UP Medics August-November 2018 Issue

OFS News
UP MedChoir Bags 4
Golds in BICF 7
EXCLUSIVE SCOOP
The Cochlear Series: INSPIRE
The Dean’s Vision for UPCM
Lifestyle
Crazy Rich Asians:
Reconciling Identities
Page 5
Page 10
Page 9
A GLORIOUS DAY: UPCM Class 2018 stands on the risers with the distinguished and honorable guests of the UP College of Medicine, UP Manila, and Philippine General Hospital
seated in the front two rows. Photo courtesy of Markyn Kho (Class 2020)
Four MD-PhD and 20 Cum Laude Students
Lead 2018 UP College of Medicine Graduation
by Louie Dy
Class 2021
FOUR MD-PHD STUDENTS—the
first batch of graduates under the MD-
PhD program—along with twenty
cum laude students, led the graduates
at SULÔ: Doktor Bilang Tanglaw ng
Lipunan - The UP College of Medicine
UPCM Students
Represented in AUN-QA
by Louie Dy
Class 2021
and Markyn Kho
Class 2020
LAST AUGUST 29, 2018 at Buenafe
Auditorium, UPCM students from
all Learning Units took part in an
interview session with quality assessors
Professor Dr. Hanna H. Bachtiar-
Iskandar and Clinical Professor Dr.
Suwat Benjaponpitak.
109th Commencement Exercises and
Philippine General Hospital Internship
Program Closing Ceremonies, held last
July 22, 2018 at the University Theater
in UP Diliman.
With Dr. Anthony Geronimo H.
Cordero as the master-of-ceremonies, the
program began with the UP College of
Medicine (UPCM) faculty gracing the
aisles, along with chiefs, chairpersons,
The students were involved in
academic, leadership, and extra-curricular
affairs, and were interviewed in line with
the Asean University Network - Quality
Assessment (AUN-QA) two-day site visit.
Students were asked key questions
on various aspects of UPCM and its
medical school experience, including the
effectiveness of outcome-based education
and lecturer evaluation, adequacy of
research funding and the mentoring
program, and provision of campus
facilities. The group interview was
informal, and the assessors encouraged all
Continued on page 2
professor emeriti, and other honorable
guests, followed by the glorious onstage
procession of the Post-Graduate Interns
(PGIs), MD-PhD candidates and graduates,
and UPCM Class 2018.
The UP Rayadillo conducted the
entrance of the Philippine Flag and
University Colors, followed by UP
Medicine Choir leading the Invocation and
National Anthem.
The Welcoming Remarks and Opening
Remarks were given by Incoming Dean
Charlotte M. Chiong and Outgoing Dean
Agnes D. Mejia respectively.
Dr. Charles Michael T. Herrera, the
president of the graduating class, and Dr.
Katherine Marie De Asis, the president of
the Post-Graduate Interns, led the petitions
for the conferment of the degree of Doctor
of Medicine to UPCM Class 2018, and for
the declaration of completion of internship,
Continued on page 4
AUN-QA assessors Professor Dr. Bachtiar-Iskandar and Prof. Benjaponpitak, with
Associate Dean for Academic Development Dr. Coralie Dimacali (4th from left, front row),
AUN-QA site visit team Dr. Stella Jose (5th from right, front row) and Dr. Angela Aguilar
(3rd from left, front row), and student participants of the interview. Photo courtesy of
Markyn Kho (Class 2020)

EDITORIAL
Health Held Hostage by Politicking:
Our stand on the Malasakit Centers
Posted on the UP Medics
website September 13, 2018
BARELY A MONTH after the Ramon
Tulfo ER incident, the Philippine
General Hospital (PGH) falls prey to
pre-electioneering tactics of another
pro-administration personality eyeing
a seat in the 2019 senatorial race.
Yesterday afternoon, banners with
campaign-esque slogans featuring Special
EDITORIAL BOARD
AY 2018-2019
Louie Dy
Editor-in-Chief
Rory Nakpil
Managing Editor
Lorena Osorio
Associate Editor
Isabel Fernando
Campus News
Hanna Ho
OFS News
Lordom Grecia
Sports
Mark Teo
Lifestyle
Diego Mina
Literary
Iya De Claro
Photography
Sean Sy
Web
Er Pilotin
Layout
CONTRIBUTORS
Markyn Kho
Sean Cua
Iris Ditan
JC Tesorero
Renren Barroga
Rani Domingo
Leandro Salazar
Isabelle Alberto
Kino Sevilla
Sichuan Rayco
Viv Josol
Albert Jason Olaya
Paul Kenny Ko
We’re online!
www
upmedics.org
upmedics
upmedics
Assistant to the President
and PDP-Laban senatorial
bet Christopher Lawrence
“Bong” Go were installed
in the halls of PGH,
amidst the opening of the
hospital’s new Malasakit
Center. Touted as a onestop
shop for indigent
patients seeking financial
assistance, this launch
is the latest in a flurry of
pro-poor facilities that
began last February,
with branches in Cebu,
Palawan, Bacolod, Iloilo,
Davao, and parts of
Metro Manila.
Photographs
published on the
University of the
Philippines Manila’s
official Facebook and
Twitter accounts showed the inauguration
of the PGH Malasakit Center under heavy
media coverage. They featured Mr. Go
and his entourage touring the facility and
posing in President Duterte’s signature
gesture, an outstretched clenched fist.
Among the paraphernalia were health
cards that prominently displayed President
Duterte hugging a patient and Mr. Go
comforting a sickly child, a rehash of former
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s
PhilHealth cards distributed during the
2004 presidential race.
The official Facebook page of Bong Go
(FB: bongGOma) also published a series
of photographs documenting Mr. Go’s
seemingly messianic tour of the PGH wards
and interactions with patients, bantays, and
medical staff. He was accompanied by
DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III and
PGH Director Dr. Gerardo “Gap” Legaspi.
In a July article by the state-run
Philippine News Agency, President Duterte
praised Bong Go “for his big contribution
in the establishment of ‘Malasakit Centers’”
and being “instrumental in arriving
at the right decision through proper
consultations.”
Healthcare not immune to “trapo,
epal” politics
This latest stunt by Mr. Go is part of
the perennial “epal” political strategies
employed by potential candidates to
garner favor and develop a good image
of themselves among the masses. Indeed,
countless politicians who, after prolonged
periods of inactivity, suddenly engage
acts of faux-compassion and charity
work unfailingly become heralds of an
approaching election season.
The unabashed fanfare Mr. Go
Special assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go (center
left) and entourage, with Philippine General Hospital Director Dr. Gerardo
“Gap” Legaspi (center right), pose for a photo-op in front of the newly
inaugurated “Malasakit Center” in PGH Wednesday, September 12. Photo
sourced from UP Manila’s Official Facebook Page (FB: UPMANILAOFFICIAL).
UPCM Students Represented in AUN-QA
Continued from page 1
student participants to candidly voice their
thoughts and opinions on these topics.
The assessors also interviewed groups
of faculty, staff, and alumni to thoroughly
validate the primer and data report the
College administration had previously
submitted, as well as to form a complete
evaluation of the existing quality of
education provided by the College of
Medicine. During the day, the assessors
toured selected sites of the UPCM campus
and Philippine General Hospital.
The AUN-QA site assessment,
which took place last August 28 and
29, is a culmination of two years’ worth
displayed yesterday only served to reveal
the true motives behind his actions, and in
a bigger picture, the discreet steps of the
current administration to install staunch
political allies into office.
After numerous government hospitals,
including PGH, suffered significant budget
cuts from congressional appropriations in
recent years, President Duterte has since
injected into his frequent tirades his selflaudatory
allocation of P100M per month
to the hospital starting March 2017. As
if this wasn’t enought of a hulog ng langit
(gift from heaven), Duterte announced last
May an initial budget of P50M per month
in putting up these Malasakit Centers in
various government hospitals. And, in a
stroke of political cunningness, Duterte
attributed the success of these centers to his
confidant and aide Mr. Go, in the hopes of
propping up his image ahead of next year’s
elections.
What’s dangerous about these
shameful acts is that the public is
hoodwinked into believing health is not
a right, rather a privilege that is handed
down at the generosity and mercy of godlike,
self-serving politicians. Disregarding
government’s actual mandate to provide
quality, affordable, and accessible
healthcare for all Filipinos, these corrupt
politicians hijack their duty to the people,
use taxpayer’s hard-earned money, and
turn it into a series of highly publicized
events to peddle their self-righteousness
and seemingly stellar track record of public
service (e.g. when PGH Director Legaspi
had to drive all the way to Malacañang for
the televised giving of the first P100M by
President Duterte).
At the center of it all, it is the healthcare
sector and its supposed beneficiaries who
of work data-gathering by the UPCM
administration for submission to the
network. In 2016, former Dean Agnes
Mejia launched the bid to have the College
of Medicine accredited by the AUN, in
an effort to raise international presence
and strengthen regional partnership in
academic exchanges.
The results of the AUN-QA range from
1 being the lowest and 7 being the highest.
According to the quality assessors and Dr.
Dimacali, more than whatever the score
UPCM may obtain, most important is still
the process of evaluation, which will give
the college a push for better quality medical
education for the students.
suffer the most, being held
hostage by an indirect
system of vote buying (e.g.
health cards) and economic
power plays whose
promises are a patchwork
of short-term, half-baked
measures to alleviate
an already beleaguered
healthcare system. The
recent announcement of
a 30% reduction in the
DOH budget for 2019 and
cuts to the PCSO medical
assistance program
only encourages the
pervasiveness of similar
patronage politics in other
public sectors.
Healthcare as
a collective,
multisectoral effort
The audacious display of Mr. Go’s
campaign paraphernalia around the
hospital gave the false impression that Mr.
Go enjoys unanimous support from the
PGH community— from the Director to the
students and professionals in training—
when in fact the staging of the day’s events
has been made without proper consultation
with the PGH community.
Maintenance and improvement of
the Philippine General Hospital is the
joint effort and responsibility of multiple
government agencies, as well as the
stakeholders that strive and contribute to
the betterment of health in the institution.
Mr. Go’s political activity within its
premises and his apparent prominence in
the inauguration of the Malasakit Center
shifts the focus away from the hospital’s
actual collective nature to attribute any
improvement in its services entirely to Mr.
Go’s name and face.
Being a publicly funded tertiary
hospital, PGH is bound to serve Filipinos
in need, regardless of color, class, or creed.
However, this could be also be the very
same reason the institution would be prone
to the sway and manipulation of political
motives, especially of the dominant
personalities. Nevertheless, this action
by the Duterte administration insults and
diminishes the role of the rest of us—the
overworked, underpaid healthcare workers
of PGH, the UP Manila community, and
the Filipino people at large—to becoming
lapdogs of the government beholden to the
good graces of reprehensible politicians
looking to secure their next election
victory.
See the reactions from the UPCM-PGH
medical community, and photos as
events unfolded, on page 8!
The Anime
that Every
Medical
Student Must
Watch
Page 8
Artwork by Kenny
Ko (Class 2022)

College of Medicine Family Gathers
for Dean Sendoff
by Er Pilotin
Class 2021
MANILA [FRIDAY, 1 JUNE 2018]—Over
200 guests, including family, faculty,
staff, students, administrators, and
friends, graced the Grand Ballroom of
the AG New World Hotel in Malate for
the thanksgiving ceremony of outgoing
dean Dr. Agnes D. Mejia.
Presided by Dr. Anthony Cordero, the
program started with the UP Medicine Choir
leading the doxology and national anthem.
College secretary Dr. Salome Vios opened
the ceremony by drawing allusio ns between
the Vicente Manansala painting “Arts and
Sciences” and life in medical school working
with Dr. Mejia.
Administrative officer Criselda Austero
and LU7 intern Mark Milan spoke on
behalf of the staff and students respectively.
Their messages were followed by a soulful
rendition of Josh Groban’s “Thankful” by Dr.
Armando Crisostomo.
Professor Emeritus Dr. Rody Sy provided
timely updates on the status of the planned
seven-floor Academic Center building.
Among the key points of his address were
lawsuits that have been filed against the
former contractor and insurance company.
Construction of the building was abruptly
halted last 2016 due to a “sinkhole” on the
excavation site. Although the site has been
sand-filled, the disaster led to the indefinite
closure of the Medical and University
Libraries, as well as temporary closure of
student hangout spots or “tambayan” beside
the site.
