Nagkakaisang Iskolar para sa Pamantasan at Sambayanan (KAISA)’s Titus Tan has been elected as the new University Student Council (USC) chairperson, while Jacqueline Eroles from Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights in UP (Stand-UP) is vice-chair.

Four councilors from Alyansa ng mga Mag-aaral Para sa Panlipunang Katwiran at Kaunlaran (ALYANSA), four from Stand-UP, three from KAISA and one independent were also elected.

More details at from UPJourn.net

Meet Meliton Zamora, a retired University of the Philippines janitor and my hero.

For forty-five years, he swept floors, cleaned up trash, watered plants and did odd jobs at the University.

I met him when I was active with the UP Repertory Company, a theater group based (then) at the third floor lobby of the Arts & Sciences (AS) building. He would sweep and mop the hallway floors in silence, venturing only a nod and a smile whenever I passed him.

Back then, for me he was just one of those characters whom you got acquainted with and left behind as soon as you earned your degree and left the university for some big job in the real world. Someone whose name would probably ring a bell but whose face you’d have a hard time picturing. But for many UP students like me who were hard up and had a difficult time paying their tuition fees, Mang Mel was a hero who gave them the opportunity to finish university and get a big job in the real world.

The year was 1993 and I was on my last semester as a Clothing Technology student. My parents had been down on their luck and were struggling to pay for my tuition fee. I had been categorized as Bracket 9 in the recently implemented Socialized Tuiton and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP). My father had lost his job and to supplement my allowance, I worked part time as a Guest Relations Officer at Sam’s Diner (back when the term GRO didn’t have shady undertones) and took some odd jobs as a Production Assistant, movie extra and wardrobe mistress.

To be eligible for graduation, I had to enroll in my last three courses and pay my tuition fee. Since my parents didn’t have enough money for my matriculation, I applied for a student loan hoping that my one of my Home Economics (HE) professors would take pity on me and sign on as a guarantor for the student loan. But those whom I approached either refused or were not eligible as guarantors. After two unsuccessful weeks of looking for a guarantor, my prospects looked dim, my future dark. And so, there I was, a downtrodden twenty year old with a foggy future, crying in the AS lobby. I only had twenty four hours left to look for a guarantor.

Mang Mel, with a mop in hand, approached me and asked me why I was crying. I told him I had no guarantor for my student loan and will probably not be able to enroll this semester. I had no hopes that he would be able to help me. After all, he was just a janitor. He borrowed my loan application papers and said softly, “Puwede ako pumirma. Empleyado ako ng UP.” He borrowed my pen and signed his name. With his simple act of faith, Mang Mel not only saved my day, he also saved my future.

I paid my student loan the summer after that fateful day with Mang Milton and it has been 15 years since then. I am not filthy rich but I do have a good job in the real world that allows me to support my family and eat three meals a day. A few weeks ago, a friend and UP Professor, Daki, told me that Mang Mel recently recorded an album which he sells to supplement his meager retirement pay, I asked another friend, Blaise, who’s taking his Master’s degree at UP to find out how we could contact Mang Mel. My gesture of gratitude for Mang Mel’s altruism has been long overdue. As fate would have it, my friend saw Mang Mel coming out of the shrubbery from behind the UP library, carrying firewood. He got Mang Mel’s address and promised him that we would come over to buy his album.

Together with Blaise and my husband Augie, I went to pay Mang Mel a visit last Sunday. Unfortunately, he was out doing a little sideline gardening for a UP professor in Tandang Sora. We were welcomed into their home by his daughter Kit. As she pointed out to a laminated photo of Mang Mel on the wall, she proudly told us that her father did retire with recognition from the University. However, she sadly related to us that many of the students whose loans Mang Mel guaranteed neglected to settle their student loans. After forty-five years of service to the University, Mang Mel was only attributed 171 days of work for his retirement pay because all the unpaid student loans were deducted from his full retirement pay of about 675 days. This seems to me a cruel repayment for his kindness.

This is a cybercall to anyone who did not get to pay their student loans that were guaranteed by Mang Mel. Anytime would be a good time to show Mang Mel your gratitude.

Mang Mel is not asking for a dole out, though I know he will be thankful for any assistance you can give. So I ask those of you who also benefited from Mang Meliton’s goodness or for those who simply wish to share your blessings, please do visit Mang Mel and buy his CD (P350 only) at No. 16-A, Block 1, Pook Ricarte, U.P. Campus, Diliman, Quezon City (behind UP International House) or contact his daughter Kit V. Zamora at 0916-4058104.

Alumni from UP Mindanao and other UP units are called to join their fellow alumni and students in “Sentenyal Pasiklaban”, a totally wacky contest of skits to be held on December 3, Wednesday, at the CAP Auditorium.

The skits may use dialogue, narration, songs, dances, or imitate any form of performance art or public events on the theme of “One Hundred Years of What?”

