Senator Francis N. Tolentino
This month formally marks the 500 years of the Spanish Inquisition in Asia, which first brought Christianity and Catholicism in the Philippines.
Although the Inquisition had caused lives, persecutions, sufferings to the people, later to be known as “Filipinos,” during the first three centuries after the Spanish colonizers first came in March 1521, let us not forget that the institutions established during those periods had helped mold the country we live in now.
Catholic institutions like the University of Santo Tomas and Colegio de San Juan de Letran, which were both founded by Spanish Dominican Friars in 1611 and 1620 respectively, and the Ateneo de Manila University, which was established by the Spanish Jesuits in 1859, are responsible for educating the minds of the so-called “Illustrados,” with the likes of Jose P. Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Juan Luna inspiring the formation of the Propaganda Movement.
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Dubai: A Filipino-American scientist hopes to beat the coronavirus with a vaccine developed using baker’s yeast. By using bio-engineered yeast, the common single-celled fungal cells, Rev. Nicanor Austriaco hopes to transform COVID into a common cold. “The goal from this scrappy vaccine is not to prevent you from getting COVID. It’s actually to prevent you from getting severe COVID that will require hospitalisations,” the churchman-scientist told Gulf News.
Pre-clinical development
Rev. Austriaco, 52, earned his doctorate degree in yeast molecular biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His COVID-19 shot is currently in pre-clinical development in the US. A license to conduct clinical trials will be sought in the Philippines, the home of his ancestors, after the “mouse work” (test on animals), he added. He currently consults with the Manila government on the coronavirus pandemic response.
When the Philippines officially launched the rollout of the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) vaccination program early this month, one of the first questions that linger in the minds of many Filipinos is how far will he or she be in the queue to receive the jabs?
The independent research group crunching the numbers on COVID-19 cases in the Philippines said that daily new infections could reach 20,000 by April, according to a report on “24 Oras Weekend.”