ang kamalayan ng bawat mag-aaral sa kahalagahan ng kanikanilang kalusugan.

Mismong sina Peralta at Unson ang nagtustos para sa mga kagamitang pampalakasan mula sa mga barbell, dumbbell, chest expanders hanggang sa mga boxing gloves at kagamitang pang-eskrima upang maipakilala ang boksing at eskrima sa Unibersidad.

Tanging mga miyembro lamang ng UST Physical Cultural Club ang maaaring gumamit ng mga kagamitang pampalakasan na noo’y nakasilid sa isang orchestra room na nagsisilbing silid pang-ehersisyo ng grupo.

Ika-20 ng Enero ng taong iyon nang inihalal ang mga unang opisyal ng UST Physical Cultural Club: Peralta (Pangulo), Felix A. Savalion (Pangalawang Pangulo) a t Joseto Tan Nery (Kalihim ng Ingat-Yaman). Kabilang naman sa board of directors sina Unson, Brigido Boldan, Potenciano de Leon, Jose Nievera at Jose Bucoy.

Trinidad.

Naitanong ko tuloy sa aking sarili kung ano marahil ang pakiramdam ng haplos ng isang ina.

Lumapit ako sa isang babae na nag-aayos ng mga paninda sa gilid ng mga tulusan ng kandila.

“Maaari ho bang magtanong?” Nang tumango siya, bumuntong-hininga ako bago banggitin sa unang pagkakataon ang pangalan ng aking ina. “Kilala niyo ho ba si Nerida Payaw? Heto ho ang retrato niya. Dito ko raw ho siya matatagpuan.”

“Hijo…” Tumingin sa akin ang babae. “Matagal nang yumao si Nerida.”

Huminto ang mabilis na pintig ng puso ko. Para akong aatakihin. Hindi ko malaman ang aking ikikilos o itutugon.

“Ikinalulungkot ko… Puntahan mo si Father Sales,” idinagdag niya, batid ang aking pagkabagabag. “Baka matulungan ka niya.”

Hindi ko alam kung nakapagpasalamat man lamang ako bago ako umalis sa kaniyang harapan.

Ang sigurado ko lamang ay ang walang patid na pagtulo ng luha sa aking mga mata.

“May iniabot sa akin si Nerida bago siya malagutan ng hininga,” ani Father Sales bago ibinigay sa akin ang isang maliit na sobre. “Ikaw pala si Miyong, ang bunso niyang anak. Palagi ka niyang nababanggit. Simula nang masagasaan sa highway ang kaniyang asawa, palagi na siyang pagala-gala riyan sa labas ng simbahan kaya minabuti kong kilalanin siya.

“Lumuwas daw sila ng Maynila upang mag-aral at magpetisiyon sa pamahalaan. Nais nilang ipahinto ang

pagmimina sa Benguet, partikular na sa lugar ninyong mga Ibaloi. Tagalinis namin siya rito sa simbahan. Palagi siyang nasa paanan ng Birhen, nagdarasal.

Nang turuan kong magrosaryo, laking gulat ko nang mas madalas pa siyang nakaluhod kaysa sa mga deboto ng Imaculada Concepcion.”

Habang binabasa ko ang liham ng aking ina, hindi ko mapigilang magsisi sa mga panahong nagalit ako dahil wala siya sa buhay ko. Sabi sa liham, naiinggit siya sa Birhen sapagkat nakasama niya si Hesus sa kaniyang Misteryo Paskal, samantalang siya, hindi man lamang kami nakitang lumaki.

Aniya, para sa aming kapakanan ang paglalayon nila ni Tatay na ipatigil ang minahan sa aming mga kabundukan.

Ito raw, kapag nagpatuloy, ang sisira sa aming kinabukasan.

Kalakip ng kaniyang sulat ang isang rosaryo na gawa sa mga makukulay na beads mula sa Benguet.

“Matuto kang magdasal, Miyong,” sulat niya. “Ganito lamang: isang kahilingan kada butil ng rosaryo. Ang Birhen ang gagabay sa iyo. Siya ang tatayong nanay sa inyong magkakapatid ngayong wala na ako…”

Universitaires Catholiques de Philosophie (COMIUCAP), isang internasyunal na samahan ng mga unibersidad at institusiyong Katoliko na nagtataguyod sa pilosopiyang Katoliko.

Kinikilala si Co ngayon bilang natatanging Sinolohista at nangungunang pilosopo sa rehiyon. Siya ang nagtatag ng Philosophy Circle of the Philippines noong 1972.

Si Co rin ang unang pinagkalooban ng Unibersidad ng isang festschrift, lupon ng mga sulating nagbibigay pugay at pagkilala sa kagalingan ng isang akademiko--ang Across the Philosophical Silk Road: A Festschrift in Honor of Alfredo P. Co” noong 2010.

Higit apat na dekada nang nagtuturo ng pilosopiya sa bansa si Co. Nagtapos siya ng kursong Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy sa Unibersidad noong 1972. Dito niya rin nakamit ang kaniyang masterado at doktorado sa pilosopiya noong 1974 at 1976. Kumuha siya ng postdoctorate sa Sorbonne sa Pransiya.

Kasalukuyang pangulo ng Philippine Academy of Philosophical Research si Co at nagtuturo sa UST Graduate School.

Tomasalitaan Danit ( P N D ) gawing magkasama o pagsamahin Hal.: Wala akong ibang ninais, Nicole, kung hindi danitin tayo ng tadhana.

Mga Sanggunian: The Varsitarian TOTAL Awards Souvenir Program 2011

Mga lumang kuwento sa bagong mundo NAGKAKASALA ang mortal, kaya kailangan nitong mangumpisal.

Isiniwalat ni Chuckberry Pascual sa kaniyang bagong aklat na pinamagatang Kumpisal: Mga Kuwento, na inilathala ng UST Publishing House, ang mundong iniiralan ng mga bakla.

