Senators hit ‘unclear’ UST guidelines for org accreditation

Senators grilled on Monday the University of Santo Tomas (UST) administration for their “negligence” and unclear accreditation guidelines for organizations in the university.

UST Faculty of Civil Law Student Council Chair Jonathan Santos said all organizations, including the Aegis Juris Fraternity, were able to present their organizations during the freshmen orientation held before the start of classes in August.

“It was only in September that they were deemed not recognized but during the orientation it was presumed they were recognized,” UST Civil Law Dean Nilo Divina told the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, which presided the inquiry into the alleged hazing death of Horacio “Atio” Castillo III’s last September 17.

The Director of UST’s Office of the Student Affairs, Ma. Socorro Guan Hing, supported Divina’s claim and said: “All organizations have submitted their papers for recognition, and it is presumed they are regular so all of them were given the chance to say something during the orientation prior the official recognition documents which happened sometime in September.”

However, Senator Miguel Zubiri, who initiated the Senate investigation, said there appeared to be a problem with UST’s policies on accreditation of organizations.

“There seems to be a problem with UST when it comes with their organizations. The reason I’m raising this is, if the students knew the status of the fraternity baka hindi na napa-recruit si Atio Castillo,” Zubiri said.

“Because if you’re not recognized or you’re suspended, alam po ng estudyante na may problema ang organization at hindi na sasali. At dahil nga sa inaction inyo na magpalabas ng notice, si Atio sumali sa inyong frat thinking it was duly recognized, registered and accredited fraternity,” he added.

Zubiri also pointed that Castillo’s recruitment and death could have been prevented if the University and its Faculty of Civil Law had come out with a very clear-cut policy determining which fraternities or organizations are recognized or not.

Hing said she agreed partly, but retorted that “students should have joined the orientation but not for the purpose of recruitment.”

“If and when recruitment happened, that is not recognized,” she added.

Following on this, Poe advised Hing and the UST administration to clarify their policies.

“Hindi naman sa nanghihimasok pero nakasasalalay ang kalagayan ng mga estudyante sa proseso ng unibersidad so dapat siguro maisaayos at malinaw ang polisiya ng administration,” she said.

Monday’s Senate hearing is the third, and probably the last that the committee would conduct in connection to Castillo’s death, according to panel chairman Senator Panfilo Lacson.     /kga