ARTS AND CULTURE
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This is the original oblation created by Guillermo Tolentino in 1935 made of reinforced concrete and painted to look like bronze. Then UP President Rafael Palma wanted the statue to be based on the second verse of Rizal’s Mi Ultimo Adios.
“In barricades embattled; fighting with delirium, others donate you their lives without doubts, without gloom, The site doesn’t matter, cypress, laurel, or lily; gibbet or open field; combat or cruel martyrdom, are equal if demanded by country and home.” Translation by Nick Joaquin
The oblation stood at the UP Manila campus in front of the Rizal Hall building (now UP Manila College of Arts and Sciences) until 1949 when the oblation was moved to UP Diliman, Quezon City. It is now kept at the Main Library (Gonzales Hall).
ARTS AND CULTURE
AT UP MANILA
UP Manila, as the birth and cradle of the early founding years of the university, has a rich heritage of arts and culture. The institutionalized architecture on the campus are heritage landmarks that contribute to pride of place and forms part of the legacy of UP’s birth and initial formative periods spent in the Ermita campus.
Moreover, it is surrounded by museums, old churches, art galleries, portrait studios, canvass makers and framers, and heritage buildings, some of which are older than UP.
Even as UP Manila is acknowledged as the country’s leading academic institution in the health sciences, its constituents are actively engaged in artistic and cultural endeavors that reflect a deep sense of identity as Filipinos, as health and allied health professionals, and as healers and caregivers.
Such activities enrich the University’s teaching, research and public service programs and enhance their relevance, excellence, and humanity.
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Celebrations Lantern Parade The Lantern Parade is an annual event to celebrate the Christmas season. Home-made floats and lanterns depicting the university as a health campus are paraded by the colleges and units and PGH departments around the university’s premises during the celebration. Creativity, ingenuity, and resourcefulness are exhibited in a friendly contest of lantern making and cheerful celebration that never fails to draw huge crowds of spectators.
Started in 1922, the Lantern Parade was institutionalized by UP President Jorge C. Bacobo in 1934 “so that students can have a frolicsome activity before the year ends.� The Lantern Parade took its inspiration from the folk practice of carrying lanterns to light the way for the early morning masses during December.
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Tao Rin Pala (TRP) This is an annual variety program of the UP Manila College of Medicine’s Medical Students’ Society that started out as a choral competition in 1974. It is held usually in December to usher in the Christmas season. It showcases the humane side of medical students, doctors, and other health workers mainly through song and dance presentations. As the name implies, it is meant to show that more than work hours spent in the clinics or wards, or the grades and exams of the medical students, and more than machines taking patients’ vital signs, their artistry and creativity enhance their humanity and service to patients.
Every TRP edition is a delightful experience with a different theme each year and with performers outdoing themselves in working together not in the classrooms or clinics but in production numbers that showcase their giftedness and potentials. For years, TRP has given medical students and doctors the space to stretch themselves in areas that often go unappreciated in the hospital, highlighting hobbies and talents that enrich their calling as healers and caregivers.
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Health and Wellness Fair Wellness is the overall balance of the physical, social,
topics on health and wellness; help them acquire the
spiritual, emotional, intellectual, environmental, and
skills necessary to making healthy lifestyle changes; and
occupational well-being of a person. Recognizing that
offer basic health screening and physical fitness activities
wellness has a direct influence on a person’s overall
in a fun and collegial environment.
health, UP Manila ventured to make the celebration of health and wellness an annual event.
Activities that marked the first edition included “Health Check” - health, wellness and fitness assessments
The Health and Wellness Fair was launched in October
booths; Health and Wellness Talks; Activity Booths/
2016 to deepen the constituents’ understanding of the
Fitness and food demonstrations; and physical fitness
holistic nature of health. The celebration aims to provide
exercises.
employees education and information on the different
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Quisumbing Escandor Film Festival for Health Film, as an integrative form of visual art, has the ability to
respectively, who died while serving the Filipinos. It aims
effectively convey powerful messages, invoke emotions,
to promote awareness about the different pressing
and motivate people to take action. Films are often used
health issues in the country and establish a network
to showcase the realities in our society and influence the
of active advocates for health and also create a video
masses.
library of films for health advocacy.
