Saint Teresa of Jesus (Avila) relic visits USPF

The relic of St. Teresa of Avila is set to be at the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) from August 27-31, 2014. Fifteen other Cebu schools are scheduled to welcome the relic.

St. Teresa of Avila is known as the Foundress, First Woman Doctor of the Church, and the Reformer of Carmelite Order.

Because of the variations of the reputable name "Teresa," there is a need to clarify some misconceptions:

1. NO, St. Teresa of Avila is NOT St. Therese of the Child of Jesus.

   2. NO,St. Teresa of Avila is NOT Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

   3. NO, St. Teresa of Avila is NOT St. Teresa of Andes.

The two stronghold Carmelite women doctors of the Church. 

St. Teresa of Avila is the Spanish Carmelite 

Doctor of the Spiritual 

Life, the 

Reformer 

Foundress 

while St. Therese of the Child Jesus 

is the 

French 

Carmelite Doctor of the Little Way,

the Patroness 

of the Missions.

St. Teresa of Avila was born on March 28, 1515 in Avila, Spain to Don Alonso Sanchez de Cepeda and Doña Beatriz de Ahumada. She was baptized on April 4, 1515 at the St. John Baptist Parish Church. At the age of 16, she entered the Augustinian convent school of Our Lady of Grace. Eventually, St. Teresa entered the Monastery of Incarnation in Avila on November 2, 1535 and exactly a year later, in 1535, received her religious habit at the Incarnation. On November 3, 1537, she made her religious profession of vows.

Carmelite Monastery
photo grabbed from Google

What is the pivotal connection of Carmelite Foundress St. Teresa of Avila to USPF, a non-sectarian school?

A builder and head of the then Jereza Construction, USPF Founding Father Don Agustin M. Jereza built the Carmelite Monastery located in Mabolo, Cebu City. "Nyor Tuting" as he was fondly called by close friends including the Carmelite nuns, built great infrastructures here in Cebu. He built the Redemptorist Church, Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu college building, University of San Carlos (USC) Main building,  Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI near the Cebu City Hall), and Southern Islands Hospital (now Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center) to name a few.

ARMS season 4

Synthesis and

Closing Remarks

Mr. Charles Roy P. Baguio

Dean, College of Arts & Sciences

To the organizers of this lecture series headed by Dir. Kathleen Villaneza and Dr. Alvin Zamora, guest lecturers, faculty members, students, good afternoon. As a rundown of this morning’s series of lectures we begin by asking: why are we here? 

Dr. Zamora opened the day by saying, “The power of language and communication has brought us here” which is manifested in the various facets and aspects of human life. This power and how to harness it is shared to us through today’s ARMS lecture which is a way of the USPF Alumni with the able faculty members to give back to the Alma Mater by sharing one’s expertise for the sake of development and philanthropy.

The first lecturer, Mrs. Nerves, ushered us into the fascinating world of myths, folklore, and legends which oftentimes titillates our imagination. She distinguished a myth from a folktale and a legend, discussed their purpose, and ended with a critical question as to what is the place and what meaning do these literary works have in our lives?

Mr. Nagal, the second speaker, began by saying that English is a “crazy” language and mentioned examples of these “crazy” things in the English language. He proceeded by stressing the importance of learning grammar and effectively teaching it with the use of interesting sample activities. He also went into what is good grammar, the components of good grammar, and how to teach good grammar. He ended his lecture by presenting Larsen-Freeman’s Three Dimensional Grammar Framework.

We were afterwards led by Mr. Talastas to the importance of learning foreign language and how it enriches us. He also stressed that learning a foreign language is not always easy, but one must grab any window of opportunity to learn such at an early age. This reminds me of my pre-college and college years when I studied 18 units of the Latin language, a dead language, in the seminary. It was indeed enriching for through it I get to understand better the meaning of many English words which are derived from it. However, it was the subject in which I almost failed --- not always easy indeed.

 

Dr. Suarez introduced us to the advocacy of using and learning the mother tongue. Language is the expression of a people’s soul. Any language, no matter how few are the speakers, is worth saving according to Dr. Suarez. She also deplored the deprivation of the use of the Cebuano language in many instances.

 

Fr. Monteron shared his African missionary experience, one in a foreign land with a language and culture. They, as missionaries, had to learn the local language and culture in order to effectively evangelize to the natives. He said that in learning a foreign language and culture, we also learn to appreciate the beauty of our own language and culture.