On a more positive note, Dr. Sy presented
a new building proposal brought about after
consultations with UP President Danilo
Concepcion. The new 11-story structure,
which will be named the Medical Sciences
Building, will be erected a short distance
from the original construction zone of the
Academic Center. The first 7 floors will be
used by the College of Medicine.
Afterwards, everyone was treated to a
video presentation directed by Dr. Rafael
Bundoc as commissioned by Dr. Mejia. The
short film, which Dr. Bundoc described as
a “playing coffee-table book”, featured the
members of the Dean’s Management Team
as each of them summarized the various
thrusts of the dean’s office. The updates on
faculty development and the redistribution
of funds for uncompensated faculty received
applause from the audience. The video was
met with a standing ovation.
In her end-of-term report address entitled
“Our Shared Journey of Enrichment: Looking
Back and Beyond”, Dr. Mejia enumerated in
greater detail the many milestones reached
and challenges faced under her leadership.
She was proud to have achieved “close to
90%” of her vision through the collective
effort of her management team.
“More than a dreamweaver, I believe
a dean should be an enabler,” she stressed
during her speech.
Challenges faced during her deanship
included the Academic Center disaster
which prompted a directional shift towards
renovation of sections of the Calderon
and Salcedo Halls, as well as acquisition
of laboratory equipment; the accreditation
of the medical program by the ASEAN
University Network, which “will enhance
the college’s regional standing in the era of
ASEAN integration;” and the establishment
of the Center for Health Care Quality and
Patient Safety.
With regards to student matters, Dr.
Mejia admitted that monitoring compliance
with the Return Service Agreement
remained a “formidable” challenge, and that
the increasing trend of graduates reneging on
the terms of the RSA was “a sign of a deeper
problem which may need a reevaluation
of the medical program as a whole.” In
spite of these issues, she did not reserve her
appreciation of the students’ vigor for service.
She also oversaw the 18-month process of
revising the college’s admission policies, and
the increase of accepted applicants per batch
from 160 to 180, in order to better equalize
chances for aspiring medical students.
Towards the end of her message, Dr.
Mejia acknowledged the patronage of the
University’s Board of Regents. She also
thanked her family, and expressed her
anticipation for the future of the college
under the leadership of incoming dean Dr.
Charlotte Chiong. She received thunderous
applause after her keynote speech.
Dr. Madeleine Sumpaico, Associate
Dean for Faculty and Students, called
the Management Team—affectionately
nicknamed the “kitchen cabinet”—to the
stage for picture-taking, before closing the
first half of the program in time for lunch and
a dance number by the UP MedRhythmics.
A festive ambience enveloped the second
half of the program as Dr. Mejia and all guests
were entertained to musical performances
by students and doctors. Many of the songs
were curated from the outgoing dean’s
favorite hitmakers. LU3 student Leandro
Salazar played violin renditions of ABBA’s “I
Have a Dream,” Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help
Falling in Love,” and Beatles hits “Imagine”
and “Hey Jude.” Other singers included
former UP Diliman chancellor Dr. Sergie
Cao, PGH director Dr. Gerardo Legaspi, and
actress-singer Pinky Marquez.
The UP Medchoir then returned to the
Continued on page 4
LEFT: Dr. Agnes Mejia presents her end-of-term report on the occasion of her thanksgiving ceremony. RIGHT: Dr. Rody Sy presents the new building plan which will replace the
Academic Center. Construction of the latter was halted two years ago. Photos courtesy of Er Pilotin (Class 2021)
by Isabel Fernando
and Hanna Ho
UPCM Welcomes Class 2023 in Freshman
Orientation Program
Class 2022
EVERY YEAR, THE upperclassmen
welcome the freshmen into the UP
College of Medicine. This year, it was
the turn of UP College of Medicine
Class 2022, who organized the official
UPCM Freshman Orientation Program
(FOP). Themed “The Grand Carousel”,
the program was a two-week-long
event filled with activities to help the
freshmen get to know the college and
each other.
The event kicked off with “Le Cirque”:
The FOP 2018 Welcoming Ceremonies
and Org Hop, which was held last July
30, 2018. The Welcoming Ceremonies was
held in the morning, where games and
activities were held to break the ice and
let the members of Class 2023 acquaint
themselves with each other. Grouped into
different teams, the freshmen were given a
set of tasks to accomplish for the duration
of FOP 2018 to help foster friendship and
build camaraderie.
In the afternoon, different organizations
talked about the different aspects and
experiences in UP med during the Org
Hop. The freshmen were given a small
glimpse into their new academic life, and
were also introduced to the college’s many
student organizations.
Organizations’ Night and Street Party,
entitled “Parc d’Attraction”, was held last
August 10, 2018 at the SSWC. One of the
highlights of the UPCM FOP 2018, the event
aimed to further acquaint the freshmen
with the diverse organizations of the UP
College of Medicine. Parc d’Attraction
commenced with performances prepared
by the different teams of Class 2023,
Continued on page 4
Alvek Ecaldre (2022) hosts the morning ceremonies. Photos courtesy of JC Tesorero,
Renren Barroga, Rani Domingo, Leandro Salazar, Isabelle Alberto, Kino Sevilla, Sichuan
Rayco (Class 2022), and Viv Josol (Class 2024)

Four MD-PhD and 20 Cum Laude Students Lead 2018 UP College of
Medicine Graduation ...
Continued from page 1
respectively.
Dean Dr. Agnes Dominguez-Mejia and
Philippine General Hospital Director Dr.
Gerardo D. Legaspi presented the medical
graduates and clinical interns, respectively,
to UP Chancellor Dr. Carmencita David-
Padilla. Chancellor Padilla then formally
conferred the degree of Doctor of Medicine
and declared their completion of internship.
Dr. Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr. delivered the
Commencement Address. His message and
challenge to the newest Filipino graduates
was met with inspired hearts. “What can
your GWA of 1.25 say about you if your
moral GWA is a murky 3.0,” he wittily
remarked.
This was followed by capping, hooding,
and awarding of diplomas and certificates
of internship to the graduates.
Dr. Marie Abigail Rivera Lim took top
honors as class valedictorian, the Most
Outstanding Medical Graduate, and
DUAL DEGREE: Dr. Jonnel B. Poblete represents the first batch of MD-PhD graduates
as he petitions for the conferment of the degree of MD-PhD to Chancellor Padilla. Photo
courtesy of Markyn Kho (Class 2020)
College of Medicine Family Gathers
for Dean’s Sendoff ...
Continued from page 3
stage to perform an a cappella arrangement
of ABBA’s “Dancing Queen,” while Mr.
Milan invited the dean to a short dance. The
choir closed the program as they led the Awit
ng Kolehiyo and UP Naming Mahal.
Planning for the event took more than
a month with the guidance of Dr. Mejia,
said head organizer Dr. Ruzanne Caro.
The musical performers were invited
by Dr. Melfred Hernandez from the
Otorhinolaryngology Department.
Dr. Mejia was the 16th dean of the College
of Medicine, and had served the college for
two terms, from 2012 to 2018. Her leadership
recipient of the Dr. Augusto A. Camara
Awardee for Academic Excellence in
Medicine. Dr. Ma. Sergia Fatima Papiona
Sucaldito followed as class salutatorian,
and Dr. Krizia Joy Ang Co was the third
ranked graduate.
The rest of the top ten include: 4th place
Dr. Michelle Ann Sua Lao, 5th place Dr.
Judith Charmaine E. Rosette, 6th place Dr.
John Vincent Usita Magalong, 7th place Dr.
Julian David Paulino Cabrera, 8th place
Dr. Marvin Manuel Mangulabnan, 9th
place Dr. Erickah Mary Therese Ranit Dy,
and 10th place Dr. Riza Paula Macalma
Labagnoy.
Other cum laude graduates include: Dr.
Joshua Vincent Hedriana Baroña, Dr. Roan
Eireen Lontok Buenaventura, Dr. Vernon
Ang Chuabio, Dr. Kaiser Marr De Guzman
Cruz, Dr. Jose Mario Coliflores Espino, Dr.
Jonathan IV Jallorina Macatiag, Dr. Ella
Mae Inoferio Masamayor, Dr. Rosa Fides
Goño Mina, Dr. Eleanor Beatriz Calderon
facilitated the shifting of the academic
calendar from June-March to August-May,
the construction of the Academic Center,
and various reforms. Among these were the
18-month process of revising the admission
policy, the shift towards an outcome-based
curriculum, and the reallocation of the
incremental tuition fund for remuneration of
previously uncompensated faculty.
She is bound to be succeeded by Dr.
Chiong, a head and neck surgeon and director
of the Philippine National Ear Institute and
the Newborn Hearing Reference Center,
beating co-nominees Dr. Crisostomo and
Dr. José Florencio Lapeña, Jr. in the selection
process.
Ragasa, and Dr. Aina Fe Roldan Salem.
Dr. Ruby Anne Natividad King,
PhD, Dr. Bobbie Marie Murillo Santos,
PhD, Dr. Jonnel Bernal Poblete, PhD,
and Dr. Fresthel Monica Marqueses
Climacosa, PhD constitute the first batch
of graduates under the MD-PhD program.
Dr. Climacosa also received the Dr.
Adolfo B. Bellosillo Academic Excellence
Award and the PCHRD Award for Most
Outstanding MD-PhD Dissertation for
her dissertation entitled “Development
and Characterization of Microbe-binding
Peptides for Opsonization of Microbial
Contaminants”.
Five MD-PhD students of UPCM
received their certificates of internship
from the Philippine General Hospital and
will graduate with the degree of Doctor
of Medicine - Doctor of Philosophy
in Molecular Medicine in 2020 upon
completion of their research dissertation:
Dr. Criselda Jean Goh Cruz, Dr. Maria Isabel
Canlas Idolor, Dr. Ana Joy Paulino Padua,
Dr. Joyce Ann Hernandez Robles, and Dr.
Angelo Augusto Mendoza Sumalde.
Postgraduate interns from 27 medical
schools also received their certificates of
internship from the Philippine General
Hospital.
The Most Outstanding Intern is Dr.
Marvin Manuel Mangulabnan. The
following students rounded out the top ten
Outstanding Interns: 2nd place Dr. Marie
Abigail Rivera Lim, 3rd place Dr. Ma.
Sergia Fatima Papiona Sucaldito, 4th place
Dr. John Vincent Usita Magalong, 5th place
Dr. Josephine Edulian Mina, 6th place
Dr. Kurl Jamora (DLSHI), 7th place Dr.
Antonette Mariama Ramos Bilog, 8th place
Dr. Jonathan Jallorina Macatiag IV, 9th
place Dr. Kiko Antuerfia Cortez, and 10th
place Dr. Ron Michael Labador Castillo.
Diplomas were awarded to the
graduates of Master’s and Doctor of
Philosophy programs.
Maria Rowena Garcia Alde and
Maureen Salas Landicho received their
Master of Science in Clinical Audiology.
Daffodil Mahusay Canson, Christian
Deo Torrequemada Deguit, Patrick Gabriel
Gavila Moreno, and John Sylvester Brusola
Nas received their Master of Science in
Biochemistry.
Dr. Tomas Dumagpi Bautista, Dr. Eva
Ilagan Bautista, and Dr. Namnama Paraso
Villarta-De Dios received their Master of
Science in Clinical Epidemiology.
Dr. Graciel Mae Rodrigo Canoy and
Danalyn Romo Echem received their
Master of Science in Genetic Counselling.
Martin-Luther Castillo Topico, Atty.
Reno Regalado Gonzales Jr., and Dr. Rosel
Jonathan Santos Vitor II received their
Master of Science in Health Informatics
(Medical Informatics), Bioethics, and
Physiology respectively.
Dr. Ursela Guce Bigol and Dr. Leana
Rich De Mesa Herrera received their Doctor
of Philosophy in Biochemistry.
There were two faculty awardees. Dr.
Jose Leonard R. Pascual V of the Department
of Anatomy took the UPMASA Missouri-
Southern Illinois Chapter Outstanding
Medical Teacher in the Basic Sciences
Award, while Dr. Cecilia A. Jimeno of the
Department of Pharmacology received
the corresponding award for the Clinical
Sciences.
Other student awardees were Dr. Ana
Pholyn Arazo Balahadia and Dr. Harjoland
Lim Obenieta receiving the Sir Hugh
Greenwood Outstanding in Community
Service Award, Dr. Jonnel B. Poblete
receiving the Oreta-Dizon-Santos-Ocampo
Research Award, Dr. Charles Michael T.
Herrera receiving the UPMAS Leadership
Award, and Dr. Mark Jason Dela Cruz
Milan receiving the Eusebio S. Garcia-Class
’36 Leadership Award.
