{mosimage}The year 1611 was not a good time to found a school in the Philippines. The Isnegs in northwest Cagayan, led by Miguel Lanag, were revolting against Spain, having just looted some houses and beheaded the Dominican missionary, Fr. Alonzo Garcia, before burning his church and fleeing to the mountains of Apayao. At the same time, the Dutch menace was tormenting the Spanish authorities in Manila. Dutchman Oliver van Noort steered his two ships close to Manila, but the Spaniards put up a fight and when the Dutch lost a ship and one of their captains, Francois Wittert, the invaders left and fled for Borneo.
Elsewhere in the world, the Britishers had just authorized the use of the King James version of the Bible. In Italy, Galileo Galilei had just finished publishing Sidereal Messenger, describing his telescopic observations of the heavens, validating Nicholas Copernicus’ earlier mathematical observations on the movement of the planets, including earth, around the sun. Australia has just been discovered by Willem Janszoon.
In fact, when the Dominican priest was busy starting UST, the rave in the American colonies then was Pocahontas – not the movie – but the Indian princess in Jamestown, Virginia (and daughter of King Powhatan), who married a farmer John Rolfe, was held captive, then used as ransom for other captured Jamestown colonists.
Such were the times and events in the Philippines and the world when the University of Santo Tomas was formed.
{mosimage}Now, almost 400 years since that historic donation in the Philippines, UST is one of the most venerable institutions of higher learning in the world, having graduated national heroes, 4 presidents, numerous senators, Supreme Court chief justices, saints, martyrs, artists, 26 delegates to the 1934 Constitutional Convention, 46 delegates to the 1972 Charter, sportsmen, builders, doctors, businessmen, and other leaders in a variety of fields required in the process of building a nation.
The story of UST cannot be complete without the mention of its illustrious alumni who, over the years, walked through the Arch of the Centuries with dignity, like: Dr. Jose Rizal, Apolinario Mabini, Frs. Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, the martyrs; Presidents Manuel Luis Quezon, Sergio Osmeña, Jose P. Laurel, and Diosdado Macapagal; Senators Claro M. Recto, Jose Yulo, Juan Sumulong, and Rafael Palma; Supreme Court Justices Cayetano Arellano (first Filipino Supreme Court Justice), Manuel Araullo, and Ramon Avancena; Secretary of Justice Gregorio Araneta; drafter of the Constitution of the First Republic, Felipe Calderon; Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Florentino Torres; Director of the Public Library, Epifanio de los Santos; Mayor of Manila, Arsenio Lacson; and founders of the SGV accounting firm, Washington SyCip and Alfredo Velayo.
How did UST get from then to now? Through almost 400 years of experience in moral, education, and cultural formation; imparted in the highest level of both civil and sacred services; and promoted according to reason as enlightened by the Catholic faith and doctrine, that’s how.
The highlights of UST over its long life include the titles it has earned, such as: “The Royal University,” granted by King Charles III of Spain on March 7, 1785; “Pontifical University,” granted by Pope Leo XIII on Sept. 17, 1902; and “Catholic University,” granted by Pope Pius XII in 1947; and “The Civil Order of Alfonso X el Sabio,” Spain’s highest decoration for cultural and scientific achievements granted on July 18, 1961. The Colegio de Santo Tomas was elevated to a university by order of Pope Innocent X in 1645.
UST is also the only university, Catholic or not, to have been visited by two popes three times: once by Pope Paul VI on Nov. 28, 1970, and twice by Pope John Paul II on Feb. 18, 1981 and January 13, 1995.
It is the one university campus used by invaders, combatants, and internees alike during the various wars of conquest or revolutions during its four centuries of life. First, in 1762, the invading British used the UST buildings as temporary quarters for British officers. Next, during the Philippine revolution of 1898 to 1899, UST was converted into quarters for volunteers from among the professors and students. Afterwards, the Intramuros campus was turned into a hospital for the wounded during the revolutionary war. Finally, during the Second World War, the Japanese Occupational Forces used the Intramuros building for their troops, and the UST Main Building as a concentration camp for 4,000 foreign civilians they held prisoner.
