The foundation of the University is ascribed to the Most Reverend Miguel de Benavides, OP, third Archbishop of Manila. He came to the Philippines with the first Dominican mission in 1587. He went on to become bishop of Nueva Segovia, and was promoted archbishop of Manila in 1601. Upon Fr. Benavides’ death in July 1605, he bequeathed his library and personal property worth 1,500 pesos to be used as the seed fund for the establishment of an institution of higher learning. Fr. Bernardo de Santa Catalina carried out Fr. Benavides’ wishes and was able to secure a building near the Dominican church and convent in Intramuros for the College.[3]

In 1609, permission to open the College was requested from King Philip II, which only reached Manila in 1611. On April 28, 1611, notary Juan Illian witnessed the signing of the act of foundation by Frs. Baltazar Fort, OP, Bernardo Navarro, OP and Francisco Minado, OP. Fr. Fort, appointed that year to the post of Father Provincial, was its first Rector.

In 1624, the Colegio was authorized to confer academic degrees in Theology, Philosophy, and Arts. On November 20, 1645, Pope Innocent X elevated the College to the rank of a university and in 1680, it was subsequently placed under royal patronage. In 1785, King Charles III granted it the title of “Royal University”. Pope Leo XIII made the University of Santo Tomas a “Pontifical University” on September 17, 1902. In 1947, Pope Pius XII bestowed upon it the title “The Catholic University of the Philippines”.[4]

The first courses offered by the Colegio de Santo Tomas were canon law, theology, philosophy, logic, grammar, the arts, and civil law. Late in the 19^th century, the curriculum was expanded to medicine, pharmacy, midwifery and dentistry. In the 20^th century a college of architecture and fine arts, a faculty of philosophy and letters, a conservatory of music and a college of education were established.[5]

Outside the walls of Intramuros, other districts of Manila were rising. Sampaloc, deriving its name from the Tagalog name of the tamarind tree, was a flat, undeveloped, swampy land surrounded by streams and canals. It was originally an encomienda of the De Chavez family, but was donated by Don Pedro and Doña Ana de Chavez to the Poor Clares of St. Francis. In 1905, two businessmen named Don Antonio de la Riva and Don Alfredo Chicote bought the unproductive land from the Poor Clares for P300,000.00. They borrowed this amount from the Dominican Fathers, and in return, they donated a portion of the estate to the Order of Preachers. The two entrepreneurs created the Sulucan Estates Subdivision and developed the former marshy land into a residential community.

Meanwhile, the University sought to expand due to its burgeoning population. There was hardly any available land left in the Walled City, so the Dominican Fathers made plans to build an extension campus at Sulucan, on the land donated by Antonio de la Riva and Alfredo Chicote to the Dominican Fathers.

On the third centenary of the University of Santo Tomas in 1911, the cornerstone for a projected new university building was laid in the Sampaloc lot. After numerous delays, construction was finally begun in January 1923 on what was to become the UST Main Building. The design was the work of Rev. Fr. Roque Ruaño, OP, one of the first graduates of the UST College of Engineering. Having learned the hard way about the destructive power of earthquakes, the Dominican Fathers sent Fr. Ruaño to Japan to study the development of earthquake-proof buildings and to purchase the specially-manufactured steel required for such construction work.

In 1927, the new building was inaugurated and various university units transferred to the Sampaloc location from Intramuros. When World War II broke out in 1941, only the college of civil law remained in the original campus at Intramuros.

The internees are passing on, one by one, and finally finding peace. They take with them pieces of history that can never be replaced, once lost. This is my little bit to help keep the flame they lit burning, that their sacrifices and legacy may never be forgotten, at least in this tiny spot of a blog.

I don’t know everything about it, by any means. But what I do know, I’ll put down here. Join me as we walk back in time through the hallowed halls of the Main Building, around the campus, through my beloved Distinguished and Ever-Loyal City of Manila, and keep the story of Santo Tomas Internment Camp alive.