In closing the program, Dean Chiong
led the graduates in swearing the Oath
of Hippocrates, and PGH Director Dr.
Gerardo Legaspi gave the closing remarks.
For the challenge of loyalty and service
to the Filipino people, Dr. Charles Herrera
accepted it on behalf of his classmates.
Class 2018 was then joined by UP
Medchoir in singing their Tao Rin Palawinning
piece “Huling Awit”, followed
by the PGH Hymn, Awit ng Kolehiyo, and
finally UP Naming Mahal.
UPCM Welcomes Class 2023 in
Freshman Orientation Program ...
Continued from page 3
beginning with the Hoopers, followed by
Knife Throwers, Clowns, Fire Breathers,
Acrobats and Magicians. The incoming
freshmen showcased their talents in
singing, dancing, and acting, inspired by
the circus theme assigned to their teams.
Medicine Student Council (MSC) Chair
Leandro Salazar, FOP Co-head Isabel
Fernando, and 2022 Class President Rani
Domingo served as judges.
To give the judges time to deliberate
after the team performances, UPCM
organizations and the Class 2022 band came
onstage to give their own performances.
Everyone was entertained with song
medleys, dancing, and poetry-reading.
Class 2022 also entertained the audience
with their video “This is Med”, a parody
of Beauty and the Beast’s “Be Our Guest”,
which highlighted the highs and lows of
medicine and the medical profession. The
program ended with the awarding of the
team performances. The Acrobats took first
first place for their funky dance routine, with
the Fire Breathers and the Magicians as the
first- and second-runner ups respectively.
The Street Party commenced afterwards,
where the different organizations had
Members of UPCM 2023 showcased their talents in the group performances. Photo
courtesy of JC Tesorero, Renren Barroga, Rani Domingo, Leandro Salazar, Isabelle Alberto,
Kino Sevilla, Sichuan Rayco (Class 2022), and Viv Josol (Class 2024)
prepared unique games and prizes. It was
a great way to cap off a night of fun and
entertainment.
The ultimate highlight of The Grand
Carousel -- the Culmination Night entitled
“The Final Act” -- was held last August 17,
2018, at Patio de Manila, Malate, Manila.
The night kicked off with two short games
to get everyone in the mood to party. The
short program ended with the awarding
of the team winners and buddy pairs from
the different FOP tasks and activities given
over the past two weeks. The Fire Breathers
emerged as overall champions, and in
second and third place were the Acrobats
and the Hoopers. Once the program ended,
the members of Class 2023 along with Class
2022 partied and danced the night away,
wrapping up a successful FOP 2018.
The Final Act officially closed this
year’s Freshman Orientation Program
and marked the end of the recruitment
lockout season, allowing different college
organizations, fraternities, and sororities
to hold events and launch projects within
UPCM for the upcoming academic year.

UP MedChoir Bags 4 Golds in BICF 7
TOP: UP MedChoir performing Abendlied (top) and Ascendit Deus in jubilatone (bottom)
at the Musica Sacra Category Competition. Photos courtesy of Iris Ditan (Class 2021)
BOTTOM: The UP MedChoir with their conductor Ms. Maryam Remoto (far left), after
their performance in the Musica Sacra category, at GYK Kuta. Photo courtesy of UP
MedChoir.
Dr. Dogs Visit UP College of
Medicine for a Day of Fun
and Stress Relief
by Lorena Osorio
Class 2021
A GROUP OF therapy dogs from the
Philippine Animal and Welfare Society
(PAWS) came to visit Calderon Hall
last September 21, 2018.
Held in the lobby from 12 noon through
3pm, the dogs were welcomed by students
and faculty and staff of the UP College of
Medicine and Philippine General Hospital
community looking for a way to de-stress
from a study- and work-filled week.
The project was organized by the
internal affairs committee of UP Medicine
Student Council, composed of Manuel
Luis Borja (Class 2024), Gabriel Roberto
Baybay (Class 2022), and Jose Mayo Viray
(Class 2021), along with Leandro Salazar
(Class 2022), Rausche Blaser Sausa (Class
2023), and Tranquil Matthew Salvador IV
(Class 2023). The event was organized with
the UPCM Office of Faculty and Student
Affairs.
“One of the taglines that our committee
has been using throughout the SY is, ‘MSC
42, here for you’, and that’s exactly what
we wanted to achieve with this project,”
says Luis Borja. “We wanted the student
body to know that their student council is
here to help them relax and destress from
all the toxicity of their academic workload,
and one fun and engaging way to do it, we
thought, was through therapy dogs.”
The furry visitors, which were Dr.
Parker, Dr. Yanyan, Dr. Dongdong, Dr.
Pachuchay, Prof. Jedi, Dr.
Leo, Dr. Argus, and Dr.
Torby, have undergone
rigorous training under
PAWS to become therapy
dogs. Once dog trainees
have undergone and passed
a medical or health test, a
temperament assessment,
and an obedience test, they
graduate to become “doctor
dogs”. PAWS’ dog therapy
program regularly caters
to sick or aged individuals
in hospital wards and
institutions for the aged.
Other advocacies of the
organization include animal
rights and welfare.
Despite class suspension
and rallies on that day,
the makeshift playpen at
Calderon Hall was filled
with people who came to
meet and play with the
dogs. Even clerks, interns,
and PGH Director Dr.
Gerardo Legaspi came for
a visit.
“We do plan on holding
another therapy dogs
session,” says Borja. “We’re
thinking of a bunch of other
options, like bringing it to
the pedia ward in PGH and
RTRing the dogs in med
classes.”
by Iris Ditan
Class 2021
AFTER A YEAR of planning and
preparation, UP Medicine Choir (UP
MedChoir) bagged 4 gold medals and
successfully ended their tour at the recently
concluded 7th Bali International
Choir Festival (BICF 7) held in Indonesia
last July 23 to 29, 2018.
With 10 participating countries and 146
participating choir or vocal groups, BICF 7
was a massive event that featured concerts,
workshops, and competitions in 16 categories.
UP MedChoir was one of three choir
groups who represented the Philippines,
specifically in the Musica Sacra and Mixed
Youth categories. Their repertoire included
“Abendlied” (arr. Josef Rheinberger),
“Ascendit Deus in jubilatone” (arr. Peter
Philips), and “Ama Namin” (arr. Fidel
Calalang, Jr) for the Musicta Sacra category,
and “Sitivit Anima Mea” (arr. Richard
Burchard), “Benggong” (arr. Ken Steven),
and “Jubilate Deo” (arr. Giovanni Gabrieli)
for the Mixed Youth category.
In each of the category competitions,
the choir sang 2 songs from their repertoire
(Mixed Youth: “Sitivit Anima Mea” and
“Benggong”; Musica Sacra: “Abendlied”
and “Ascendit Deus in jubilatone”). The
choir’s performance in the Mixed Youth
Category Competition, held on the third
day at the Prime Plaza Hotel, earned them
a Gold Medal Level VI award and a spot
in the Mixed Youth Championship, which
was held the next day. Their score (35.45)
placed them a close 2nd after the Mapua
Cardinal Singers, another Philippine choir,
who scored 35.48 in the same competition.
Their performance in the Musica Sacra
Category Competition on the fourth day
at GYK Kuta, with a score of 33.48, also
ensured their advancement to the category’s
championship round as well as a Gold
Medal Level IV award.
Advancement to the championship
round for both categories allowed the choir
to sing all six songs they prepared for the
competitions. In both categories, UP Med-
Choir was awarded a gold medal for their
performances, with scores of 87.37 and
82.67 for the Mixed Youth and Musica Sacra
Championships respectively.
Aside from the competition, UP Med-
Choir participated in the Charity Concert
held at the Cathedral of Holy Spirit on the
first day, where they performed “Kordero
ng Diyos” (arr. Lucio San Pedro) and “An
Irish Blessing” (arr. James Moore, Jr.). They
also joined the Choir Exchange and Collaboration
activity at the Prime Plaza Hotel on
the fifth day of the festival along with the
Joa Ladies Choir (Korea), Unity of Voices
(Malaysia), and Musa Vocalista Choir (Indonesia).
Here, they performed “Kapayapaan”
(arr. Armand Villanueva) and shared
their skill in creating nature and animal
sounds, and at the same time learned new
songs and techniques from the other choirs.
Despite the festival lasting only one
week, the choir’s preparation had already
started a year before. Aside from their usual
training schedule, UP MedChoir had also
held workshops and chorale clinics with
experts, and incorporated the songs in earlier
gigs and concerts to get a feel for their
performance. Their repertoire was carefully
chosen, as Choirmaster Maryam Remoto
said, “to showcase the choir’s strength [...]
but also to challenge them with different
genres, such as with “Benggong”, making
sure that we weren’t showing the same flavor,
showcasing the variety of the choir.”
While UP MedChoir has once again
brought pride to the college, their
participation in this festival yielded more
than what awards can show. BICF 7 was a
venue to grow as a choir, form friendships,
exchange cultures, and celebrate the shared
love for choral music. Recounting the
Charity Concert, the Choir Collaboration,
and spontaneous singing sessions of the
song “Sa Iyong Mga Yapak” (Cerino;
arr. Guerrero) with The Unklab Choir
(Indonesia) and Cantate Domino (arr.
Josu Elberdin) with the Achievers Choir
(Indonesia), Tour Head and Assistant
Choirmaster Ged Llanes shared, “It’s more
than the competition; [...] it’s how our love
for music brings us together, and singing
together is better.”
Photos courtesy of the UP Medicine Student Council

First-Ever Intersectoral Disaster Risk Reduction and
Management Case Competition Held in UP Manila
by Lorena Osorio
Class 2021
LAST JUNE 2, 2018, the UP Medical
Students’ Society (UP MSS) held
Code Yellow, a collaborative and
intersectoral disaster risk reduction
and management case competition.
Themed United Front, the competition
was the first of its kind in UP Manila for
assembling students from all colleges
and universities to formulate hazard and
disaster management plans for real-life
municipalities in the Philippines.
Held in the College of Allied Medical
Professions Audio-Visual Room, the event
was hosted by Pia Arevalo (Class 2021) and
Lordom Grecia (Class 2021).
After the singing of the National
Anthem and an invocation, event head
Sean Cua (Class 2021) wel comed the
participants, speakers, judges, and guests.
The morning session consisted of two
talks on perspectives and roles of different
fields in disaster risk reduction and
management. Ms. Neyzielle Ronnicque
R. Cadiz came first with her presentation
entitled “Media and disasters: the role of
mass communication and the media in
disaster risk reduction and management”.
She is currently Information Officer III
and Research Specialist II from the UP
Resilience Institute NOAH Center.
Cadiz began with a situationer on how
disaster risk in the country is determined
by both natural hazards and the country’s
state of development, and then a brief
history of Project NOAH. Next, she
discussed the importance of the media
as information bearers, translators, and
disseminators for disaster risk reduction
and management as part of emergency
response preparedness. Next, she detailed
on some challenges in media reporting
and issues in intersectoral communication.
Finally, she emphasized that more than the
government and the media, the individual
should also always be ready by identifying
hazards in their area and being prepared
for disaster risks.
The second speaker, Mr. Benigno C.
Balgos, is currently a consultant on disaster
risk reduction-related projects of the United
Nations Development Programme, World
Food Programme, Save the Children, Plan
International, and the Philippine Red
Cross.
Balgos discussed his research on
disaster risk reduction and management
in education in his presentation entitled
“Capacity development of teachers
for psychosocial intervention: post-
Haiyan experience”. He emphasized the
importance of research as key to providing
development intervention to people
affected by disaster, and collaboration
among stakeholders. He discussed the
application of the Module on Climate
Change and Disaster Risk Reduction
Education for Sustainable Development
(CCESD) in various primary and
secondary schools in Tacloban, Leyte. He
recommended that the training programme
be expanded and individualized to other
schools damaged by typhoon Haiyan.
A question-and-answer session came
after the talks, followed by awarding of
certificates and tokens for the speakers.
A breakout and lunch session followed,
allowing the participant groups to further
discuss their management of the cases.
The afternoon session began with
an overview of the two municipalities
by the respective Doctors-to-the-Barrios
(DTTBs) and involved professionals and
government officials. Dr. Noel Bernardo
led the situationer for Sabtang, Batanes.
He was followed by Engr. Irving Halago,
enironmental, materials, and plumbing
engineer for Sabtang; and Mr. Marx Isrhael
Castro, incumbent disaster risk reduction
and management officer of Sabtang. Dr.