Sa 15 kuwento, nahihiwalay ni Pascual ang kaniyang mga mambabasa sa mundong pamilyar at nagagawa itong bago—kuwento tungkol sa mga bakla na narinig sa kanto, tsismisan, paaralan—sa pamamagitan ng mahusay na paggamit at paglalaro ng wikang Filipino.

Kapana-panabik ang mga panimula ni Pascual sa mga kuwento.

Inihain niya nang madetalye ang lugar na ginagalawan ng karakter o ang dinadamdam nito. Madaling makauugnay ang mga mambabasa rito dahil karaniwan lamang ang mga situwasiyong nilikha ni Pascual: sa loob ng bahay habang nagsusuklay, sa katatapos lamang na klase sa hayskul o sa hindi masiil na hangover mula sa gabing nagdaan.

Metikuloso ang pagkakasalaysay niya ng mga naratibo. Batid ito mula sa paglalarawan ng maskuladong katawan ng isang delivery boy ng water refilling station hanggang sa pagpiprito ng bangus ng isang ninakawang matabang ale.

Madulas ang paggamit ni Pascual ng paulit-ulit na paglalarawan at ng ephitet, isang katangian na katambal na ng ngalan ng tao o bagay. Makikita ito sa pagsasalarawan niya sa Kalye Desiderata na “bahain tuwing Hulyo at saan madalas umapaw ang palaisdaan tuwing

tag-ulan” at ang alaga ni Erlinda Colayco na “asong hilaw na Aleman” sa kuwentong “Berde.”

Ngunit humihigit sa estetikong antas ang pag-uulit ng mga detalye ni Pascual.

Nabibigyang-diin ang mga pangyayari at lalong nagkakakulay ang mga ng bida dahil sa pag-uulit niya ng mga naratibo at pangyayari.

Sa kuwentong “Baha,” dalawang beses ginamit ang linyang, “Lahat kami rito tinubuan na ng hasang” na nagawang buuin ang pagkatao ng mga karakter. Gayundin sa kuwentong “Boylet” kung saan dalawang beses isinalaysay na “nagdilim ang paligid” ngunit nagsasaad ng magkaibang lebel na pagdidilim: literal at matalinghaga.

Mahusay rin ang paggamit ni Pascual ng flashback sa iba pang mga kuwento.

Nagmimistulang pangungumpisal ang estilo ng kaniyang paglalarawan. Paisa-isa ang pagsasalaysay sa mga pangyayari sa buhay ng karakter. Nagbibigay ng mas malalim na pakahulugan sa pagkatao nito ang paglalaro sa nakaraan at kasalukuyan.

Dahil sa mahusay na pagsasalaysay ni Pascual, magaan niyang naipababatid sa mambabasa ang mabibigat na isyu na kinakaharap ng mga bakla.

Alam na natin ang mga isyu ng bakla sa eskwelahan, sa parlor at sa lipunan ngunit nagagawa niyang gawing bago ang mga ito at pataksil na hinahamon ang palaisipan ng mambabasa. Matagumpay niyang nadespatsa ang mambabasa sa mundong kinabibilangan nito at suwabeng nadala sa kalawakan ng isip ng mga bakla.

Hindi madaling mahinuha kung anong samu’t-saring kasalanan ng mortal ang nais ikumpisal ni Pascual sa unang sulyap sa kaniyang aklat ngunit, tulad ng pangungumpisal, mabubuo ang isang katotohanan mula sa pinagtagpi-tagping piraso ng mga kasalanan.

Kaya sa huli, matatagpuan mo ang iyong sarili sa mga kuwento ni Pascual—bilang isang Gabriel, Alejandro o baka si Brooke Shields— dahil bilang mambabasa, isa kang mortal na nagkakasala rin at kailangang mangumpisal.

JASPER EMMANUEL Y. ARCALAS

Editor: Aliliana Margarette T. Uyao

We Tumble, We Somersault AN HOUR before the last opening act of El Castillo, half of the trapeze team was still missing, the fire breather was busy reading his horoscope in a newspaper, and one of the jugglers was taking a nap on worn-out leather sofa at the far left corner of the stage.

Edmund Reducido wanted to check on the missing trapeze team, tell the fire breather the merits of practice and shake the juggler until he wakes, but he knew better. At exactly nine o’clock the show will start, and the audience—around fifty to sixty people and nothing more—will give an indifferent applause and go home.

The nonchalance was expected, even by Edmund himself. His employees were there simply to earn and not to entertain. There was no objective reason for anyone to see acts that everyone had seen before in bigger venues, by better performers.

And besides, the acts were the unchanged set it was years ago, with routine replacing the sense of wonder it once evoked.

After the final show, the employees would leave and the lights would turn off, this time permanently.

Thirty years of whimsical and sinister attractions, and tomorrow, it would just cease to matter. He could continue to run the circus without operating at a loss. Malls and computers were vicious rivals, beasts that even the most skilled tamer cannot confront.

Suddenly, he remembered his grandfather’s—the man who built the

carnival during the early eighties— favorite expression: “A circus is not a circus if it is not immaculate,” he said.

His grandfather tapped his wrinkled finger to his temple, and told him, “Acordar, acordar.”

The last night of the circus was inevitable, but at least he could make a spectacle out of it.

The lights of the entrance had to be turned on. Wanting to do the work himself, Edmund walked towards the step ladder in the stage. A few seconds passed, and his phone rang.

Still a few feet from the step ladder, he pulled out his phone and read the message. It was from a prospective buyer he contacted three weeks ago.

The message said, “Can’t do 1.2. Area not very viable. Lower to 900K or I’m backing out.”

It would have consoled me if El Castillo would be demolished and the lot used for commercial ventures. At least it would be reinvented, be given a breath of life. Instead, it would remain vacant. Termites would devour the wooden floors and dust would blanket the walls and the unclaimed props.

