page_title: University of Santo Tomas
section_title: Alumni
hierarchical_section_title: University of Santo Tomas / Notable people / Alumni
caption_attribution_description: English: The Historic Arch of the Centuries located in the University of Santo Tomas Campus
context_page_description: The Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, the Catholic University of the Philippines, or simply the University of Santo Tomas, is a private, Catholic research university in Manila, Philippines. Founded on April 28, 1611, by Miguel de Benavides, Archbishop of Manila, it has the oldest extant university charter in the Philippines and in Asia, and is one of the world's largest Catholic universities in terms of enrollment found on one campus. The university is run by the Order of Preachers. UST is the only university to have been visited by three popes four times: once by Pope Paul VI on November 28, 1970, twice by Pope John Paul II on February 18, 1981, and January 13, 1995, and once by Pope Francis on January 18, 2015. The patron of the university is St. Thomas Aquinas, while St. Catherine of Alexandria is the patroness.
  The university is composed of several autonomous faculties, colleges, schools and institutes, each conferring undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate degrees, and the basic education units. Several degree programs have been accredited by the Commission on Higher Education as Centers of Excellence and Centers of Development.
context_section_description: Persons affiliated to the university, either as students, faculty members, or administrators, are known as "Thomasians".
  José Rizal (National Hero of the Philippines), studied Medicine at UST, and continued it at the University of Madrid in Madrid, Spain. The University has produced four Presidents of the Philippines, namely Manuel L. Quezon, Sergio Osmeña, José P. Laurel and Diosdado Macapagal. It has also produced three Philippine Vice Presidents and six Chief Justices of the Philippine Supreme Court.
  Philippine Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon and Philippine national hero José Rizal are honored by the University as they are displayed on the pillars of the Arch of the Centuries.
  The UST Office for Alumni Relations build a twelve-story alumni center on the site of existing UST gymnasium; it is a multi-function building to hold events for the alumni and lodging services for visitors. The existing Olympic-sized swimming pool located nearby would be kept and refurbished.
  The design was chosen from seven winners in a competition among students organized by the College of Architecture. Abelardo Tolentino Jr., an outstanding Thomasian alumni for Architecture, worked on the design to produce the final blueprint.
caption: Two of the university's foremost alumni, Philippine national hero José Rizal and president Manuel L. Quezon, are honored by being displayed on each of the pillars on the Arch of the Centuries.
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