Benjo A. Delarmente ‘05, former chairperson of the College of Medicine Student Council, was named one of the the Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines (TOSP) for 2008 at awarding ceremonies in Malacanang Palace last July 17. Since 1961, the TOSP program has recognized outstanding youth of the nation for academic excellence, exemplary leadership, community involvement and good moral values. Congratulations brod!

July 1st, 2008, marks the birth of the very first minority-owned Title Company if not in the entire country, definitely in the State of California.  With a management agreement signed between Team Nation Holdings, Inc., a Nevada Corporation and Reliance Logic, Inc., a California Corporation, the Alameda Division of First Southwestern Title was fully conceived.  Mike Macapagal, a Filipino-American, and current President and CEO of First Reliance Escrow will serve as Division President and co-owner with 60% equity interest in his division.  He will be headquartered in Union City, California.  Another escrow branch is operating in Daly City, California.  Several branches in and around the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California will open very soon.

With a team of highly qualified escrow and title professionals, the Southern-California based First Southwestern Title will see its operations expanding in Northern California for the very first time.  Dennis Duffy, CEO of TEAM Nations, a publicly-traded holding company which owns several title, escrow, mortgage and other real estate companies based in the United States is extremely pleased of this development. “We have long wanted to expand and target the key territories in the SF Bay Area but never had the opportunity to.  Now, with the creation of the Alameda Division, under the able leadership of Mike Macapagal, we believe that we will capture a good portion of that market”.

For his part, Mike Macapagal is excited of being given the chance to own a piece of a title company and build it from scratch in Northern California.  “I am humbled of this opportunity, but I am also confident that we can make a huge difference here.  I have the best and the brightest escrow team operating in the SF Bay Area today.  And that’s always been the key to my success.  We will continue to expand and look for creative ways to stay afloat in this difficult market, while positioning strategically for when the market picks up in a year or two”.

Remembering is the Heart of Direction

The Resident Fellows in UP Diliman will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. ‘50, martyr and fraternity brother, with a book that focuses on his life and works.

Ninoy joined the oldest student fraternity in the country’s premier institution of scholarship in 1950, and ever since then marked his life with single dedication and depth for what would eventually raise the consciousness of his people and, eventually, take away his life for a noble purpose.

Individual essays as well as collective accounts from respective batches are very much welcome for this project. Photographs of the late brother will also make the book more impressive, and will be duly accredited and returned to the donor after scanning.

For editorial reasons, entries for the personal essay will be limited to 3,000 words, in addition to the bionote in MS Word file. For photographs, kindly contact the editor for arrangements. Financial donations are most welcome for the book printing. Deadline for submission is on 25 July 2008.

The Editorial Board is headed by Jaime Dasca Doble ‘02. In the academic year of 2005-2006, he edited Kadiliman: The Philippine Collegian Anthology of Critical and Creative Writing, a definitive work of 30 writers paving the way for this year’s university centennial. He is also the author of the well-received bilingual poetry collection, Order of the Poets.

Interested parties may submit their essays and photographs to jaimedascadoble@gmail.com.