The metal bars that were inundated by the sweat of back-breaking acrobats would rust. The only place where the carnival would exist is on memory, where people would still be pulled by its hypnotic attractions.

Fixing his gaze on the message, forlorn at the latest rejection, he continued striding,

unwittingly, towards the edge of the stage until he fell and landed on his bottom.

The dampness of the still unswept floor embraced his body, keeping him immobile and mocking him as if to say, “This is futile.” The idle chatter among the performers turned into hushed whispers. Some stifled a chuckle. Three contortionists rushed to help him stand up.

People loved El Castillo once.

Families went there on weekends by instinct. It was even featured in the local newspaper twice. The headline of one proclaimed, “Whims and Screams at San Roque.” The other, a feature story, was about his grandfather titled “The King of El Castillo.” It even had his photo–hair slicked back, a dark suit, a poised smile–and was accompanied by lengthy account of his life. Towards its end, when asked about what made his business successful, Geronimo Reducido merely said, “We tumble, we somersault.”

When Edmund was a boy, it was a marvel to see the circus in full swing.

There were toys, there were candies, and the horror trains made children like him weep for hours. Men with cropped hair juggled pins and knives of gold and green with mathematical precision. Clowns goofed around and picked on the audience. Young girls in ponytails soared through the air, spinning and spinning, while everyone watched gaping in awe and concern until burly men caught them in mid-air. A bald man on the center of the stage ingested fuel, then placed a torch inches away

from his face as he breathed out searing, boasting flames. And then, a deafening applause.

The problem was there, in the word itself. People knew and admired the circus, but not anymore. The thrill people felt was in the forgotten past. The news articles had become yellow and crumpled. The children of his boyhood became tired and cynical men who found solace in travel and alcohol with their own children familiar to different kinds of entertainment.

Once Edmund asked his sixyear-old niece if she wanted to see El Castillo. “We have people who can fly and can breathe fire,” he said. His niece plainly said no and returned to watching an animated video of fairies taking a stroll by the river.

He heard chatter from outside.

The missing half of the trapeze team finally came and greeted him, the scent of cheap beer leaking from their shirts. The contortionists started stretching. The sleeping juggler finally woke up and started to practice. People still came to see them, but definitely smaller compared to the crowd there was before.

To his performers, this was nothing more than another night of

UST pays tribute to Cirilo Bautista THE POETRY of National Artist for Literature Cirilo Bautista was celebrated during a testimonial dinner held in his honor at the Grand Ballroom of the Buenaventura Garcia Paredes, O.P Building last Sept. 30.

Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, director of the Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies (CCWLS), said in her opening remarks that the works of artists such as Bautista were valuable contributions to Filipino heritage.

“The [National Artist Award], and the benefits that accompany it, clearly do not measure up to the value of the contributions [of the awardee] to the national heritage,” Hidalgo said. “But as things are today, it is the

highest honor the country can give to its artists that it claims as its own,” she added.

The event was held in honor of Bautista’s decades of contribution to the Philippine literary scene. Bautista was conferred the National Artist Award for Literature on June 20, 2014.

Poets Ramil Digal Gulle, Alice Sun-Cua, Lourd Ernest de Veyra, Marjorie Evasco, Marne Kilates and Gemino Abad paid tribute to Bautista by reading his famous pieces such as “Patalim,” “Addressed to Himself” and “Rizal at La Trinidad.”

In an interview, the former senior associate of the CCWLS and literary editor of the Varsitarian talked about the sense of wonder poetry had evoked in his life.

“There is the grand

Literary 9

OCTOBER 29, 2015

deception that you’re doing something important, and that alone is enough, because the grandness is captivating,” Bautista said.

“Once transferred from one person to another, it is also an inspiration to all. [B]awat basa mo ng isang tula ay isang paraan ng bagong pagtingin sa daigdig,” he said.

The Thomasian poet has often referred to his lifelong writing profession as “the monkey on his back.”

“I don’t think there is an end. The monkey doesn’t want to get off my back. The art becomes the life. You cannot get out of it,” he said.

Bautista said receiving the National Artist award last year was a “confirmation” of his literary labors.

“The reward for me is the joy that I have done something for my country. Confirmation that at last, after 74 years, you realize that you can write,” he said.

Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, O.P., Sacred Theology dean and former UST rector, commended Bautista’s body of work in a special message during the awarding of a plaque of recognition from the University.

“In his early works, the works of Dr. Bautista appeared like birds in mid-flight, fugitives in search for a place to rest, but in his later works, he gave us the impression that when poets grow old, they start to hold on to something rather than run or fly forever,” de la Rosa said.

In his message, Bautista called on aspiring writers to know the importance of practicing one’s craft through a good balance between reading and writing.

“Read not just what you can. Read everything. Read and write. Those two go together,” he said. “It’s not simply reading per se, but reading with great imagination, reading with great understanding of what human nature is.”

With an illustrious career spanning more than half a century, Bautista has published several books of fiction, criticism and poetry collections. His first Tagalog novel, “Galaw ng Asoge,” was published by UST Publishing House.

Bautista’s works have also appeared in various anthologies and periodicals in the United States, Europe and Bautista PAGE 10

UST CCWLS Director Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, Assistant Director Ralph Semino Galan and former Rector Rolando de la Rosa, O.P. award National Artist for Literature Cirilo Bautista with a plaque of recognition for his lifetime achievements.

BASILIO H. SEPE

the same repetitive performance. Still, with a nervous optimism, he wanted them to juggle, to bend their bodies and to flash wide smiles as if this was their first night. He wanted his show to have sprightly movements synchronized with the signature rhythms of a carnival, where the audience will be enthralled and amazed for one final time.

The lights dimmed. The audience sat and waited.

With bittersweet clarity he imagined it: two figures at the trapeze, preparing, gaining traction. Then, with great strain, they somersaulted in midair, reached the pinnacle, hesitated for a moment, and then started to glide downwards. ZENDMOND G. DUQUE II

Woven

PEERING through the nicotine haze, enveloping the narrow esquinita that led to my dormitory, my eyes set on a moth hovering beside the crucifix on a door.

