UST takes in Krisel

When this year’s batch of freshmen walk through the University of Sto. Tomas’ Arch of the Centuries in today’s traditional Thomasian Walk, 16-year-old Krisel Mallari will be among them.

In a phone interview on Tuesday, Dean Patricio Empleo of the UST Alfredo M. Velayo-College of Accountancy said that Mallari had been allowed to enroll in the BS Accountancy program.

This was after the university’s legal advisers deemed as valid the certificate of good moral character issued by her former school, the Sto. Niño Parochial School (SNPS).

Reached for comment, Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) chief Persida Acosta confirmed the information.

“God is the greatest. Justice prevailed for the best interest of the child,” Acosta, who represented Mallari and her father Ernesto, told the Inquirer.

Under UST’s academic calendar, Mallari was supposed to enroll on July 31 after her submission of all the requirements—including the certificate of moral character—by July 15.

SNPS, however, issued the document only on July 30 after it was ordered to do so by the Court of Appeals’ Second Division based on a petition filed by Mallari through PAO.

On Monday, Acosta went back to the appellate court, this time to ask it to cite the school for contempt for issuing a “sarcastic” certificate. In particular, she took issue with the wording of the document, saying it was intended to “block any future the petitioner has with UST.”

In the two-page certificate, SNPS said it was issuing the document “with reservation, under protest and with full intent to assail the legality, validity and authority” of the court resolution.

Acosta said they have yet to decide if they would pursue the case. She added that to celebrate their victory, they would have a thanksgiving lunch today.

In March, school officials stopped Mallari’s speech at her graduation in which she complained about the wrong computation of her grades.