Jessa Mae Rosete then presented the
overview for Limasawa, Southern Leyte.
The competition proper commenced,
with three teams for each municipality
discussing their 20-minute presentations on
their management strategies. Presentations
focused on a short introduction to the case,
identification of hazards and problem tree
formation, proposed plans of action, and
budgeting.
The teams’ strategies spanned different
fields such as medicine, psychology,
mass communication, business and
entrepreneurship, tourism, policy-making,
architecture, and engineering, among
others. The wide-ranging educational
and experiential backgrounds of the
participants made for presentations that
cut across and integrated the different
sectors in the communities.
Five minutes were allotted after each of
the presentations to answer questions from
the judges and the audience.
Afterwards, the DTTBs returned to
the stage to react to the presentations. Dr.
Bernardo commended the presentations
and shared that while the strategies were
a monumental step in the right direction, it
is also important that the ones formulating
these strategies also fully know the
situation in the municipalities, and as
much as possible visit these communities.
“We should not only provide armchair
solutions,” he says.
Dr. Rosete also congratulated
the presenters, and added that their
management plans definitely provided
new insight that could benefit not
only Limasawa and Sabtang, but other
communities as well. She emphasized
that preparedness is the most important
aspect of disaster management, and was
appreciative of the different teams’ efforts
to that goal.
MSS President Regiel Mag-usara
(Class 2020) followed with closing
remarks. He thanked the participants and
representatives from the municipalities
for Code Yellow, which he called “a huge
step forward towards intersectoral and
interprofessional collaboration”. He went
on to say that being the first of its kind, this
year’s Code Yellow was only the beginning
of more holistic and integrative disaster
management case competitions in the
future.
Certificates and tokens were given to
the DTTBs, judges, and esteemed guests.
Winners were then announced. The
team of Nicole Uy (College of Nursing,
UPM), Abbeygail Abella (College of
Allied Medical Professions, UPM),
Eunice Gerona (College of Allied Medical
Professions, UPM), Paolo Bartolo (College
of Engineering, UPD), Kimberly Salamatin
(College of Development Communication,
UPLB), Ellora Narida (College of
Architecture), and Janelle Lao (College
of Arts and Sciences, UPM) won for the
Limasawa case.
The team of Denver Rancap (College
of Nursing, UPM), Gabrielle de Ocampo
(College of Public Health, UPM), Hanna
Cayabyab (College of Public Health,
UPM), Precious Manalo (College of Arts
and Sciences, UPM), Jamie Tuisieng
(Virata School of Business, UPD), Ricardo
Alindayu II (College of Engineering, UPD),
Jhenica Tan (College of Arts and Sciences,
UPM), and Marion Ordillano (College of
Engineering, UPD) won for the Sabtang
case.
Winning teams received Php 10,000
each. Winners for the Sabtang case were
also invited to free lodging and a tour of
Sabtang should they visit.
TOP: Winners for the Limasawa Case, with project head Sean Cua, DTTB Dr. Jessa Mae
Rosete, and MSS President Regiel Mag-usara. BOTTOM: Winners for the Sabtang Case,
with project head Sean Cua, MSS President Regiel Mag-usara, DTTB Dr. Noel Bernardo,
and government officials and disaster risk reduction and management representatives
of the municipality. Photos courtesy of Iya de Claro (Class 2023)
SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS
TOP: The LU4 (Class 2022) Basketball team, HiMEDSikan 2018 men’s basketball
champions. MIDDLE: The HiMEDSikan 2018 Ultimate champions, Class 2023. BOTTOM:
The LU6/7 team and their supporters pose for a photo with their 2 championship
trophies, for futsal and volleyball. Photos courtesy of MSC42.

HiMEDSikan 2018
Officially Concluded:
Champions Crowned for Futsal, Men’s
Basketball, Ultimate, and Volleyball
MEN’S BASKETBALL: Class 2022’s Roy Gerona catching a pass for a
fast break. Photo courtesy of MSC42.
by Hanna Ho
Class 2022
and Lordom Grecia
Class 2021
THE MEDICINE STUDENT Council’s
Sports and Wellness Committee
successfully held the third and final
day of HiMEDSikan 2018 on Saturday,
06 October 2018, at the UP Manila
Sports Science and Wellness Center.
The final day of the annual
sporting event of the college included
the last few elimination games for men’s
basketball and the championship games
for all the sports: men’s basketball, futsal,
ultimate, and volleyball. The women’s
basketball games were also scheduled for
the last day, but had to be cancelled due to
unavailability of the players.
Men’s Basketball
Admin vs. LU6/7
The day started with the remaining
eliminations games for men’s basketball,
with the match between the Admin and
the LU6/7 teams going first. This match
was a make-or-break for both teams, as
the winner would face the LU4 team in the
championship later in the day.
The admin started out strong, grabbing
an early lead at 11 to 4. They continued to
keep up their game with Sir Kelly shooting
baskets in a row, bringing their score up
19 to 6. The first quarter ended in favor
of the admin, 21 to 8. The clinterns kept
up their fighting spirits, rallying to catch
up during the second and third quarters,
but the admin put up a fight and ended
the third quarter at 55 to 28 in their favor.
The admin kept up their amazing team
effort and eventually took the game with
an incredible 78 to 38 lead, advancing to
the finals against LU4 for a chance at the
championship trophy.
LU5 vs. LU3
The next men’s basketball game was
between LU5 (Class 2021) and LU3 (Class
2023). This was
a non-bearing
game, as LU4
had already won
two games in
their bracket.
Nonetheless, the
teams fought
hard and gave
their all. The LU5
team had Julian
Buban, Empol
Caldito, Emil
Cano, Sean Cua,
Jen Montemayor,
and Rey Vicoy,
while the LU3 team consisted of Jeric
Conjares, Matt Hernandez, Earl Mabulay,
Abot Monroy, and Gabriel Montemayor.
The game started slow, and the first
quarter ended with the teams tied at 6.
Class 2023 kept up their plays and were
able to pull away by the end of the first half
leading 19 to 11. Not to be deterred, Class
2021 upped their game. With Cano scoring
a 3 and Buban finally catching a break, they
were able to narrow the score gap, 18 to
20, but still in favor of LU3. The LU3 team
showed consistency, leading 27 to 22 by the
end of the third quarter. During the fourth
quarter, Hernandez was fouled and got
3-point play. Cano was fouled as well for a
three-point opportunity, but he missed the
free throw. The LU3 team prevailed and
won the game, 34 to 29.
The next game in the schedule was
supposed to be the first game of women’s
basketball, but it was instead used as a break
for the players before the championship
match.
CHAMPIONSHIP: Admin vs. LU4
The Men’s Basketball Finals was
between the UPCM Admin and LU4. The
LU4 team consisted of Class 2022’s Myco
Cabuco, Martin Dizon, Nathan Gan, Roy
Gerona, Justo Santos, Steven Tan, and JC
Tesorero.
LU4 started strong and grabbed the lead
with their excellent plays and teamwork,
ending the first quarter in their favor, 23-
5. The second quarter saw more aggressive
plays from the admin, but the first half
ended with the LU4 team leading 32 to 15.
The admin fought to catch up and close the
gap, but Class 2022 maintained their lead
and ended the third quarter with a 54 to 28
lead. Excellent plays were made by both
teams in the final quarter as a last push for
the championship title. Unfortunately, the
LU4 lead was too big and the admin was
no longer able to catch up, and Class 2022
ultimately prevailed. Class 2022 ended the
game leading 70 to 44 and took home the
championship trophy.
Futsal
CHAMPIONSHIP: LU6/7 vs. LU5
In the afternoon was the championship
match between the clinterns (LU6/7) and
LU5. The LU6/7 team had Migs Dimacali
and Aljohn Gonzales from Class 2019
and Gian Aurelio, Macky Camagay, Bea
Constantino, JR Sta. Maria, and Gian Urgel
from Class 2020, while the LU5 team was
composed of Class 2021’s Julian Buban,
Jaea Cabilao, Sean Cua, Bea Daayata, and
Wynona Dela Calzada.
It was an entertaining match, and
both teams seemed to have been in good
spirits all throughout. Despite the more
aggressive plays from the clinterns, no
goals were scored in the first half. Most
shots throughout the game were off target
for both teams, and the goalkeepers were
able to defend against most of the on-target
shots. Class 2021’s Julian Buban was able to
get a goal early in the second half, putting
them ahead 1-0. A handball on Buban
resulted in a penalty kick for the clinterns,
which they quickly converted to a goal to
even up the match 1-1. An unfortunate
handball called on the LU5 team just
outside the goal with a couple of minutes
left in the game resulted in a penalty from
the clinterns, and JR Sta. Maria made sure
he got the goal. In the end, the clinterns
won the game 2-1, earning them the futsal
championship.
An exhibition game of futsal between
the PGH team (interns, residents) and the
CM team (anyone from LU1-6) opened
the evening leading up to the remaining
championship games. It was a friendly
but still competitive match that kept
the audience entertained as the players
and supporters for the last two matches
made their way to the Sports Science and
Wellness Center.
Ultimate
CHAMPIONSHIP: LU5 vs. LU3
The next match of the evening was the
ultimate finals between LU5 (Class 2021)
and LU3 (Class 2023). The LU5 team was
composed of Steph Abellera, Julian Buban,
Sean Cua, Ethan Maslog, Jayme Tambaoan,
and Kristel Tiburcio. The LU3 team
consisted of Josh Aguasin, Jeric Conjares,
Pat Gayod, Dan Go, Ysel Ladera , Samuel
Lim, Kat Orteza, Karel Tan, and Nico
Vinasoy.
LU5 started on the offensive, but LU3
was able to gain possession and scored
the first two points of the match. LU5
returned the favor and got two consecutive
points as well, tying the game at 2. The
LU3 team started heating up and got three
consecutive points before LU5 was able to
score their next point. The players from
Class 2023 didn’t let this faze them and
kept the momentum going as they led Class
2021 8 to 5. LU3 scored fast points with a
long pass from Go to Tan at the endzone,
and another from Tan to Ladera saw the
FUTSAL: Class 2020’s JR Sta. Maria gearing up for a free kick, while Class 2021’s Julian Buban, Bea Daayata, and Jaea Cabilao try to
block the path. Photo courtesy of MSC42.
lead balloon for LU3, 10-5. Just before soft
cap was called, LU3 was able to bring their
score up to 11 and the soft cap was set at 13.
The LU3 team didn’t waste any time, and
Aguasin sent a long pass to an airborne Go
at the endzone for a beautiful point. Shortly
after, Lim got a pass to Conjares, and LU3
took the game and the championship, with
a final score of 13-5.
Volleyball
CHAMPIONSHIP: LU 6/7 vs. LU4
The last match of the day was the
volleyball championship between the
clinterns and LU4. The LU6/7 team was
composed of Class 2020’s JP Ladera
and Kirby Plando, Class 2019’s Reni De
Guzman, Dudi De Juras, Migs Dimacali,
and Kim Dorado, and post-graduate
interns Dan Cadangan and Migs Notarte.
The LU4 team consisted of Class 2022’s
Jer’m Angobung, Julius Buitizon, Jack
Bulaong, Pibelle De Chavez, Raphael
Fudolig, Nathan Gan, Vinz Solanoy, and
Zad Velasquez.
Despite the game being late in the
evening and being the last match of the
day, the audience was definitely riled up
with the intensity of the match. The LU4
team led early in the set, but the clinterns
were able to take charge thanks to attacks
from De Guzman, Notarte, and De Juras.
The LU6/7 team led by 5 late in the first set,
21-16, but Bulaong’s blocking came to life
as the clinterns began making more errors,
and LU4 was able to make it to set point 24-
22. The clinterns fought back and were able
to tie it at 24, but ultimately excellent net
defense and killer offense prevailed for the
clinterns and they took the extended first
set 27-25.
The second set saw the arrival of
post-graduate intern Dan Cadangan for
the LU6/7 team, and his contributions
to the team allowed them to dominate
throughout the set. Despite 2022’s Raphael
Fudolig heating up in the set and scoring 7
points, the aggressive service and powerful
attacking from the clinterns earned them a
strong 25 to 16 win.
Set number 3 saw Fudolig on fire as
he scored most of the points for his team.
The clinterns nonetheless led by at least 5
points for the majority of the set, until they
were almost at match point, 23-18. Class
2022 rallied and managed to save 4 match
points, tying the game at 24. An emphatic
block from Fudolig won them the set at 26-
24, forcing a fourth set and energizing their
supporters in the audience.