Heeding my mother’s words, I bowed my head and prayed that the soul it harbored might find its way to heaven, as it disappeared into the fading light of dusk.

I noticed that my shadow was not following me and I felt the hair on my skin stand on end, for as the elders warned, “he who walks with no shadow is soon to meet his doom.”

I tried to overpower this unnerving feeling with my fondest memories of home then I suddenly recalled my father’s words: “We believe in different things, but we are but different strands woven into the same cloth.”

Such words kept my skepticism in check, as I glanced and counted the numbers painted on the side of an unfinished building─ 10, 11, 12, 14─and hoped that its good fortune would stay true.

Such give me solace, as I walked through the haunting alley, listening to the dogs howling, and the neighbor striking their heads with a slipper, fearing that their howls heralded the death of someone dear.

And as I climbed the steps of my dormitory, I found myself amid both peers and strangers, preserving the same truths of life, in a city where the lonesome heart sleeps alone.

C.A.P. STA.CRUZ

10 Limelight

Art Director: Ava Mariangela C. Victoria

OCTOBER 29, 2015

BEN N' VIDES BY KIRSTEN M. JAMILLA

USTIPS BY FREYA D.L.R. TORRES

TOMAS U. SANTOS BY I.R.N. TYAPON

Editorial yet we keep shooting ourselves in the foot by electing jokers in office.

Indeed, we deserve the leaders we choose.

How many of us, for instance, really bothered to scrutinize the track record (or the lack of it) of the so-called “serious” candidates for president (never mind those “sent by aliens”)? What’s their stand on specific issues and if they’ve been consistent with it? How do they intend to handle, for instance, issues of poverty, job generation, law enforcement, diplomacy, and the economy? What have they actually done to deserve our vote?

To be sure, the official Comelec list of presidential candidates will include the likes of Mar Roxas, Grace Poe, Miriam DefensorSantiago, and Jejomar Binay.

And set against such “clowns” and other nuisance candidates, they would perhaps represent sanity and fitness for office.

But think again. Are they really fit for the presidency?

Our Constitution expressly provides for democracy, giving all citizens the right to run for a government position, it sets a minimal set of qualifications for a presidential candidate—he or she should be a natural-born Filipino, a registered voter, able to read and write, at least 40 years old, and a resident of the Philippines for at least 10 years.

But still Poe has decided run for the highest office of the land amid questions whether she’s natural born and, since she was an American citizen who reacquired Philippine citizenship, whether she has fulfilled the residency rule.

Beyond the elementary requirements of election to public

office, Poe does not really satisfy the more demanding requirements for the presidency—experience and track record. In fact, she emerged topnotcher on the 2010 senatorial elections on the strength of the name of her father, movie action king Fernando Poe Jr. Of course, other contenders have been longer in office, and may qualify better for president, such as Vice President Binay, whose person and family have ruled Makati, the Philippine Wall Street, for nearly 30 years now, whose progress only has everything to do with private business and development; and who’s now facing a spate of plunder cases, all of whose investigations he continues to evade or apply the predictable dilatory tactics. And, Roxas, who had a bland performance as transportation secretary and, even more disappointingly, as local governments secretary and head of

civil defense during “Yolanda.”

As for Santiago, her grotesque claim of having been cured from Stage 4 cancer by a miracle dovetails with her other antics before, such as lobbying for a seat in the International Court of Justice and after getting it, claiming to be suffering from a host of ailments so that the Philippines was unable to take its seat in the world court.

A fruitful election will only be assured if, we, as voters, will exercise responsible voting— because it will be our only hope, if there is still any left, to finally have a leader that will lead this country toward the positive change that it needs.

It is time to do our homework and check what these presidential wannabes have actually accomplished in the course of their careers in government, and how this could make them a good president. Or perhaps, we should

consider lesser-known candidates who might actually be more qualified but are unfortunately not gifted with popularity.

Candidates will have their own campaign narratives, well-funded political advertising intended to “sell” them to voters mainly through media. There’s not always truth in advertising.

It’s our job to see through these untruths and try to unmask these candidates for who they really are.

Let’s not vote just because she is her father’s daughter or he seems pro-poor. Or that she’s a great orator or that he’s been endorsed by a popular politician.

Let’s talk about competence, experience, track record, a genuine desire to serve, and a strong personal value system.

We’re probably asking too much of our leaders. But that’s because we don’t want the joke to be on us in the end.

Boards

Examination

Accreditation

Headstrong

Lalle University, where Luistro was once president, in his column in the Philippine Star. Cruz is now an adviser to the DepEd on the K to 12.

In his critique, Legarda basically called the outline simplistic, the “premise shaky and the approach reactive.” He also noted “major omissions,” particularly the role of the friar religious orders in fighting colonialism and introducing education and civilization and developments during the long Spanish era that made the Philippines a nation and a highly developed one at that.

If the government is sincere in improving the country’s education system, it must focus on improving the curriculum and addressing the lack of facilities in schools. Longer school years do not necessarily guarantee quality education.

The President’s disappointment must transcend beyond mere emotion, he must also realize how frustrating it is for some students to study in poorly maintained public schools, which will be prolonged even more due to the K to 12 program.

And finally, students should not allow themselves to be limited by the government’s incapacity of improving the education system.

As unfair as it may seem, the youth should take the burden of developing the quality of Philippine education, not only for themselves but also for future generations.

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percent or 4,123 passers out of 11,137 examinees.

UST meanwhile posted a lower passing rate of 63.21 percent in the licensure examinations for mechanical engineers. Sixty-seven passed out of 106 Thomasian examinees.

Last year, UST recorded a 92.03-percent passing rate, wherein 127 Thomasian examinees passed the test out of 138.

UP-Diliman dethroned Batangas State University as the top-performing school, with a 96.61-percent passing rate.