Harnessing the power and influence of film, the
The QEFF films have been instrumental in tackling
Quisumbing-Escandor Film Festival for Health (QEFF)
health issues and have been used by various health
was created in 2015 by the Mu Sigma Phi Fraternity of
professionals, educators, and legislators. Issues tackled
the UP College of Medicine (UPCM) as a nationwide
during the past film festivals were the different social
film-making competition and film caravan. It honors
determinants of health, maternal and child health, and
the heroism of Drs. Honorato Quisumbing and Johnny
mental health.
Escandor, graduates of the UPCM in 1945 and 1969,
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Major Performing Groups UP Manila Chorale The UP Manila Chorale (UPMC) is the official performing
music. Despite having no music majors in the group, the
group for choral music of the University of the Philippine
UPMC has been able to mould its members coming from
Manila. It was created in July 1992 composed mainly of
non-musical disciplines into well-rounded and versatile
UP Manila students from various academic backgrounds
singers.
with a shared love for singing. Its aim is to produce excellent performances in order to uplift Filipino music
The UPMC has an established record of successful
and culture.
concerts and projects. Its extensive performing experience includes major concerts, benefit concerts,
The group has been performing a wide repertoire:
six European concert tours and performances for heads
sacred, secular, folk, jazz, pop and our very own Filipino
of state and dignitaries. The group is regularly invited to
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choral competitions, and has garnered several awards
The major events and occasions held at UP Manila
locally and internationally. As of October 2012, the UP
are not complete without a performance from
Manila Chorale ranks number 36 in the Musica Mundi
the UPMC. In 2014, the group was adjudged Most
World Ranking List - Top 50 Children’s and Youth Choirs.
Outstanding Student Organization for its contributions
Meanwhile, the group ranks number 109 in the Musica
to the international choral scene, the Filipino choral
Mundi Interkultur World Ranking List - Top 1000 Choirs.
community, and the University. Its achievements were exemplified through several international tours and
In recent years, the UPMC has performed major works
performances before a wide set of audiences here and
and various compositions by FaurĂŠ, Mozart, Bruckner,
abroad, including heads of states and dignitaries.
Busto, Rutter, and Vivaldi. As an advocate of Filipino choral music, the UPMC has in their repertoire the music
With their music and magic, the award-winning group
of Lucio San Pedro, Ryan Cayabyab, Joel Navarro, Felipe
never fails to inspire and regale the members of the
de Leon, Francisco Feliciano and Fidel Calalang.
academic community and the rest of the world.
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UP Medicine Choir The University of the Philippines Medicine Choir (UP
choral competition MediRhythmia and received the
MedChoir) founded in the 1980s is an offshoot of the
Gawad ng Dekano (Dean’s Citation) twice for meritorious
College of Medicine’s annual Tao Rin Pala competition.
performances in Southern California, Delaware Valley,
The choir has since grown to be one of the most
New York, St. Louis, Baltimore and in China in 2006.
active and award-winning medical choirs in Asia, with
Internationally, the choir earned acclaim for
multiple concerts, tours, and six CD recordings. The
performances in Germany, France, Spain and Ireland
group is the seven-time champion of the Association
during its first European Tour in 2005. In its first
of Philippine Medical Colleges’ inter-medical school
international competition—the 51st International
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Fleischmann Trophy Competition in Cork, Ireland—the
Games in Xiamen, China against over 400 choirs
group won the P.E.A.C.E Trophy (Public Prize) for the
worldwide. After two spectacular performances in the
most enjoyable performance and was given the honor
final round, the choir was awarded silver medals in
of performing last in the competition’s closing Gala
both categories. In 2009, the choir competed in the
Concert.