The excitement continued in the fourth
set. The clinterns led comfortably early
in the set, but the LU4 team came alive
despite being down 7 points at 15 to 22.
They were able to tie the game at 23 and
kept the hustle going as they even got to
set point, 24-23. The clinterns weren’t going
down without a fight, though, and they
tied the game at 24 for another extended
set. The LU6/7 team ultimately prevailed,
winning the fourth set 27-25 and taking the
championship.
Congratulations to the 42 nd Medicine
Student Council Sports and Wellness
Committee Co-Heads and HiMEDSikan
2018 Co-Heads Nicole Alberto (Class 2023)
and Rausche Sausa (Class 2023), the rest of
MSC42, and the volunteers on the success
of their three-day flagship event, and to all
the teams that participated!
—With special thanks to Miguel Costa and
Migs Dimacali for helping the writers get
information for this article.

Reactions on the PGH
Malasakit Center
Inauguration
Editorial on page 2
A few moments after the launch,
numerous posts from members of the
UP-PGH and medical community started
popping up on social media criticizing the
blatant campaigning and actions of Mr. Go:
Dr. Gideon Lasco
(Twitter: @gideonlasco)
“It is true that Duterte has earmarked
more taxpayers’ money to PGH than any other
president (owing to the Sin Tax Law) - but
this is not an excuse for allowing the hospital
to be politicized. Dignity has no price tag.”
Dr. Paolo “Lopao” Medina
(Twitter: @LopaoMD)
“Sold na sold sa “Malasakit” Center!
Ang GaGO! Such a facility is supposed to
be A GIVEN especially in an institution like
PGH, not something that “somebody from
above” benevolently “bestows”. HEALTH
IS A RIGHT. Para tayong pataygutom
niyan sa “malasakit” eh dapat default yun.”
Dr. Leonard Pascual
(Twitter: @drbrainhacker)
“Ang tunay na malasakit ay walang
photo-op, walang media/social media blitz.
Hindi dinadaan sa mga gimmick. Ang tunay
na malasakit sa pasyente na mahihirap tulad
ng nasa PGH ay pagbalik at pagtaas ng
budget sa kalusugan. ”
“When everyone around makes that heil
salute fist, even your boss, be the “hands
down” winner by not raising your own fist.”
[Editor’s note: This tweet is in reference to
the cover photo of this editorial, wherein
PGH Director Gap Legaspi was the only one
pictured not making the popular Duterte
hand gesture.]”
Former Medicine Student Council
(MSC) Chairperson Leonard Javier
(FB: leolymathza12)
“Bong Go’s usage of PGH for premature
campaign is several levels of abuse and
deterioration of public service. We can be
better, we should be better. No to trapo
politics. What we tolerate, we empower.
There is no room for corruption in PGH.”
MSC Representative to the University
Student Council Omid Siahmard
(Twitter: @omidong)
“Yes, Bong Go just used a hospital to
advance his political career. He used the
conditions of the destitute sick to make
himself a messiah while actually being a
major contributor to the death of the masses.
This, all for political leverage. And the
hospital was PGH.”
Official Statement of the 42nd Medicine
Student Council
(FB: UPMedicineStudentCouncil)
“We condemn this act of premature
campaigning and use of public resources to
fund political gains. The delivery of basic
services should not be made a stage for
personal promotion and publicity. According
to the Alma Ata Declaration, of which
today we also celebrate the anniversary
of its declaration, ‘governments have a
responsibility for the health of their people
which can be fulfilled only by the provision
of adequate health and social measures. This
responsibility should be fulfilled without
manipulation for personal political gains.’”
On the other hand, some doctors chose
to highlight the positive impact of the
center on indigent patients:
The Anime
that Every
Medical
Student
Must Watch
by Louie Dy
and Sean Cua
Class 2021
CELLS AT WORK (Hataraku Saibou)
is a Japanese manga written and
illustrated by Akane Shimizu. The
uncanny, out-of-this-world brilliance
of the author is manifested at how each
character, such as the Red Blood Cell, is
personified into the series protagonist.
By adding life and character to each
cell, human physiology, especially
concerning the basics of Hematology
and Immunology, become quite
palatable even for the layperson. The
magnificence and miracle that is the
human body is successfully translated
into the exuberance that is the anime
series. Even if you might think that
this article is a spoiler of the series,
you can never really call this a spoiler
because there is exponentially more
fun in watching and reading the series
itself.
Bacteria and parasites, such as
pneumococcus, Staphylococcus aureus,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Clonorchis
sp., are personified into polymorphic
monsters which do somehow resemble
the specimens in real life. Red Blood Cells
deliver oxygen and carbon dioxide to
their respective places. White Blood Cells
fight bacteria using their daggers. Helper
T-Cells coordinate and facilitate the
activation of Naive T-Cells into Cytotoxic
T-Cells. Macrophages deal massive
damage to the bacterial army. Platelets,
with their stress-relieving, permafrostmelting
cuteness repair damages to the
blood vessel and just somehow make your
day happier. These are just examples of
basic processes that occur in the human
body every day, yet Cells At Work showed
how beautiful and important these “basic”
processes are.
Numerous analogies bridge the
molecular and cytological mechanisms
into concrete actions done by each
characters. Clotting factors are shown as
some “gadget” used by the Platelets, and
the fibrin clot is shown as a “net.” Helper
T-Cells coordinate in a “command center”
across classes of immunocytes in order to
fight infections. Antigen presentation is
illustrated as “transferring of information
or a book.” Enucleation is shown as
the “graduation ceremony” of the Red
Blood Cells (from being Reticulocytes).
The Dendritic Cell is shown as a tree
with an operator, which satisfies the
etymology of the word “Dendritic” from
“Dendro”,”which means “tree.” The
Cancer Cell appears to be an ordinary cell
until the Natural Killer Cell, being able to
sniff abnormalities in such cells, finding
out how monstrous he was. The fact that
tumor cells needed a humongous blood
supply was also translated into massive
hordes of Red Blood Cells accomplishing
a “giant delivery order.”
Aside from concrete analogies,
the anime also stimulates imaginative
thinking, such as how the characters
would play their roles in more devastating
and debilitating conditions. Perhaps,
for example, in a more morbid setting,
Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura
(ITP) could involve a mass murder of the
poor cute little Platelets, or perhaps in
Meningococcemia, the bacteria could act
like a ninja that causes damage to the skin
and meninges (nervous system), leading to
fast world destruction and armageddon.
As such, multiple spinoffs have
emerged, and one of them, while still a
manga, is the darker, Seinen, and probably
R-16 Cells At Work BLACK (Hataraku
Saibou BLACK), by Shigemitsu Harada
and Issei Hatsuyoshi. In this manga,
cells in a “black,” harsher environment
attempt to do their job. Topics include
erectile dysfunction and the use of
Sildenafil, “illegal” LDL deposition and
atherosclerosis, liver disease, gonorrhea,
among others. Other spin-offs, such as
Bacteria At Work and Cells That Do Not
Work, are underway.
This only proves the anime not
only to be quite entertaining, but
also quite educational. Physiology
and pathophysiology, which are the
foundations of modern medicine, can be
easily remembered. Things that are often
skimmed in medical school are paid more
attention throughout the series. Cuter
diagrams such as the Hematopoietic Stem
Cell Line diagram at the end of Chapter 6
of the manga would definitely help in the
board exams.
For those who would like to go and
see the show beyond its zany depiction
of biology, the show can be perceived as
Artwork by Albert Jason Olaya (Class 2022)
a microcosm of a real world utilitarian
society. Every cell’s identity and function
are already determined from the start, their
purpose already known, and they live out
their paths all in support of the human
body’s betterment. Anytime something
goes awry, the body has agents in its arsenal
(the immune system cells) to reclaim the
gentle homeostasis under duress. The
society thus represents the potential of a
real world scenario when every individual
focuses on their utility for the good of the
body and where exogenous foreign factors
that strive to disrupt the peace are properly
identified and eliminated. The show then
presents an interesting twist to their utopia
once they realize that some disruptive
factors are actually cells of their own kind
that had an error in its production.
This problem then explores the
question, “What are to be done to disruptive
agents who don’t have the capacity to do
what they were meant to do and instead
cause harm to the society?” Do they try
and help them reform (as in the case of the
main character – a red blood cell who has
no sense of direction and can’t deliver the
important nutrients of the body) or do they
simply eliminate these “threats to society”
(as in the case of the cancer cell who was
at the point of metastasizing)? By making
its viewers pause and think about these
questions, the anime goes deeper than its
medmonics surface level façade to unveil
the questions we seldom ask, and yet
need to answer as they will reflect how we
actually view the world we see before us.
Beyond this show, every Japanese
manga and anime is quite educational and
often even quite deep and philosophical.
There also exists an anime about
Microbiology and the production of
alcohol—Moyashimon, where bacteria are
personified into cute Chibi characters such
that the main character is able to see them
and interact with them. In the manga The
Promised Neverland, The Hayflick Limit is a
concept that defines the maximum number
of times a cell can divide in a lifetime—a
concept that was never taught in medical
school.
Cells at Work by Akane Shimizu is still
ongoing. An episode is released every
weekend.
Dr. Francisco Tranquilino
(FB: francisco.tranquilino)
“Personally, I would rather not dwell on
the tarps but I just have to say this nonetheless
to those who reacted negatively. This was
how we welcome him in PGH and we were
the beneficiaries of the project. If the tarp is
in poor taste, I will let it be, I can live with
that. It will not affect my decision if I will
vote for him or not in case he runs. I am more
concerned with kurakot than being epal and
inefficient.”
LEFT: Banners with campaign-esque slogans featuring Special Assistant to the President and PDP-Laban senatorial bet Christopher Lawrence
“Bong” Go were installed in the halls of PGH surrounding the new Malasakit Center. Photo courtesy of Jorrel Vincent Valdez (FB: jorrelvincent.
valdez).
RIGHT: Health cards that prominently display President Duterte hugging a patient and Mr. Go comforting a sickly child were part of the
paraphernalia to be distributed to the indigent patients of PGH. Photo sourced from UP Manila’s Official Facebook Page (FB: UPMANILAOFFICIAL).

A FILM REFLECTION
Crazy
Rich
Asians:
Reconciling
Identities
by Sean Cua
Class 2021
EVER SINCE I was very young, I had
been brought up with a saying that
goes, “lan mhm see huana,” which
roughly translates to “we are not
Filipinos.” Whenever I’d ask why this
was the case, I’d just be told “lan si
lannang” (“we are Chinese”), followed
by a long explanation of how my greatgrandfather
came to this country along
with my great-grandmother, and how I
had to protect the sacred “pure” blood
that I had. To be frank, I didn’t really
understand why I had to do this, but
it had been so ingrained in my mind
that whenever I needed to specify my
nationality in any document, I would
write “Chinese” instead of “Filipino.”
I was proud of myself for doing that
– proud of actually telling the world,
“Hey, I am Chinese! A pure-blooded
Chinese [who can’t speak Mandarin
or Hokkien very well and who can’t
speak Cantonese at all, but for all
intents and purposes looks like one]!”
This went on until I was older, when
I eventually learned the term “tai diok
kha,” or “mainlander.” Apparently, we
were just a subset of “Chinese” who
had gone abroad before they had been
affected by the communist upheaval in
China. My relatives then explained to
me that those who were left behind—
these “mainlanders”—had lost the sense
of culture that made one a true Chinese,
thus they were also frowned
upon by everyone else. I was at
least old enough to understand
that being Chinese is more
than just having the blood and
looking the part, but then this
opened more questions than
answers. What exactly was being
true Chinese all about? How
can one call themselves Chinese if they don’t
even identify themselves with the China that
currently exists today? Where exactly do I
belong?
In its heart, I believe that one of Crazy
Rich Asians’ core themes was to open
the discussion of this confusion and this
question of identity that most people, not
just immigrant Chinese, experience today.
Rachel Chu (portrayed by Constance Wu)
was a person of Chinese ancestry and could
speak Mandarin, but lived her whole life
in America and was an American citizen.
At one of the crucial segments of the
movie, her boyfriend’s mother, Eleanor
Young (portrayed by Michelle Yeoh), told
her that she did not accept Rachel even
before they had properly met because she
wasn’t part of the “gai khi lang” (“own
people”) circle. Even before Eleanor had
mentioned this, Rachel already knew the
woman’s disposition towards her and to
much of the movie’s target demographic
and me, her struggle felt eerily similar. She
had never been fully American because
she was Chinese, and she will never be
fully Chinese because she had been partly
Americanized—who and what exactly
is she, then? In a culture whose simple
desire to protect itself led to its strict and
restrictive inclusion criteria for those of its
own kind, where do people like Rachel
fit in? Going further, what exactly does it
mean to be Chinese? What exactly does it
mean to be Filipino?