The national passing rate plunged to 55.25 percent with only 2,136 passing the test out of 3,866 examinees, lower than last year’s 77.06 percent or 2,960 passers out of 3,841 examinees. D.T. CUDAL and

exams, Divina introduced mock bar examinations with diagnostic assessments.

Questions for the mock bar exams were to be provided by a third party outfit that was also tasked to conduct the assessment. “[This is to allow the students to] know their strengths and weaknesses, then we will hopefully be able to address the weaknesses as we go near the bar examinations,” Divina said.

According to Divina, departmental examinations, which were administered at the beginning of this academic year, should encourage students to “be updated” and be “more responsible in reading.”

As a result of stricter policies, only 49 law students are expected to graduate next year, Divina said.

that gives formal recognition to an educational institution by attesting that an academic program maintains excellent standards in its educational operations.

Bautista

Bautista finished his literature degree in UST in 1963, graduating magna cum laude. In 1968, he obtained his master’s degree in literature from St. Louis University of Baguio. He finished his doctorate at De La Salle University in 1990. Bautista attended the prestigious international writing program of the University of Iowa from 1968 to 1969. Z.G. DUQUE II

the blame for the lack of appreciation and knowledge of Philippine history.

If the President finds Filipino students disappointing, more so the government. The Philippine government should not expect to produce the best kind of students if it does so little to improve the quality of education.

Based on the K to 12 curriculum, lessons on the country’s national heroes will only be taught starting at grade three and learning competencies will be measured through the students’ ability to identify national heroes and their respective hometowns.

History lessons will resume in the sixth grade, where teachers will discuss the Spanish and American occupation as well as the Philippine revolution.

This kind of curriculum and approach do not foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of history. It only introduces lessons in a skin-deep level without humanizing and providing context.

In fact, Benito Legarda Jr., a Harvard-trained historian and a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of the Philippines, criticized the outline of Philippine history under the K to 12. The outline was published by Isagani Cruz, a retired professor of De la

D.A.F. GABRIEL

FROM PAGE 9

Southeast Asia.

Bautista has won prestigious awards such as the Carlos Palanca Hall of Fame, Makata ng Taon given by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, and the Gawad Antonio Villegas and Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan given by the City of Manila.

CLARENCE I. HORMACHUELOS

and A.M.T. UYAO with reports from C.A.P. STA. CRUZ

International accreditation Architecture Dean John Joseph Fernandez previously said the college prioritizes international validation rather than local accrediting agencies like PACUCOA and the Commission on Higher Education.

Architecture targets two international accrediting bodies namely the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) in the United States and Paris-based Union Internationale des Architectes (UIA).

Fernandez said the college applied for NAAB in 2012 and acquired partialequivalency status, a step before the program becomes fully accredited by the American board.

Moreover, if the college secures a spot in NAAB and UIA, UST will be a sitting member of the Canberra Accord—a “document that facilitates the portability of educational credentials of architecture graduates among the countries whose accreditation agencies signed the accord.” JEROME P. VILLANUEVA

Sports 11

OCTOBER 29, 2015

Tiger Spikers falter in beach volleyball

By CARLO A. CASINGCASING

Rondina-Rivera duo fails to defend the championship title in the UAAP women’s beach volleyball tournament.

A.J. KASIBAN

NO CROWN for the UST Spikers this year.

After sweeping the elimination round last year en route to the championship, the Lady Spikers crashed to fifth place while the Tiger Spikers settled for another silver-medal finish in the UAAP Season 78 beach volley tournament at the Sands SM by the Bay from Oct. 9 to 21.

The duo of Cherry Rondina and Rica Rivera, who recorded a 7-0 sweep in their rookie season last year, came up with only four wins in seven outings.

Rondina and Rivera had the chance to book a Final Four seat with a twice-to-beat incentive but De La Salle University’s tandem of Kim Fajardo, this year’s Most Valuable Player (MVP), and Cyd Demicillo erased UST’s championship hopes, 2119, 20-22, 14-16.

“Unexpected. May goal kami at hindi namin nakuha ‘yung goal namin. Pero in-accept na lang kasi alam namin nabinigay naman namin ‘yung todo-todo,” Lady Spikers captain Rondina told the Varsitarian.

Rondina, last year’s MVP, admitted that the team failed to listen and respond to their coaches’ instructions, resulting in Lady Spikers’ worst finish in the last five years.

Ateneo de Manila University’s thrice-to-beat advantage in the finals match was too much for Tiger Spikers as the duo Kris Roy Guzman and Anthony

Arbasto Jr. ran out of steam in their do-or-die Game 4.

The Tiger Spikers got a 16-21, 19-21 beating at the hands of the Blue Eagles in Game 4 of the finals.

The Tiger Spikers tied the game in the second frame, 18-all, before Ateneo erupted with a 3-1 blitz to snare the beach volleyball title. Ysay Marasigan delivered the finishing blow after a through-the-block hit.

UST tasted an early lead in the first canto, 6-4, but the Blue Eagles unleashed a 10-2 run to build a comfortable 14-8 cushion and pull away.

Arbasto Jr. led the charge for UST with a gamehigh 15 points while captain Guzman added nine markers.

The Tiger Spikers finished third in the elimination round but outlasted the National University Bulldogs twice in the step-ladder semifinals to go to the finals. “[It was a] long ride. Pero sayang ‘yung pagod na inakyatnatin ‘yung ladder. Nagkulang [kami] sa focus. Naging komportable kami before [Game 4] kasi may nag-cramps na sa kanila, which is mali.

Matagal kami bago naka-recover. Naka-recover kami noong second set pero kapos pa,” Guzman said.

In Game 3, the Tiger Spikers easily brushed off Ateneo in straight sets, 21-14, 21-16, to force a knockout Game 4.The Tiger Spikers held to a slim lead late in the final set, 19-16, before Ateneo committed back-to-back errors to give UST the win.