It has notched many firsts in Philippine culture and history: Oldest school of Philosophy (1611); oldest museum in the Philippines (1682); oldest canon law school (1732); oldest school of Medicine and Surgery (1871); and oldest school of Pharmacy (1871).{mosimage}
It was one of the first universities in the Philippines to become co-educational when it admitted women for the first time in the Faculty of Pharmacy in 1924. A year later, it became one of the first universities in the Philippines to require the use of English as a medium of instruction, to replace Spanish. When it was appropriate to Filipinize the administration, Fr. Leonardo Z. Legazpi, O.P., on Oct. 9, 1971, became the first Filipino Rector of UST.
In terms of peer recognition, UST is considered one of the four top universities in the Philippines, and one of the top 100 in Asia.
Although many people know UST to be that 21.5-hectare university campus in España, Manila, it had not always been located there. The university spent over 300 years of its existence in Intramuros, bounded specifically by Aduana St. in the North, Plaza de España, Plaza de Santo Tomas, and the Ayuntamiento Building in the West. Prompted by increasing enrollments, which exceeded 1,000 students (large by 1920 standards), the Dominican fathers started looking elsewhere for expansion. Hence, the move to the present site in 1927, known then as Sulucan, Sampaloc, as soon as the first edifice, the magnificent, earthquake resistant Main Building, was completed by Fr. Roque Ruaño, O.P., the engineer-priest.
That move was providential because 18 years later, Japanese Army soldiers completely occupied the UST Intramuros campus and totally destroyed the 333-year old building during the Second World War.
The Dominicans, having introduced the first printing press in the Philippines, and indeed printed the first book in the Philippines, the Doctrina Christiana, were fortunate to have been able to transfer the UST printing press from Intramuros to the España campus in the nick of time in 1940, a year before the Pearl Harbor incident.
Other momentous physical transfers were the French-made bronze statue of Fr. Benavides, initially unveiled in 1891, and uncovered a second time at the new campus on Nov. 13, 1946. The Arch of the Centuries, which was the main gate in Intramuros, was reconstructed and transferred to its current site in 1954.
{mosimage}Significantly, intangible things hoarded in the collective memory of a nation are the traditions of excellence, integrity, and competence, known to many as the Thomasian spirit, which now resides in the hearts and minds of our leaders and professionals.
With such an illustrious past, it has not even started to rest on its laurels as it looks forward, with anticipation, to celebrating its Quadricentennial in 2011. UST is constantly reengineering itself to be at par with the best universities in the world through the hiring of more Ph.D.s among its faculty, constant and continuous faculty development, and the updating of its library resources, now one of the largest in Asia.
No less than the President of the Philippines, through ceremonies held at the Malacañang Palace, honored two UST graduates as among the 50 Top Men and Women of Science on the 50th anniversary of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). Moreover, UST’s graduates are currently recognized as Outstanding Professionals by the Professional Regulation Commission for outstanding achievements in Engineering, Chemistry, Physical Therapy, Pharmacy, Architecture, and Electronics.
UST is also topping the government licensure examinations in many fields, such as the recently-released Professional Regulation Commission board examinations in Nursing, Pharmacy, Architecture, Nutrition, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Engineering, and Medicine.
With its 40,000 students, it is the largest Catholic university in the world with that many students in one campus.
After a stringent evaluation by the Commission on Higher Education (ChEd), UST’s College of Education is now the latest unit in the university to be hailed a Center of Excellence. Earlier recognized for the same honors are the colleges of Architecture, Chemistry, Electronics and Communications Engineering, Literature, Medicine and Surgery, Music, Nursing, and Philosophy. Likewise, UST is now a Center of Development for Biology, Business Administration, Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Industrial, and Mechanical Engineering.
In preparation for 2011, UST is establishing campuses outside España. Soon to rise will be the campus in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, and another one is forthcoming in General Santos City in Mindanao. Through these campuses, UST will be able to provide Filipinos with the characteristic holistic formation that has been a hallmark of this Thomasian institution. The mantra is excellence in instruction, expertise in research, and eminence in community service.
The steadfast mission of UST to build a strong Christian community firmly grounded on Thomasian traditions of technology transfer and values formation cannot but carry it forward to another 400 years of unending grace.
Photos by Maria Reina M. Serador