CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines (UCAN) — The president of a Jesuit-run university has urged students to participate in the school’s values formation program and cultivate relationships so as to prevent suicides.

Father Jose Ramon Villarin also encouraged parents to participate in the program of Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, in southern Philippines, to “develop good values” so they can be seen as good role models for their children.

The school official recently spoke to UCA News about actions his university will take in the new school year after recording its first two cases of student suicides.

Roldan Bacadon was found dead on Good Friday, April 10, on his bed after he drank rat poison and slashed his wrist. It was just a one week after he graduated with honors from Xavier University and was preparing to start training to teach at a school in the city, said Saul Bacadon, his father.

In May, Ephraim de la Cruz, a nursing student at the university also died after hanging himself, for reasons that are still unclear.

The university’s Central Student Government (CSG) in notices posted around the campus called the suicides “a wake-up call for all of us.”

The student leaders urged university administrators, formators, teachers and counselors to strengthen counseling programs. “We call on our formators and counselors and teachers to be more vigilant in probing students” who show signs of being troubled and help address this “with utmost personal care and professional guidance,” the CSG statement reads.

The student leaders also urged parents to “constantly and caringly communicate with their children and assist them in processing their life experiences.”

Answering the CSG’s appeal, Father Villarin said the university will implement measures to prevent suicides this school year. The school year 2009-2010 for the university starts June 8.

Parents and the faculty association will organize a values formation program. The university’s Mission and Ministry Cluster organization will also provide a 24-hour hotline for students needing urgent counseling or consultation, Father Villarin said.

The university is also introducing a two-semester “Hope and Resiliency Program” for freshmen.

Father Villarin acknowledged that parents can be a source of stress for students. It is “normal” for parents to expect their children to be the best in their class, he said, adding that these expectations add pressure on youths.

School and Church officials have pointed to the media’s possible role in causing stress. The “deluge of information” in the age of the Internet and new media makes “cultivating family relationships and friendships” even more “important,” Father Villarin stressed.

Jesuit Archbishop Antonio Ledesma of Cagayan de Oro, former dean of the university’s College of Agriculture, has also expressed concern over reports about websites teaching how to commit painless suicide.