The Blue Eagles survived UST in a three-set thriller Game 2, 21-19, 15-21, 12-15, after UST drew first blood with a 21-13, 21-17 victory.

UST topples UP, reclaims poomsae championship Obiena: Jumping to the Olympic stage AFTER a heartbreaking third-place finish last year, the UST Tiger Jins dethroned the University of the Philippines (UP) to reclaim the crown in the UAAP Season 78 poomsae championships at the Ateneo Blue Eagle Gym last Oct.21.

The Tiger Jins clinched their second title as poomsae marked its third year as an official UAAP sport.

UST snatched three gold medals and a silver to top University of the Philippines and De La Salle University which claimed second and third place, respectively.

The Tiger Jins, which swept the tournament en route to the championship in the event’s maiden year in 2013, surprisingly dropped to third place last season behind La Salle and eventual champions UP. Lady Jins captain Jocel Lyn Ninobla said last year’s setback served as a wake-up call for the team to work

harder this season.

“We’ve learned na hindi pa sapat ‘yung ginawa namin.

We have to double it or maybe more pa. There really is no time for contentment or relaxation,” Ninobla said.

The mixed pair of national team mainstays Ninobla and Marvin Gabriel impressed with 8.37 points to land first place.

In the group category, UST also collected gold medals courtesy of the trio of Gabriel, Adrian Ang and Palarong Pambansa standout Anthony Dalida of the men’s group, and Ninobla, Raisa Libiran and Jhoanna Razon.

Rodolfo Reyes Jr. bagged UST’s lone silver medal in the men’s individual division with a score of 8.28 behind UP’s Dustin Mella (8.44).

“I’m very much happy with the performance. I can see that they really gave their all. We trained hard for this, we prepared hard and all of it was worth it,” Tiger Jins head coach Rani Ortega said.

Term

Campuses

By RANDELL ANGELO B. RITUMALTA

FROM PAGE 2 12 transition.

“We shall continue engaging with government and other sectors of society to be able to promote the rights and the welfare of faculty members especially in terms of the safety nets that have to be instituted by government to protect the teachers,” Tadle told the Varsitarian.

Aguas said he would return to teaching and research. “The main reason why I ran as independent was I needed to promote this advocacy of genuine change in the faculty. Siguro hindi pa time for that advocacy,” Aguas said.

The other newly elected union officials are: the Faculty of Engineering’s Patrick Go, executive vice president; the College of Science’s Edilberto Gonzaga, vice president internal; the Faculty of Arts and Letters’ Pablito Marasigan Jr., vice president external; the College of Commerce and Business Administration’s James Platon, vice president for labor education; Aurora Bermudez of Artlets, vice president for legal affairs; the UST-Alfredo M. Velayo College of Accountancy’s Jose Ngo, vice president for grievance and complaints; The College of Architecture’s Susan Petilla, secretary general; Science’s Joyce Tan, treasurer; Accountancy’s Marie Ann Guanzon, auditor; the College of Education’s

Arlene de Leon, public relations officer; and the Institute of Physical Education and Athletics’ Rebecca Adri, sergeant at arms.

Lim’s Kabalikat nearly swept the executive posts, except for those won by Gonzaga, Ngo and Adri, who ran under Tadle’s Lead 4 Change Alliance.

Kabalikat also won majority of the seats in the USTFU board of directors, at six, versus Lead 4 Change’s four.

The new directors from Kabalikat are the Institute of Religion’s Revenendo Vargas, Education’s Beatriz Ribleza, the Counseling and Career Center’s Claudine Say, Engineering’s George Chao, UST Junior High School’s Frederick Manubay and the College of Tourism and Hospitality Management’s James Nidea.

The new directors from Lead 4 Change are the Institute of Religion’s Noel Asiones, Artlets’ Michelle Desierto and Emerito Gonzales, and Accountancy’s Norman Garcia.

“Based on the feedback we are getting, it was a successful exercise of our voting rights, although I would say sayang pa rin ‘yung mga hindi nakaboto.

[They] could have made the difference,” USTFU Central Commission on Elections Chairman Robert Lao said in an interview.

Turnout reached 77 percent, with 867 voting out of 1,126 eligible union members K.J.V. BAYLON and C.I. HORMACHUELOS

FROM PAGE1

the University’s passing rate generally higher than the national passing rate, he said.

In addition, Fr. Dagohoy highlighted UST’s offshore programs and enumerated new degree programs, such as the Master of Science (MS) in Chemical Engineering, Bachelor of Physical Education (Sports and Wellness), Master of Arts (MA) in Cultural Heritage Studies, MA in Journalism, MA in Occupational Therapy and MS in Pain Management.

He also underscored UST’s autonomous status and academic laurels from the Commission on Higher Education, the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation and the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities.

UST improved its faculty profile, the Rector said, with masters and doctorate degree holders increasing to 1,291 and 524, respectively, this year from 1,238 and 498 last year. Faculty members from Engineering, Music, Nursing and Rehabilitation Sciences were given foreign scholarships.

The Rector also said the University had boosted its research profiles in the national and global arena with a total of 232 research publications, 111 of which were cited in Elsevier Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database of peerreviewed literature.

K to 12 scheme Addressing concerns over the impending implementation of the K to 12 educational reform, the Rector said the University would find a solution on the premise of “justice and charity.”

The University will go through the K to 12 transition beginning 2016, where high school students will spend two more years in senior high school or grades 11 and 12, instead of graduating to college. As a result, UST will offer only 13 programs to freshmen next academic year.

The K to 12 transition will reduce college teaching loads beginning next year, displacing faculty members.

Some faculty members will be transferred to the UST Senior High School (SHS) which has set an enrollment target of 5,000 students for 2016.

Other measures to cushion the impact of K to 12 include allowing professors to do office work, take research loads, or go on sabbatical or study leaves.