first Philippine National Choral Competition held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and gained three silver
In July 2006, it garnered two Gold Diplomas in the
awards in the Sacred, Mixed Chamber, and Folk Song
Musica Sacra and Mixed Chamber Choir categories
categories.
during the qualifying round of the 4th World Choir
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UP Manila Indayog
only talented dancers through the course of time, but
UP Manila Indayog Dance Varsity is a university-wide
also well-rounded learners who hold the constant goal
organization composed of students from different
of excellence. Representing the institution in various
academic disciplines who are united in the common
national competitions and performances inside and
interest of dance as an art and in the encouragement of
outside the school, it remains to be a model of steadfast
artistic expression.
discipline, dedication, and passion.
For the past 25 years, it had served as a venue for
Guided by these three core values, its members grow
students who yearn to explore the art of dance as a form
together as one family both as world-class dancers
of self-expression. The organization has produced not
onstage, and as well-rounded learners in life.
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College Performing Groups
CAMP Synergy • College of Allied Medical Professions
PAGE 13 UP Biorhythm • College of Arts and Sciences
UP Nursing Artists’ Corps • College of Nursing
Groove Dexterity • College of Dentistry
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UP Medrhythmics • College of Medicine
PharmJAM • College of Pharmacy
PAGE 15 Public Health Artists’ Circle • College of Public Health
Artistic Works
Carlos “Botong” Francisco Murals at the PGH lobby Four 1953 murals by National Artist Carlos “Botong”
construction of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH)
Francisco that depict the history of Philippine medicine
in 1907. The murals were commissioned by Eduardo
graced the main lobby walls of the Philippine General
Quisumbing, Dean Agerico Sison, Dr. Florentino Herrera,
Hospital for years. The murals depict the history of
Jr., and Dr. Constantino Manahan.
Philippine medicine – from the early babaylan and the discovery of natural remedies to modern medicine
For more than half a century, the murals have had to
during the Spanish and American regimes and the
endure the elements – changes in weather, humidity,
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increasing pollution, and the constant traffic of people
Department of State’s Ambassadors Fund for Cultural
coming and going through what is probably the
Preservation.
country’s busiest hospital. Two reproductions each of the said murals now adorn The murals underwent two restorations in 1974 and 1991
both sides of the Philippine General Hospital main lobby,
by Prof. Tomas Bernardo. A thorough restoration was
which, in themselves, are marvels of modern technology.
effected in 2006-2007 by National Museum painting conservators Roberto Balarbar, Raymundo Esguerra,
The replicas are exactly the same size—2.92m by 2.76m
Willie Estonanto and Ramon Macasusi, under Orlando
—of the original murals that are now in the National
Abinion’s supervision. The effort was funded by the US
Museum.
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Triumph of Science over Death This is a large replica, made of concrete, of Dr. Jose Rizal’s clay sculpture, The Triumph of Science over Death, that stands in front of the Fernando Calderón Hall of the College of Medicine along Pedro Gil St. in Ermita, Manila. Also known as Scientia, the sculpture was made by Rizal as a gift to his friend Ferdinand Blumentritt.
The statue depicts a young, nude woman with flowing hair, standing on a skull while bearing a torch. The woman symbolizes the ignorance of humankind during the Dark Ages of history, while the torch she bears symbolizes the enlightenment science brings to the world. The woman stands atop a skull, a symbol of death, to signify the victory that humankind aims to achieve by conquering the bane of death through scientific advancement.
The original sculpture is now displayed at the Rizal Shrine Museum at Fort Santiago in Intramuros, Manila. PAGE 18
Celebration of Life Sculpture The sculptures were made by National Artist of the Philippines Napoleon Abueva as part of the centennial celebration of the UP College of Medicine in 2005 with the theme 100 Years of Heritage of Healing, Humanity, and Heroism. It was unveiled in December 2005 to highlight the milestone occasion and to pay tribute to the legacies, achievements and contributions of the UPCM alumni to the university and the country during the past 100 years in the different fields of medicine.
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PAGE 20 photo credits to respective owners.