In this way, Rachel’s journey
throughout the movie hits this type of
audience in a way that has not been made
this real in a very long time. She initially
tried to adopt the beliefs, mannerisms,
language, and behavior of those around
her, and when this had become futile,
instead chose to don her culture and her
personality–standing out instead of fitting
in. Though she initially attempted to copy
and immerse herself in this crazy rich
Asian culture, she chose to shine instead
in the culture that had brought her up into
who she was today. Through her narrative,
director Jon Chu crafts an idea: rather
than letting the culture of those around
you define your story, your past and
present culture and upbringing are your
own story and it is ultimately up to you
how you choose to tell the tale. It becomes
very easy to get lost in the confusion of
needing to belong at a specific culture,
so much so that we forget that a culture
is dead without its people. An entire
culture is made up of subcultures from
many distinct individual lives who create
a community of shared traits, beliefs,
practices, and behaviors. To me, these
are like different strokes on a painting:
no two strokes are exactly alike but it’s
their differences and varied utility that
contributes to a beautiful masterpiece. In
the end, Rachel decided to stay true to her
culture—her and her mother’s Chinese-
Americanship of struggle, tribulation, and
triumph—and her firm resolve spoke to
the hearts of Eleanor, Nick, and to many
of us here today.
To those who haven’t seen the movie,
watch it. I don’t need to add to what’s
already been said by countless other
people, movie reviewers, and Facebook
posts for you to know just how many lives
have been moved by this rom-com. As
for me, yes, I am a Chinese who doesn’t
live in China [and who can speak better
Chinese now, though still quite far from
being at the level I want to be at yet], and a
It becomes very easy to get lost in the confusion
of needing to belong at a specific culture, so
much so that we forget that a culture is dead
without its people.
Filipino who, despite not looking like one,
now writes in his nationality as “Filipino”
in all his current documents. The history
of how my ancestors overcame their
circumstances for me to be here today, as
well as the present day-by-day journey I
walk, are both part of the story of culture I
choose to weave for myself.
Saranggola ni Pepe:
Paano Lumikha ng Naratibo
sa Wikang Filipino
ni Mark Teo
Class 2023
SIYAM NA TAONG gulang pa lang
ako noong narinig ko sa radyo ang
kanta ni Celeste Legaspi na Saranggola
ni Pepe. Bukod sa aking katuwaa n
dahil sa tonong kung saan napapaisip
ako na walang problema sa mundong
ito, naintriga ako sa imaheng nilikha
ng kanta sa loob ng aking kaisipan.
Maraming taon ang lumipas bago
nalaman ko na ang kantang ito ay
may mas malalim na kahulugan. Sa
pagsusuri ng kantang Saranggola ni
Pepe, makikita ang kakayahan ng
wikang Filipino sa paglilikha ng
naratibo.
Matayog ang lipad ng saranggola ni Pepe
Matayog ang pangarap ng matandang bingi
Ayon sa CCP Encyclopedia of
Philippine Art, si Pepe ay kumakatawan
sa ordinaryong Pilipino, at ang kaniyang
saranggola ay ang kaniyang pangarap
para sa kinabukasan. Ayon sa iba’t-ibang
interpretasyon ng mga linyang ito, dahil
“Pepe” ang palayaw ni Dr. Jose Rizal ay
sinasabi na simbolo ito ng pangarap ng
isang bayani para sa ating bansa. Ang
matandang bingi naman ay nagtutukoy
sa presidente sa mga panahon na iyon—si
Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos. Nailabas
ang kantang ito noong 1977, limang taong
matapos naideklara ang Batas Militar. Ang
asawa ni Legaspi na si Nonoy Gallardo ang
gumawa ng kanta, gamit din ng medyo
sirang ukulele ng kanilang anak. Sa halip
ng tuwirang pagtira sa gobyerno, gumamit
si Gallardo ng imahe para hindi halata.
Bagaman hindi masyadong halata sa
unang pagkinig ng kanta, ang kantang ito
ay produkto ng mga karanasan ni Gallardo
sa panahon ng Batas Militar.
Umihip ang hangin, nawala sa paningin
Sigaw ng kahapon, nilamon na ng alon
Malabo ang tunog ng kampanilya ni Padre
Maingay ang taginting, rosaryo ng babae
Isang interpretasyon ng kantang ito ay
tungkol sa mga sinaunang Pilipino. Naanod
sila ng kolonyalismo, at sa susunod na mga
dalawang linya ay makikita ang mga imahe
na galing sa pagiging kolonya ng mga
Kastila, lalo na sa mga imaheng Katoliko
tulad ng rosaryo at ang kampanilya ni
Padre. Sumisimbolo rin ito ng kawalan ng
boses at ang pagtakip ng mga karahasan
ng mga Pilipino sa panahon ng Batas
Militar. Hanggang ngayon, nawawala sa
paningin ang mga nangyari noon. Sa gitna
ng matinding hirap na ito, umasa sila sa
Diyos para malunasan ang kanilang mga
problema, at makikita ito sa mga likhang
sining ng mga panahong iyon, tulad ng
Himala ni Dir. Ishmael Bernal.
Hinuli ang ibon, pinagsuot ng pantalon
Tinali ng pisi, hindi na nagsinturon
Dumaan ang jeepney at gumuhit pa sa kalye
Mauling ang iniwang hindi na tinabi
Ang paggamit ng jeepney, na napunta
sa Pilipinas noong naging kolonya tayo ng
Amerika, ay nagpapakita na sinasalaysay
naman ng bersong ito ang panahon ng
Amerikano. Dahil sa paggawa ng mga
pampublikong paaralan, pinaaral ang mga
kabataan ng wikang Ingles. Sa proseso ng
“Benevolent Assimilation,” napaiba ng mga
Amerikano ang kultura ng mga Pilipino.
Hinuli ang mga Pilipino, at pinagsuot sila
ng pantalon. (Isyu ba iyo ng kaisipang
kolonyal?) Masasabi rin na “tinali” tayo
dahil sa pagturo ng wikang Ingles sa halip
ng wikang Filipino. Ang epekto nito ay
nararamdaman natin mula noon hanggang
ngayon. Mauling nga ang iniwan nila, lalo
na sa mga isyu katulad ng Visiting Forces
Agreement o VFA, at higit sa lahat ay hindi
nga ito tinabi. Sa perspektibo ng Batas
Militar, kumakatawan ito sa kawalan ng
kalayaan at sa mga masasamang epekto ng
Batas Militar, tulad ng mataas na utang at
sistemang cronyism na hindi pa nawawala
hanggang ngayon.
Pinilit umawit, ang naglaro’y isang ingit
Lumuha ang langit at ang mundo ay nanliit
Kumakaway sa bakod ang anghel na nakatanod
Sumusuway sa utos, puso’y sinusunod
Tinutukoy nito ang mga protesta na
nangyari sa panahon ng Batas Militar, at
kaunti lamang sa mga gustong sabihin ng
mga tao ang lumabas dahil sa matinding
panunupil ng administrasyong Marcos.
Ilan sa mga pamamaraan na ginamit ay
ang sapilitang pagkawala o matinding
pananakit para tumahimik ang mga boses.
Naging dahilan ito kung bakit “lumuha”
ang mga Pilipino sa mga panahon na
iyon. Ang mga anghel na nakatanod
naman ay tumutukoy sa mga militar na
sinigurado na hindi lalabas ang mga tao
sa mga hangganang aprobado ni Marcos.
Kasama na rin dito ang Metropolitan
Command Intelligence Service Group
(MISG) na sumalakay sa We Forum, isang
pahayagang kritikal sa administrasyong
Marcos. Sumuway sa utos ang mga
Pilipino, at sinundan nila ang kanilang
pusong nagnanais ng tunay na kalayaan.
Sa maikling kantang ito, ganitong
karaming kahulugan ang nakuha.
Naniniwala ako na pinapakita nito ang
kakayahan ng wikang Filipino na gumawa
ng malakas na naratibo. Makikita rin ito sa
ibang mga kanta katulad ng “Ang Huling
El Bimbo” ng Eraserheads, “Anak” ni
Freddie Aguilar, at “Sirena” ni Gloc-9.
Ang kayamanan ng wikang Filipino ay
nakakatulong hindi lamang sa pagpapadala
ng mensahe, ngunit pati ang paghug ot
nito sa ating mga damdamin para sa isang
karanasang mahirap makalimutan. Ang
mensahing ito na higit pang pinapayaman
rin ng musika na, sa kaso ng Saranggola ni
Pepe, ay pwedeng mapakinggan ng kahit
mga bata. Inaaanyayahan ko kayong lahat
na hanapin pa ang iba pang mga kantang
Pilipino, dahil paraan ito para mas umibig
tayo sa ating wikang pambansa.
Paunawa: Ginamit ko ang pagsusuri
nina osoninja at NatanielProductions sa
kanilang mga blog, ang video ng PH iNews
ukol sa Saranggola ni Pepe, at ang aking
mga opinyon para gawin ito.

A UP MEDICS EXCLUSIVE
The CochleHear
Series:
InSPIRE
The Dean’s Vision for UPCM
Nitelite
by Mark Teo
Class 2023
by Louie Dy
Lorena Osorio
Diego Mina
Lordom Grecia
Er Pilotin
Markyn Kho
Rory Nakpil
and Hanna Ho
The dean’s flagship project, InSPIRE, refers to a series of goals—In for infrastructure; S
for science and discovery; P for partnership for progress in healthcare; I for innovation
in leadership; R for resource generation, fiscal management and governance; and E for
empowering—for embracing wellness, diversity, and sense of community.
1. Infrastructure
UP College of Medicine Medical Science
Students’ Unit is a new name to revitalize
the building construction which stalled
last 2016. Besides the re-christening, the
University of the Philippines Medical
Alumni Society (UPMAS) is also bent on
hiring a new contractor and a construction
manager for the new site, so construction
can begin immediately and independent of
the Academic Center.
UP System President Danilo
Concepcion has pledged to give about 70
million pesos for the expansion of three
more floors to the original design. From the
footprint of initially around 6000 square
meters, this has now increased to more
than 9000 square meters - at least 1/3 or
30% bigger footprint and space. There will
also be three (3) more floors added to the
proposed eight (8), and one of the floors
will contain an auditorium that can house
around 220 people.
A replacement for the Florentino
Herrera Medical Library will also be built,
which will occupy one entire floor in the
new University Library. A bridgeway
connecting the UPCM Medical Science
building with the floor that houses the
medical library will be created.
The dean hopes that the construction
will be started again before the end of the
year, and would be finished within the next
two years. It would be then that the College
in this cost complicated
as the evening looms
and the owls stir electrified
flashing eyes in the gloom
bringing back to me my darling
who i lost the other day
holds me tight till i’m together
so i never fade away
easy to my senses
all the lack of it
nothingness in a room
clutching you
caressing claws of shadows
will it ever let you go
and if i find the heart to turn
and switch the sights
live in lights
will it show
all the fears and failures that i feel
tonight
were never there at all
Dean Charlotte Chiong heading the strategic planning workshop, which led to her plan,
summarized as “INSPIRE”.
could increase the number of entrants.
“We still have to decide whether we will
increase the lateral entrants or the direct
entrants,” says Dr. Chiong. “Everything
has to be evidence-based, either on our
survey of what the students want or on the
performance of the college.”
2. Science and Discovery
According to Dr. Chiong, among more than
36,000 indexed scientific publications from
1930 to 2018 in the Philippines, more than
a third of those came from the UP System.
Among those, the triumvirate of UPCM,
UP Manila, and PGH comprise more than a
third of the total number of UP publications
-- equal to UP Diliman’s output.
“Can you imagine? A small student
and faculty population like ours, but in
terms of research output, we’re the same
as the biggest campus in the system? I
think that’s something to be proud of,” Dr.
Chiong heartwarmingly remarked.
However, she noted that only 4% of
the faculty complement of UPCM (about
26 faculty members) have PhDs. Because
MDs are considered masteral, she initially
planned to implement a program wherein
MDs with residency, fellowship, and
publications are given PhD equivalents.
This idea has been suggested to the UP
Manila Chancellor since 2013.