“Pag-uusapan pa namin ng union. We will have a meeting after this [Rector’s report] to thresh out the details [to] manage the impact of [K to 12 transition],” he said in an interview with the Varsitarian after his report.

Fr. Dagohoy did not mention the proposed Student’s Code in his speech but told the Varsitarian that it was already in the final drafting phase. “As far as I know, the Student’s Code is still in the process of finalizing at the level of the Council of Deans. I don’t know what happened after that,” he said.

FOR UST Trackster Ernest John Obiena, what was once an impossible dream is now within reach.

Obiena is looking to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the pole vault event and join Eric Cray as the only Filipinos with a sure ticket to the Games.

The 19-year-old trackster aims to reach the Olympic minimum clearance of 5.70 meters as he has now cleared 5.45 meters. He is 25 centimeters away from a trip to Rio. “Target ko po bilang athlete, ay maging world-class, which equates to being an Olympian,” said Obiena, who has had his eyes on the Olympic stage since he started training at eight years old.

Obiena, who holds the South East Asian (SEA) standard in pole vaulting, rewrote the record books four times this year. The first time was last May at the Taiwan Open where he cleared 5.25 meters, barely surpassing the six-year record held by Thai Kreetha Sintacheewa at 5.24 meters.

The following week, Obiena broke his own record with a 5.30-meter finish at the Busan International Pole Vault Open in South Korea.

However, in the SEA Games in Singapore last June, he lost in heartbreaking fashion to Thailand’s Pooranut Purahong and settled for silver after failing to clear the 5.30-meter mark.

Unfazed by the loss, the trackster went to Italy and continued his training in the prestigious International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) High Performance Center in Formia under Vitaly Petrov, coach of six-time IAAF World Pole Vault Champion Sergey Bubka.

“Inisip ko na lang sa next competition, ‘yung sure win na talaga. ‘Yung malayong-malayo na talaga [ang difference]. Kahit may konting miscalculations, hindi ako matatalo,” Obiena told the Varsitarian.

When his traning session in Italy ended, Obiena and Purahong met again in the finals of the Thailand Open last September. This time, the Filipino came on top and set another record with a 5.40 meter-clearance for the gold medal.

Inching closer to his dream, last Sept.

27, he cleared the 5.40-meter mark in his first attempt in the Philippine Athletic Track and Field Association weekly relays held at the PhilSports complex in Pasig.

Runs in the family Obiena’s emergence can be traced back in his roots as he came from a family of track-and-field athletes.

His father, UST Trackster assistant coach Emerson, pole vaulter for the national team in the 1980’s, and his mother, Jeanette, a college hurdler, opened his eyes to the world of athletics.

“Hindi sila nagpush, pero sila nagopen ng opportunity sa akin. Without the help and support of my parents, wala ako.”

On the other hand, his sister Emily is also a pole vaulter and holds the national record for women at 3.30 meters. Obiena Stage PAGE 5

Obiena

Sports Tigers back in Final Four OCTOBER 29, 2015

By RANDELL ANGELO B. RITUMALTA

THE UST Growling Tigers booked a spot in the Final 4 with an 8376 victory over the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons in the UAAP Season 78 men’s basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena last Oct. 25.

Kevin Ferrer, who shot an awful 1-of-11 from the field in UST’s loss to the Ateneo de Manila University, led the Tigers’ offense with a career-high 29 points, 23 of them coming in the second half, and a season-high 14 rebounds.

Veterans Louie Vigil and Ed Daquioag chipped in 16 and 15 markers, respectively.

Ferrer and Daquioag led a 7-2 rally in the fourth quarter to pull away from the Fighting Maroons, 76-68.

The Tigers closed the third period with a 61-51 advantage, but UP fought back in the fourth with a 15-8 run to narrow the gap to three, 66-69.

“Good ‘yung performance [ng team] today; si Louie bumalik, si Kevin nag-step up. ‘Yung mga hinahanap ko sa mga beterano nagpapakita na ngayon,” Tigers head coach Bong Dela Cruz said.

UST has now won 18 straight games against the Fighting Maroons since 2007.

Jett Manuel paced the Fighting Maroons with a career-high 21 points.

“Meron pa kaming games to improve and syempre nasa Final Four ka na [so] ang target mo na is to go up higher, so ‘yun ‘yung [magiging] preparation namin [and] ‘yun ‘yung gusto namin,”

Dela Cruz added.

The Tigers now carry a 9-2 win-loss slate for second place behind last season’s runner up the Far Eastern University Tamaraws.

Last Dance Graduating players Ferrer and Daquioag are making most out of their final year in the collegiate ranks as they provide the muchneeded one-two punch for the Tigers.

Ferrer has been a consistent double-digit scorer in 11 games so far, averaging 17.7 points and 8.6 rebounds. He averaged only 9.6 points last season where he played only eight games due to injury.

Despite a relatively better season, Ferrer believes that the Tigers still have to improve.

“Ginagawa ko lang naman

‘yung best [ko]. Kung anong mayroon sa stats wala akong pakialam doon basta makuha natin ‘yung championship,” he said.

Daquioag is averaging 17.9 points and 5.4 rebounds this season, a marked improvement from his 7.2-point average last year.

“Si Ed last year pa dapat kaya lang nagkaroon ng injury so nagstop ‘yung growth niya sa UAAP. Ngayon healthy siya [at] siya [ang] nakikita ng tao, pero ‘di na ako nagtataka doon kasi nakikita ko [na] hardworker talaga siya,” head coach Dela Cruz said.

Daquioag has had a share of special performances this season.

He exploded for 28 points against Adamson University on opening day then scattered 34 points against the Red Warriors on Oct. 7.

Daquioag

Tiger Jins secure back-to-back titles; Lady Jins settle for second

By PHILIP MARTIN L. MATEL THE UST Tiger Jins scored back-to-back championships while the Lady Jins improved to second place in their respective divisions in the UAAP Season 78 taekwondo tournament at the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagle Gym last Oct. 23.

