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, 


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 


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, 


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 ... 


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 ... 


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 ... 


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 ... 


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 


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 ... 


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!

UP Medics August-November 2018 Issue

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