The sixth lecturer, Mr. Emerson Aller, opened by pointing out that speech and language is the most important cognitive function that distinguishes humans from other animals. But humans must not only communicate, the challenge is on how to communicate effectively. Effective communication process involves transmitting, listening, perceiving, and reacting or TLPR. Communication connects people and starts relationships.

 

The final lecturer, Mr. Francis Torres, introduced us to the world of literary criticism which is about the evaluation and interpretation of literary texts. Essentially, in this study we deal with the text, the status, the source of interpretation, and the reader. He also introduced some methods and approaches in literary criticism and the why of doing criticism.

ARMS participants register online.

USPian alumna and Miss USPF 2010

Aubrey Gelig graces ARMS season 4

as Lady of Ceremonies. 

The lectures have indeed made our morning more interesting and fruitful. Let me end today’s activity by affirming that language and communication is indeed powerful. We, for sure, are both beneficiaries and sometimes victims of its use and misuse. Effective communication is indeed a skill that is a must for learning because those who communicate effectively definitely have an edge. Thanks a lot to the organizers, lecturers, and to all of you for coming. God bless us all.

Photo op after the successful lecture (L-R): OAR director and ARMS chairperson Ms. Kathleen Solon-Villaneza, Mr. Francis Luis Torres, IMC director & ARMS co-chairperson Dr. Alvin Zamora, Mr. Emerson Aller, Mr. Julian Talastas II, Dr. Angeles de Pio-Suarez, Mr. Cornelius Roy Nagal, Mrs. Rowena Nerves, and partner college & CAS dean Mr. Charles Roy Baguio.

*photos from: USPF Instructional Media Center & Southern Scholar photo journalist

USPF-OAR brings the alumni tracer to you!

USPian Chairperson presents paper in Australia

University of Southern Philippines Foundation's Department of Social Work chairperson and professor Mrs. Rosario Sequitin presented a paper on July 11, 2014 in an international conference held in Australia. An abstract of the paper presented is here posted:

Mrs. Rosario Sequitin presents the paper 

"Romancing the Storms: Local Government

Units' Managing Crisis Situations"

in Australia

Romancing the Storms: Local Government Units’ Managing Crisis Situations

Rosario E. Sequitin¹ and Hubert C. Zanoria²

¹University of Southern Philippines Foundation, Cebu City, Philippines

²Southwestern University, Cebu City, Philippines

The Philippines, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) has an average of nineteen (19) typhoons in a year. In 2012 TS Bopha (local name Pablo) hit the island of Mindanao in the Philippines on December 3, 2012 with winds of 185- 280 km/hr. It left 1,901 fatalities, 834 missing and $1.04 billion damage to properties. The following year, Typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda), one of the strongest storm so far recorded (Category 5 super typhoon) devastated the Visayas islands in the Philippines on November 8, 2013. It left US$ 2.86 billion in damages, 6,340 confirmed dead and 1,061 missing.

Mrs. Rosario Sequitin (2nd from left) poses with
fellow presenters and conference attendees.

The enactment of Republic Act No. 10121 in 2010 or the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management System Law established disaster response structures and mechanisms in every village, nonetheless, the country remains vulnerable, exposed, unprepared and most of the time unable to handle the enormity of a disaster’s wrath.

This is a comparative study of several post-disaster activities of Central and Southern Philippines covering selected municipalities and cities of these island groups. The aim is to show good practices and organizational limitations in community mobilization from a post-disaster activity and coming up with new approaches for more resilient communities.

It focused attention on how local government units (LGUs) were able to cope with these natural calamities.  It  discussed the their initiatives in addressing  the needs of the affected communities  after the disastrous events, specifically providing immediate post disaster recovery, and in rebuilding homes in safer areas identified by the local officials and people’s organizations.

USPian teacher alumnae Ms. Becca Labor Galon-Oplado
and Mrs. Rosario Sequitin meet in Melbourne, Australia.

The case studies documented LGUs’ and communities’ ability to cope due to their self- organization, proactive and preventive activities, and strong leadership.  Organizing community emergency response teams served as a machinery to reduce risks and hazards, at the same time ushered the promotion of active citizenship and volunteerism.

On the other hand, two cases also documented total breakdown of LGU’s systems which required the provincial and national government’s assumption of the recovery and rehabilitation efforts. 

The experiences highlighted the effects and lessons learned from either strong cooperation established among the community stakeholders, support institutions and the LGUs or polarization and putting political colors in addressing needs of its constituents.  The experience also led the communities to assess their own vulnerabilities as a community and how these can be further mitigated in the future.

*photos grabbed from Facebook and used in this article with permission from Mrs. Sequitin.