The Tiger Jins trounced a gritty University of the East squad, 5-2, to top the tourney for the second straight year, while the Lady Jins, who slid to third place last year, failed to regain the championship they last won in Season 76.

Both UST squads shared an identical 5-1 win-loss card with UE but the Lady Warriors came out victorious via quotient rule by prevailing against the Lady Jins in their previous encounter, 4-3.

With the Tiger Jins leading 3-2, Aries Capispisan sealed the crown for UST after landing a swift kick to the torso with 25 seconds remaining against Red Warrior Raymond Caño in their sudden death match. “(Against UE), we relied on front leg kicks and matched particularly with our defense.

We addressed their jitters in close battles with nerves of steel,” Tiger Jins head coach Dindo Simpao told the Varsitarian.

Newly-crowned Most Valuable Player Joaquin Mendoza relied on a tremendous second round and scored all of his points to overtake Jenar Torillos, 6-3.

Mendoza (bantamweight), Ramos (featherweight), and Carlos Miguel (finweight) took home individual gold medals while Capispisan netted silver.

In women’s play, Season 76 MVP Abigail Cham suffered a heartbreaking loss against Lady Warrior Nicole McCann in sudden death to drop the series, 1-4. UST went on to win the next two non-bearing games.

Lady Jins Marjelle Sy (welterweight) and Cham (lightweight) won individual gold medals while team captain Korina Paladin (flyweight), Colleen Heria(bantamweight) and Charm Ragutana (heavyweight) bagged silver.

Jamaica de Guzman (finweight) won bronze.

UST ended the tournament with a 6-5-1 gold-silver-bronze medal haul. “’Di man namin nakuha ang championship this year, ang performance namin, pangchampions,” Sy said.

Miguel

Salinggawi bags silver in UAAP cheerdance THE UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe (SDT) recorded its best finish in seven years, placing second to defending champion National University (NU) Pep Squad in the 2015 UAAP Cheerdance Competition at the Mall of Asia Arena last Oct. 3.

Performing before a record crowd of 25,388, Salinggawi and its Africaninspired routine got 651.5 points behind NU’s 668 points.

With an inarguably perfect routine, SDT led the competition in the dance criteria with 354 points with a deduction only three points. But NU’s caveman-themed routine was still good points for its third straight cheerdance crown.

This was SDT’s fifth silver in cheerdance history. Salinggawi still

shares the most number of cheerdance titles with University of the Philippines Pep Squad at eight.

Despite having the best dance routine, SDT was just second in the tumbling and tosses criteria behind NU. Team captain Gladys Eunice Cruz said the SDT’s main goal was perfecting the routine.

“Sobrang saya naming lahat kasi before kami magperform, [iniisip lang namin na] basta lang ma-hit ng maayos ‘yung routine and maging malinis lang ‘yung execution. [N]ag-focus lang talaga kami and hindi kami nagpakain sa pagod. Nagtulungan lang ‘yung buong team, lumaban hanggang huli nang magkakasama,” Cruz told the Varsitarian.

SDT also bagged gold in this

year’s group stunts category with 239.5 points, topping NU and FEU, which settled for silver and bronze, respectively.

Last year’s silver medalists UP Pep Squad finished third with 610.5 points while the Far Eastern University Cheering Squad placed fourth after garnering 583.5 points.

At fifth spot was the University of the East Pep Squad with 583 points, followed by the De La Salle University Animo Squad which registered 538.5 points for sixth place.

Adamson University Pep Squad finished at seventh placewith 513.5 points while the Ateneo De Manila University Blue Babble Battalion was dead last with 412 points. CARLO A. CASINGCASING

Golden Shuttlers exit early in UAAP badminton THE UST Golden Shuttlers missed the Final Four of the UAAP Season 78 badminton tournament at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Complex from Sept. 19 to Oct. 4.

Inexperience and mental breakdowns cost the season for the Golden Shuttlers as they failed to return to the semifinals for the third straight season.

“Pagdating sa mental, ‘medyo masasabi ko na kulang. Iyon ang [problema] namin.

[Malalakas na nga ang mga kalaban] kung mahina pa ang mental doon ka lalong tatalunin,” UST head coach Noli Cajefe told the Varsitarian.

UST seemed right on track after winning two of their first three matches. But both the men’s and women’s squads went on a three-game losing streak against league heavyweights. They salvaged the last day with a combined 9-1 win over Adamson University. They ended their campaign at fifth place with a 3-4 win-loss card.

“Kaya sana naming mag-Final Four ngayon [kaso] kinapos lahat, iyon ang nakakalungkot,” Cajefe said. “Kulang talaga tayo sa tao. Kahit anong rotation, kapag kulang talaga sa tao walang, magagawa.

Hanggang dun lang ang maximum.”

Of the 16 members of this year’s roster, only women’s captain Anna Patricia Barredo and Paul John Pantig had previous national team experience.

In the three of their four losses, the Male Shuttlers were leading or had the chance to steal the match. They were up 2-0 and 2-1 against De La Salle University

and University of the Philippines, respectively, and were tied, 2-2, against Ateneo De Manila University, but ran out of gas in the deciding matches.

The Male Shuttlers succumbed to defending champions National University, 1-4.

The Female Shuttlers absorbed three humiliating defeats , 0-5, 0-5, 1-4. They also lost against La Salle, 2-3.

The Male Shuttlers last won the title in Season 73 while the Female Shuttlers’ lone championship was in Season 70.

With an almost-intact roster next year, Cajefe guarantees that the Male Shuttlers will bounce back next season.

However, he did not assure the F e m a l e Shuttlers’ dominance.

C a p t a i n Alcaed Lee Sabanal is the only Male Shuttler who has exhausted his playing years, leaving behind veterans Pantig and John Henrick Peralta. Female Shuttlers’ veterans Victoria Vizmonte and Barredo have also completed their playing years. JOHN CHESTER P. FAJARDO Aquino