“You can double the number of PhDs
by just giving [those who have published
numerous research works] to obtain their
PhD by some means, “ says Dr. Chiong. “A
PhD-by-publication means writing a thesis
that will basically summarize the body
of work that they’ve already done. Aside
from the existing MD-PhD program, we’re
looking at faculty also to have more PhDs.”
The dean is also aiming to further
sharpen research-making among the
students. Aside from just going through
the motions of doing research, the aim
is to equip and enable students to do
publishable research -- not to ask students
to submit papers in thesis form, but actually
to submit them in publishable format.
She is thinking of implementing a
mentoring scheme similar to the existing
one but geared towards research. Students
going through their clinical years under the
same clinical department can be converged
into a group mentored by that department,
and the goal would be to publish a case
report or any paper before they graduate
from LU7.
“That’s my dream for the medical
students -- to be knowledgeable
about research,” she says. “I think
it’s very vital, coming from the
premier medical school of the
country, that we have this ability
to really publish and discover and
establish your research careers
early on; because I believe that
research can help you be a better
clinician. It’s very difficult to be a good
clinician without being able to generate
knowledge based on research.”
The possibility of having dual Masters’
degrees, such as MD plus Master’s Degree
in Clinical Epidemiology, MD plus
Master’s Degree in Public Health, MD plus
Master’s Degree in Pharmacology and
Biochemistry, is currently being explored.
3. Progress and Healthcare
Dr. Chiong acknowledges that while
UPCM has a partnership with the
Department of Science and Technology
(DOST) for some research projects, and
with the Philippine Council for Health
Research and Development (PCHRD) for
the MD-PhD program, there is still a need
for more partnerships.
The UP College of Medicine is ranked
70th among medical schools in Asia. The
low score in internationalization may be
due to the difficulty in getting international
students given that the College is heavily
subsidized by the Filipino taxes. This issue
can be broadly attacked by having more
international faculty appointed.
Along with the UP Medical Alumni
Society of America (UPMASA), the dean
plans that should UPCM alumni abroad
spend time in the Philippines to help
develop modules with the consultants,
review the courses, or be involved in
research or community work, they could
be appointed as adjunct faculty or visiting
professors.
Her current plan is to have clinical
departments and basic departments get
10% of their faculty component from the
visiting/touring faculty. In addition, Dr.
Angela Aguilar from the Department of
Obstetrics and Gynecology is heading
the new Office for External Linkages and
International Linkages. This office would
review exchange programs and seek out
top universities to partner with the College.
This will give students more opportunities
to spend time on sandwich programs on
Master’s Degree courses, PhD, or even
electives.
4. Innovation and Leadership
While Dr. Chiong acknowledges that
UPCM has always been known to be the
top medical school, leading in innovative
programs and having a curricular
development way ahead of the others, she
is looking to add more new programs.
“We’re going to work on having a
bioengineering program to allow medical
students who are interested in inventing
devices,” she says. “For example, [they
can] work with the engineers from the UP
College of Engineering, to come up with
medical devices or just exploring new
materials that can be used in the clinics in
order to help us care for our patients.”
5. Resource Generation and
Stewardship
The dean and her team plan to institute
some novel ways of being able to have
more and better facilities for students.
Space audits were conducted before the
school year started to ensure the existing
rooms used for lectures were in good
condition. Chairs were refurbished,
lighting and audiovisuals were improved,
air conditioners were primed, tiles were
fixed. They are currently studying the
possibility of providing students with
water for drinking.
During her run for deanship, Dr. Chiong
did a limited survey of about 95 students.
She found out that the administration had
the lowest score -- a failing grade of less than
3 in a scale of 1 to 6 -- under infrastructure
and student services, although they did
I want the UPCM medical
student to graduate as a
physician-scientist, with a
nationalist fervor
fairly under academic reputation.
“Every time you want to institute
change—especially for infrastructure—
there’s always some kind of inconvenience.
For sure things will get better once we get
the new building,” she said.
Dr. Chiong added that she was in a
simulation workshop of SimMan, a high
fidelity patient simulator. Before students
are allowed to deal with patients directly,
the faculty should first see whether
students have enough skills to deal with a
myriad of problems in airway, breathing,
and so forth, through the use of a patient
simulator. Once the new building is built,
they plan to have at least one floor or even
two floors for simulation.
6. Empower and Embrace
The Associate Dean for Faculty and
Students, Dr. Chette Gonzales, and Dr.
Continued on page 11

The CochleHear Series: InSPIRE ...
Continued from page 10
Benjamin Sablan, Jr. of the newly created
Office for Resiliency, Diversity, Gender
Sensitivity, and Community are planning
on how to improve resiliency among
medical students.
The mentoring system will be more
structured such that there would be a
standardized way for students to be
mentored. For the first time, they will be
tapping not just faculty but also alumni to
take in mentees.
On the proposal of the UP Medical
Student Council of having dogs for the
students to pet before exams and allow the
release of tension, Dr. Chiong says, “I’ve
never been able to do that when I was a
medical student like you, but I suppose
things have changed dramatically and
we need to be able to respond to your
generational quirks and uniqueness.”
On the Medical Cash Grant and the
Cost of Medical Education
Regarding the cost of medical education,
the dean says that they are working on
computing the reneging fee for the Return
Service Agreement, taking into account
the cost of personal services, capital outlay,
and the depreciation of the physical plant
and equipment.
The Dean’s management team’s
discussion with CHED clarified that
because UPCM already has its own return
service program, there will be no additional
return service for those availing of cash
grants from CHED. This is in contrast
with other state universities and colleges
(SUCs), which will require one year of
return service per one academic year’s cash
grant, in addition to serving as Doctors to
the Barrios (DTTB).
However, cash grant funding will most
likely only be for this school year. “There’s
a 90% chance that it might not be continued
next year,” says Dr. Chiong.
Spearheading the Path Towards More
Research-Oriented Medical Education
Dr. Chiong mentioned that whenever
students are asked what a Five-Star
Physician means to them, they would say
“to give compassionate care” or “to become
a compassionate health provider, decision
maker, communicator, community leader
and manager”. Nevertheless, she will be
putting focus on one particular star: the
research thrust.
“I want the UPCM medical student
to graduate as a physician-scientist, with
a nationalist fervor,” she says. “Research
can be translated into better clinical care,
or better health policy, or changes in how
we deliver care to individual patients.
That’s my dream for the UPCM student—
to strengthen its system by which we are
able to graduate as physician-scientists.
The physician-scientist is not only for the
MD-PhDs, but for every UPCM graduate.”
From the exit interview of the first
batch of MD-PhD graduates, three out
of the four graduates had indicated their
preference to undertake residency training
instead of research. While this may sound
rather contrary to the goal of the MD-PhD
program, the dean does not believe so. For
her, the MD-PhDs should be immersed in
the clinics as well, so they will be able to
formulate the research questions that can
answer the needs of the patients in the
clinics -- similar to what she has done for
the Newborn Hearing Screening program
in the country.
“It’s going to be not only bench-tobedside,
but bedside-to-bench, and also
from bench-to-community,” she says.
Dr. Chiong then ended by sharing
another story:
“We went to Boracay [in 2004], not
because we want to go to the beach --
although that’s part of it (laughs). We
went there to do mission work for the
Ati population. The conditions for the
indigenous peoples were really poor. We
found out that 50% of them had luga - ear
discharge, so we said, “Bakit ganon?” The
national average for otitis media is 12%.
How come we’re given 50% here?
“One of our graduates at our ENT
Training Program, Dr. Regie Lyn Santos-
Cortez, has a PhD in Genetic Epidemiology.
Her first paper was on a child who had
recurring ear infections in the pediatrics
ward. They couldn’t find out what’s wrong
with the child. I told her, “Baka may cochlear
malformation. Let’s do a CT scan.” Lo and
behold, when we thought it was a normal
CT scan, the patient actually had a cochlear
malformation. That paper won a first prize.
“[Dr. Santos-Cortez] did a pedigree
for the Ati population in Boracay. She
found [the trait] to be circular instead of
going down -- that means there are a lot of
intermarriages. When we got samples from
the saliva and from the discharge, what we
found out was that they had a gene, a rare
mutation in A2ML1 (a protein important
for defense against microbes), which made
them predisposed to developing otitis
media.That paper got published in Nature
Genetics in 2015.”
Dr. Chiong strongly believes that
survey or research always go hand in
hand with service. For example, buying
expensive audiometers at 250,000 or
300,000 pesos are unnecessary when even
schoolteachers can be taught how to use a
more affordable, 250-peso tuning fork to do
hearing screening and detect hearing loss
among children.
“You can translate what you learned
in the clinics, so that you are also able to
do it in the communities and vice-versa,”
she says. “Community can also impact the
way you take care of your patients, and
taking care of patients can also impact the
community.”
“My dream for medical students
to graduate in UPCM is actually quite
big,” she continues. “If there’s anything
I learned from being in med school, it’s
that if you do really well, if you imbibe the
values that we want you to really learn—
honesty, integrity, hard work, discipline
—these values will allow you to grab an
opportunity when it presents itself. And
once you get that opportunity, that it
will lead to more doors opening for you.
We want you to realize your dreams and
pursue your passion. We want you to be
able to incorporate happiness into your
lives. Because when we are not happy
doing anything, it’s not worth it. You take
care of patients and you enjoy that as
well. Because if you do that—and that’s
what happened to me—everything will be
exciting.”
aching
by Iya de Claro
Class 2023
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Doctors for the
People
by Jose Y. Dalisay Jr., PhD
Delivered during the UP College of Medicine Commencement Exercises
at the UP Theater, July 22, 2018, 12:00 pm
CHANCELLOR CARMENCITA
PADILLA, Dean Charlotte Chiong,
Members of the Graduating Class of
2018 and their proud parents, fellow
members of the faculty and staff,
friends, ladies and gentlemen:
Thank you all for this great honor of
being invited as your commencement
speaker. I’m still not sure exactly why a
Professor of English is speaking to a corps of
medical graduates and professionals, and I
know that many of you will be wondering
as well what I have to say. But I will do
my best to make it worth your time—and
mine—for at least one good reason.
This will probably be the last time I
will be wearing this sablay as a UP official,
as I will be retiring six months hence after
35 years of service to the University. So
this, too, is my commencement as much
as yours—the start of another phase of
life. This, too, is my valedictory, my final
opportunity to share with you some
insights gleaned from my life in UP as
student, teacher, and administrator.
And, may I add, as a writer of fiction,
which beneath all these robes and titles is
what I really am—a storyteller.
Thirty-six years ago, as a young and
aspiring writer, I wrote a story about a
doctor. The story was set in the Philippine
Revolutionary War, and it dealt with an
old, cynical doctor named Ferrariz who
had made a mess of his life and, seeing few
other options, had signed up to become a
doctor with the Spanish army, fighting the
Filipino insurgents up in the mountains.
His unit is taking heavy losses, but one day
they capture a rebel—a fifteen-year-old boy
named Makaraig, who is badly wounded.
Ferrariz’s superior, a major, orders Ferrariz
to save the boy’s life.
Let me quote briefly from the story:
… For three days he worked like a
driven man, cleaning out and dressing the
boy’s wounds, setting the arm, packing cold
compresses upon the swellings. He felt godlike
in that mission. He unpacked his books from
their mildewed boxes, brushed off the fungi and
sometimes, i still miss you.
when i look at the stars shining
brightly in the darkest of night
skies, i remember those nights
we wasted talking to each
other about anything we found
relevant.
when i find the time to stare
at the vast, aquamarine sea,
i remember the wave of
emotions you took me on. i was
capsized by my love for you.
when i first notice the gleam
of the sun in the morning, i
remember the warmth i found
in your eyes. you never failed to
illuminate my day with just one
look, one smile.
you were my picket fence.
you were my everything. i am
grateful for so much.
reviewed and relived the passion of the way of
healing. He watched miracles work themselves
upon the boy and stood back amazed at his
own handiwork. When he was through, when
he faced nothing more than that penance of
waiting for the boy to revive, Ferrariz realized
that his eyes were wet. Not since he stepped into
the University, knowing nothing, had he felt as
much of an honest man.
In other words, this doctor, who
had lost faith in his talents and in his
hands, suddenly finds himself revived
and redeemed by his mission of curing a
battered boy. By saving Makaraig, he saves
himself.
But the story doesn’t end there. The
major has his own reasons for bringing a
rebel back to life—to torture and interrogate
him, and eventually to kill him, and that’s
where the story closes, in a long scream
that pierces the doctor’s newly awakened
soul.
