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The price of change

SO NEAR, and yet so far.

As the days before “E-day” slowly run out, so do the chances of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to prove to the public that the first automated elections will be a success.

Months before the elections, the public continues to be bombarded with bad news hinting of problems of the automated “ballot box”— fluctuating signals, ballots becoming invalid, the presence of signal jammers near the precincts (which will allegedly affect the transmission of election returns), not to mention the problem of overcrowding, with as much as 1,000 people expected in a precinct. All this and more would probably make voting an arduous task.  read more »

Bittersweet

HOW DO you love a loved one?

People often say that if you really love somebody, you must let them learn from their mistakes. You must let them realize that something is wrong, and let them correct that in their own ways with little or no help from anyone.

Our perception of love may be subjective, but experiencing it never fails to elicit learning and growing at the end. And not even Asia’s oldest university is spared from this.

The 400-year-old institution never lived through four centuries without receiving as much as a scar. It withstood two world wars, economic meltdowns, and a long list of tragedies that would be too laborious to enumerate. read more »

Erratum: UST history

YOU MIGHT wonder if ghosts dwell on campus since UST served as a “concentration camp” during the World War II, or how in the world Fr. Roque Ruaño built the earthquake-proof Main Building on a formerly “undeveloped swampland.” You might even feel guilty upon reading some chapters of El Filibusterismo, thinking that Jose Rizal was “dissatisfied” as a UST student.

Well, dear Thomasians, don’t get your UST history wrong.

According to historian Jose Victor Torres, these are just some of the common misconceptions in UST history. Complacency is often the reason why some remain ignorant of the facts despite the abundance of available sources. But Torres has a simpler explanation.

“We simply dislike history,” he said. read more »

The good, the bad, and the bloody

ONE OF the perks of being a medical technology intern in a public hospital is that you are updated with the latest developments in the health sector of the country. In fact, during one of my hospital duties in December last year, I myself was tasked to bring news to some hospitals in Metro Manila that a policy of centralizing blood banks will soon be implemented. read more »

Click to help

THE OTHER day, a friend of mine asked me if he should be considered insensitive because he had deleted almost all Facebook posts flooding his wall which read, “HELP the people in Haiti now!” In response, I told him there was nothing wrong as long as he a “donates” by clicking, oblivious of whether the act can actually help a single Haiti victim or not.

With the advent of new technology, the act of helping others miles away has become a lot easier. Extending help might not be a problem for big companies and highly affluent people who have more than enough to give, but what about ordinary people who would also like to give a hand? read more »

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