The objective is to bring the alumni to connect with their peers and youth counterparts in the spirit of fun and fellowship in the closing days of the UP Centennial.

UP Alumni Association Davao Chapter Chairman Atty. Pete Morales emphasized that, “the skits will definitely be not serious, it is all in the spirit of fun.”

Cash prizes, trophies and bragging rights are available for the taking.
Alumni may call Mr. Joel Sagadal at 293-0494 or 0919-251-5825 for details.

Updates will be posted at www.upmin.edu.ph.

As tribute to the UP Manila alumni and jubilarians, the homecoming will also include musical numbers by popular singer-songwriter Ogie Alcasid, the UP Indayog, the UP Manila Chorale, and Ed Zialsita and his Band. Keynote address will be delivered by Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Esperanza I. Cabral.

Please call the UP Manila Alumni Office at 525-3802 (look for Ester). Attire is Filipiniana.

The Office of Alumni Relations
University of the Philippines System
Rms. 109-110, Fonacier Hall (Alumni Center)
Magsaysay Avenue, UP Campus, Diliman
Quezon City 1101, Philippines
Telefax (02) 929-8226, oar@up.edu.ph

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Expect the grand alumni homecoming of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UP CMC) to be a gathering of some of the country’s biggest stars in journalism, entertainment and even politics.

Dubbed “UP Mass Comm and You: Photographs and Memories atbp.,” it will be held on September 27 (Saturday), 1 p.m. at the CMC Plaridel Hall in Diliman, Quezon City.

Among the hosts for the program are reporter Ambet Nabus and artists Giselle Sanchez and Earl Ignacio who are all products of UP CMC.

Rep. Ed Zialcita (1st District, Parañaque), another UP CMC graduate, will be performing with his band. UP CMC alumni like lawyer Rowena Daroy Morales, writer Raymond Narag, veteran actress Malou de Guzman and actor RS Francisco will have their respective production numbers, details of which are still kept under wraps.

UP CMC students from Himig ng Mass Comm, UP Broadcasting Association (BROADASS) and the Samahan ng Mga Mag-aaral sa Komunikasyon (SAMASKOM) will also have skits and musical numbers.

Actress Candy Pangilinan, a UP alumna, is expected to provide live entertainment. There will be surprise appearances from Kapuso (GMA 7) and Kapamilya (ABS-CBN) stars, some of whom used to be “housemates” in the reality show Pinoy Big Brother.

Different “extremes” in entertainment become apparent as saxophonist Michael Yu and Virga the Fire Thrower give different performances. Selected live bands will play for the partying crowd until 11 p.m.

UP CMC Alumni Association President Maryo J. de los Reyes, an award-winning director, is in charge of the program for the grand alumni homecoming.

To confirm your attendance or for more details, please call Maryo J. de los Reyes (0917-8907249; maryoj56[at]yahoo[dot]com), Armi Santiago (920-6863; 0908-4065353; armisan2004[at]yahoo[dot]com) or Katkat Ramos (920-6864; 0927-2495820; katkatramos[at]gmail[dot]com).

UP students are not supposed to be called “Iskolar ng Bayan” (Scholar of the Nation). They are “paying scholars”. If you are paying more or less PHP 21, 000, would you really feel that you are indeed a “Iskolar ng Bayan”? Upon enrollment, UP students get in line to pay for their tuition holding wads of cash roughly four times thicker than those from New Era University would pay for. I am sure that we don’t need figures, charts, and statistics to prove the veracity of my claim.

What do you think?

(Salamat sa link, AJ!)

The annual service project aims to help and assist aspiring UP students taking the UPCAT in Diliman campus. Though there are testing centers nationwide, a significant percentage of aspirants are taking the exam in UP Diliman. Moreover, aspirants taking the exam in the campus face inevitable problems like traffic jam, lack of information on testing rooms and buildings, and some minor requirements, which would delay the examinees and worse, would make them unable to take the exam.

More than ten (10) information and assistance booths will be put up in different strategic locations in the campus to provide guidance and answers to everyone’s questions. Maps are provided to examinees and parents. Food booths are installed in distinctive areas to vend food and refreshment for all. Traffic assistance is also offered by the brods and sis especially during peak hours. These are just few of the service activities during the conduct of UPCAT in Diliman.

It was in 1991 when the first UPCAT Information and Assistance Project was first conceptualized and executed. Since then, the project has been an annual tradition and project of the fraternity and sorority.

MANILA, Philippines – On the day marking the University of the Philippines’ 100th year, members of a fraternity known for its “Oblation Run” made sure that their presence would be felt and seen in a big way.

A hundred naked members of the Alpha Phi Omega (APO) fraternity Wednesday held a special edition of their yearly “Oblation Run,” which they dubbed the “Centennial Run.”

Read entire article at INQUIRER.net.