That story, titled “Heartland,” went
on to win in the 1982 Palanca Awards for
Literature—my very first First Prize. But
why did I write a story about a doctor who
saves a patient, only to have him murdered
by others? Why did I write a story about
self-redemption?
The story behind the story was that while
I was only 28—and I’ll have something to
say about being in one’s 20s later—I felt like
Ferrariz, an old man who had gone adrift
and who was just going from job to job with
mechanical indifference. It was martial law,
and despite the fact that I became a political
prisoner at 18 and spent seven months in a
camp in what we now call Bonifacio Global
City, I had been working as a government
propagandist for the past eight years,
churning out press releases, speeches for
President Marcos, and glowing articles
about his New Society.
I needed to remind myself that I could
write good fiction (what I was writing for
work was bad fiction), that somewhere in
me was truth waiting to be said.
But beyond my personal story, I have
Continued on page 12
for the countless nights you
spent calming me down.
frightened as i was of the world,
i found safety in your virtual
embrace.
for the journeys you took me
on. we sailed far and wide, went
on adventures so great. i still
remember them to the very last
detail.
for being brave enough to talk
to me that one fine morning.
unexpected as it was, we
became the greatest of friends.
i never thought i would find
someone like you. you were an
oasis in the driest of deserts and
sometimes, i still miss you.

Doctors for the People ...
Continued from page 11
always been fascinated by doctors—
as subjects of stories, and as writers
themselves.
Almost thirty years ago, as a graduate
student in Wisconsin, and again for
some strange reason, I was invited by
the Philippine Medical Association of
Michigan to speak at their annual dinner
in Detroit. I later wrote an essay about that
memorable experience, because the doctor
who met me—a very accomplished man—
did so in a gleaming black-and-white Rolls-
Royce, and I had to check my shoes before
stepping in.
I don’t know how many doctors
actually listened to me above the chatter
and the clink of glasses, but I gave a talk
about “Writing as Healing: Doctors,
Writers, and Doctor-Writers,” in which I
noted how many well-known writers were
actually doctors by training: the French
Renaissance satirist François Rabelais, the
Russian playwright and short story master
Anton Chekhov, the American essayist and
poet Oliver Wendell Holmes (father of his
namesake, the equally famous Supreme
Court Justice), the American poet William
Carlos Williams, and the British writer W.
Somerset Maugham. In our own literary
history, of course, we have Jose Rizal,
and the short story writer Arturo Rotor.
In modern times, we have William Nolen,
Michael Crichton of Jurassic Park fame,
Oliver Sacks, and my favorite of them
all, the brilliant essayist, fictionist, and
surgeon, Dr. Richard Selzer.
In his book of essays entitled Mortal
Lessons: Notes on the Art of Surgery,
Selzer addresses his central interest,
the relationship between passion and
pathology:
“Someone asked me why a surgeon
would write.... Is it vanity that urges him?
There is glory enough in the knife. Is it for
money? One can make too much money.
No. It is to search for some meaning in the
art of surgery, which is at once murderous,
painful, healing, and full of love....”
This quote demonstrates the strength
of Selzer’s writing, which is inspired,
graceful, and precise. (“Surgery,” Selzer
writes, “is the red flower that blooms
among the leaves and thorns that are the
rest of medicine.”) At the same time, Selzer
also shows what to some of his fellow MD’s
might seem a weakness—that is, his refusal
to separate philosophy or spirituality if you
will from physical medicine. If you think it
silly to speak of a colostomy in the same
breath that you would speak of love, then
Selzer may not be for you.
Beyond Nolen and perhaps even
Crichton, Selzer has gone on to write serious
fiction about the world of healing—not
only about doctors, but about their patients
and the lives they lead beyond the hospital.
In one of his stories, a woman’s husband
dies and his organs are given away to seven
different recipients in Texas; she is happy
for them, but, of course, is unhappy for
herself who now has absolutely nothing
left of him. So she tracks down the man
who has received her husband’s heart, and
much to his surprise, requests him to let her
listen to her husband’s heartbeat through
his bare chest for one hour. The man and
his suspicious wife refuse. She persists, and
finally he relents.
It is a bizarre and also funny story—a
superb illustration of the humanism we
all aspire to, in that it reminds us that the
simple needs of human life are still more
complex than all the transplantation
technologies we can dream of. In dealing
with this widow’s grief, Selzer achieves
physicianship on more than one level. This
perfect synthesis of writer and healer, of
sensitivity and technique, was on Selzer’s
mind when he answered his own question:
“No, it is not the surgeon who is God’s
darling. He is the victim of vanity. It is the
poet who heals with his words, stanches
the flow of blood, stills the rattling breath,
applies poultice to the scalded flesh.... Did
you ask me why a surgeon writes? I think it
is because I wish to be a doctor.”
Not all doctors can write—although
many write prescriptions that can hardly
be read. But one doctor who did write, of
course, was Jose Rizal, one of my personal
heroes whose travels and haunts I have
tried to follow around the world from
Dapitan, Singapore, and Hong Kong to
San Francisco, Madrid, and Barcelona
and, two years ago, to his medical studies
in Heidelberg. When my creative writing
graduate students in their mid-20s
sometimes tell me that they have nothing to
write about, or are too young and too new
to strive for greatness, I remind them of
Rizal, who many forget was only 25 when
Noli Me Tangere was published. Twentyfive,
and already by then approaching the
perfect synthesis of the arts and the sciences
in the one same person.
Rizal’s example underscores the need
to embrace and imbibe art and science as
corporal elements of ideal citizenship.
To create a viable national community,
we need to promote rational, fact-based
thinking and discourse over political
hysteria and hyperbole, just as we need to
actively recover, strengthen, and sustain
the cultural bonds that define us as a
people.
Speaking of political hysteria, one of
my hobbies is collecting antiquarian books,
and one of my recent acquisitions was a
bound volume from 1822 of a Boston-based
magazine called The Atheneum, which
collected articles from other magazines
from around the world. I was attracted to
this book because it carried a report titled
“A Massacre in Manilla,” about of a brutal
massacre of foreigners—English French,
Danish, Spanish, and Chinese, among
others—that took place in Manila in 1820.
Scores if not hundreds of people were
killed by a rampaging mob, following a
false report that they were responsible
for fomenting a cholera epidemic that
had decimated the natives by giving
out poisoned medicine. Does this sound
familiar—alleged mass murder by vaccine?
So history keeps repeating itself,
partly because, despite all the wars and
dictatorships we have suffered through,
we never seem to learn, although some of
us try to teach.
For the past 110 years, that has been
The way to help unite a nation is to imbue all
sectors of society with an understanding of
and a commitment to larger things at stake.
part of the mission of the University of
the Philippines, our national university,
the bearer and champion of our people’s
hopes. Or at least, that’s the noble intention.
Through our general education program,
we try to produce graduates who can be as
conversant about Greek tragedy as about
the Law of the Sea and thermodynamics.
The premise is that a well-rounded, welleducated
student will elevate not only
himself or herself but also his or her
community and society, bringing people
together in common cause.
Again, that’s the ideal case. We know
that, in practice, while UP has produced
scores of such exemplars as Wenceslao
Vinzons, Fe del Mundo, Jovito Salonga,
Manuel and Lydia Arguilla, and Juan
Flavier, and while we graduated 29 summa
cum laudes from Diliman this year, we also
know that many UP students and alumni
have flunked, and flunked badly, especially
in the moral department. In other words—
and it saddens me as a UP professor to say
this—intelligence never guaranteed moral
discernment or rectitude, and as proud
as we may be of our nationalist traditions
and contributions to national leadership,
much remains to be done to ensure that
we imbue our students not only with skills
but with principles. In other words, just as
INSPIRING BEYOND WORDS: Dr. Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr. is a writer with sixteen (16) Palanca
awards, author of Soledad’s Sister, and also one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of
1993 for his creative writing. He currently serves as the Vice President for Public Affairs
of the UP System. Photo courtesy of Markyn Kho (Class 2020)
we ask physicians to heal themselves, we
educators first have to teach ourselves.
This is why I began this talk with my
story about Dr. Ferrariz and his seemingly
futile gesture. What that story really wants
to ask is: What is life without freedom?
What is knowledge without values?
What does a cum laude mean or matter
if it will not be used to relieve human
suffering but only to enrich oneself and
one’s family? Of what use is a glittering
GWA of 1.25 if your moral GWA is a murky
3.0? How can you study to save lives and
yet remain silent in the face of its wanton
loss—not even by disease or accident, but
by willful human policy?
There is, indeed, no more life-affirming
mission or profession than yours, and in a
season of slaughter, to affirm life can be a
radical and even dangerous proposition.
It needs to be pointed out that, contrary
to popular misimpression, UP has never
been monolithically radical. For every
activist who walked out of class to join
a protest rally, at least five remained
behind, intent on simply finishing his or
her studies, no matter what. Those of us
in the active opposition were always in
the minority—a loud minority, which took
more than a decade to generate the critical
mass to topple Marcos and martial law.
Indeed, like our country itself, the
history of the University of the Philippines
has been full of ironies and paradoxes. For
example, while some would later see it as a
bastion of Marxism or at least nationalism,
and certainly of secularism, few remember
that UP’s first president was an American
and a Protestant pastor named Murray
Bartlett—who incidentally championed UP
as “A University for Filipinos.”
In reality, therefore, UP like other state
universities is still a microcosm of society
at large, reflective of its divisions and its
differences.
And then again, any self-respecting
university cannot be content with the
realities on the ground, but has constantly to
reach for the unreachable star. It cannot be
just a microcosm, but something better than
the rest of society—better not necessarily in
terms of intellectual superiority bordering
on arrogance, but better in terms of the
quality of its discourse.
That quality of discourse, informed
by scientific reason and artistic empathy,
can be education’s best contribution
to national community. UP—and our
other universities—can and must be the
providers and drivers of the truth, and of
the careful and insightful analysis that can
ventilate issues of national significance—
like Constitutional change, our territorial
integrity, the delivery of justice, human
rights, and the eradication of mass poverty,
hunger, and disease.
The way to help unite a nation is
to imbue all sectors of society with an
understanding of and a commitment
to larger things at stake. And UP is that
functional meeting place between the
Filipino rich and poor, with our admissions
profile now almost evenly divided between
upper and lower income students. Beyond
dealing with the larger national issues
as teachers, researchers, and experts, we
in education must ourselves be avatars
of reason, compassion, and tolerance,
while remaining steadfast in our defense
of academic freedom as the requisite of
knowledge generation. In our classrooms
and conference halls, we must create and
provide the forums that will ventilate these
issues in ways that social media cannot.
And we have to learn how to listen again,
to see why people of different opinions
believe what they do.
As President Concepcion said in his
investiture speech last year, we in UP
should focus “on finding, in this University,
our common ground, a clearing—a safe,
free, and congenial space within which its
constituents can teach, study, and work
productively to their full potential.
“UP must be that special place within
which it should still be possible—despite
all divisions and distractions—to work
together with the University’s and the
nation’s strategic interests in mind.
“There should be no better home in this
country for the expression of ideas, without
fear of violent retribution from one’s
colleagues or from the State itself. There
should be no more welcoming environment
than UP for cutting-edge research, timely
policy studies, exciting new exhibits and
productions, and provocative art and
literature—in other words, the work we
have always been meant to do, and do
best.”
Let me end with a quote from a favorite
source—me—and share something that I
have said to every UP graduating class I
have been honored to address:
To be a UP student, faculty member,
and alumnus is to be burdened but also
ennobled by a unique mission—not just
the mission of serving the people, which
is in itself not unique, and which is also
reflected, for example, in the Atenean
concept of being a “man for others.”
Rather, to my mind, our mission is to lead
and to be led by reason—by independent,
scientific, and secular reason, rather than
by politicians, priests, shamans, bankers,
or generals.
You are UP because you can think and
speak for yourselves, by your own wits and
on your own two feet, and you can do so
no matter what the rest of the people in the
room may be thinking. You are UP because
no one can tell you to shut up, if you have
something sensible and vital to say. You
are UP because you dread not the poverty
of material comforts but the poverty of the
mind. And you are UP because you care
about something as abstract and sometimes
as treacherous as the idea of “nation”, even
if it kills you.
Sometimes, long after UP, we forget
these things and become just like everybody
else; I certainly have. Even so, I suspect that
that forgetfulness is laced with guilt—the
guilt of knowing that you were, and could
yet become, somebody better. And you
cannot even argue that you did not know,
because today, I just told you so.
May you be the best doctors of and
for the people that you can be, and thank
you all. Mabuhay ang UP at mabuhay tayong
lahat!