The Varsitarian, the official student organ of the University of Santo Tomas, will mark its 95th anniversary with a grand alumni homecoming on Jan. 14, 5 p.m., at the lobby of the Blessed Buenaventura Garcia Paredes, OP Building or Thomasian Alumni Center at UST, Espana, Manila.
The homecoming will signal the countdown to the 100th anniversary in 2028 of the oldest Catholic campus paper in the country.
Prominent UST Varsitarian alumni who have signified they would attend the reunion include Makati Medical Center director Dr. Saturnino Javier, UST Hospital assistant medical director Dr. Julius Caesar Dalupang, former Inquirer columnist Rina Jimenez-David, Inquirer health columnist Dr. Rafael Castillo, former New York Times correspondent and Inquirer ombudsman Alice Colet Villadolid, former Agence France Press correspondent and Silliman University communications school dean Crispin Maslog, former Manila Archdiocese media head Corazon Yamsuan, top artist Remy Boquiren, broadcast journalists Christian Esguerra and Lourd de Veyra, and top writers Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo and Vim Nadera.
Esguerra will emcee the show along with ABS-CBN corporate communications head Kane Errol Choa and Eggshell Worldwide Communications Inc. managing partner Ro-Charmaine Pidal-Pahate.
To lead the anticipated Mass to mark the Feast of Santo Nino as well as the Varsitarian anniversary is former Varsitarian Witness section editor Fr. Rolando V. de la Rosa, three-term UST rector and former chair of the Commission on Higher Education.
Assisting him are other UST Varsitarian alumni-priests: former GMA reporter Fr. Nicanor Lalog of the Diocese of Malabon and Fr. Isidro Marinay, award-winning book author and the chancellor of the Archdiocese of Manila.
There will be a short prayer-tribute to UST Varsitarian alumni who have passed away since 2018, the 90th anniversary of the paper. They include actor Bernardo Bernardo, public relations pioneer Charlie Agatep, National Artists for Literature F. Sionil Jose, Bienvenido Lumbera, and Cirilo Bautista, and poet-novelist in English and Spanish Fr. Gilbert Luis Centina, OSA.
To render entertainment numbers are the UST Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Prof. Hermenegildo Ranera and the UST Singers under the direction of Prof. Fidel Calalang, both of the UST Conservatory of Music.
A five-minute pyromusical to the tune of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” will cap the homecoming.
Founded on Jan. 16, 1928 by Jose Villa Panganiban, lexicographer, writer, scholar, professor, and director of the National Language Institute, the Varsitarian is the most influential campus paper in the country, having produced many writers, journalists, artists, educators, scholars, and leaders in various industries and disciplines. Its many contributions to Philippine letters, arts and culture are such that it is the only school paper to merit an entry in the CCP (Cultural Center of the Philippines) Encyclopedia of Philippine Arts.