SCI-TECH Congress commends UST Medicine on its 150th anniversary

THE PHILIPPINE Congress has commended the UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery (FMS) on its 150th anniversary for its “considerable contribution” to developing the healthcare field in the country.

The Senate presented Resolution

No. 336 to UST Secretary General Fr. Louie Coronel, O.P., Medicine Dean Assoc. Prof. Ma. Lourdes Maglinao, Assistant Dean Prof. Remedios Chan, and Regent Fr. Angel Aparicio on Dec. 5 at the Senate Complex in Pasay City. The resolution acknowledged the faculty for being one of the top medical schools in the Philippines based on its consistent performance in board examinations and production of more than 400 new doctors yearly.

UST produced the most number of doctors in the October 2022 physician licensure examination, as 416 Thomasians, including three topnotchers, passed the examination.

“[UST has] produced a number of fine doctors, very, very good doctors, and also nurses, who have gone all over the world to help suffering humanity,” Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said.

UST alumnus and former Growling Tiger Sen. Joel Villanueva, who co-sponsored the resolution with Zubiri, lauded the FMS as a “hero-maker, change-maker, and epoch-maker.”

“Prior to the establishment of UST’s Faculty of Medicine, Filipinos had to go to Mexico to study medicine. Sa layo po ng Mexico at layo ng biyahe sa dagat noon, literally, suntok sa buwan para sa mga Pilipino ang pag-aaral ng medicine. Subalit sa pagbubukas ng medisina sa UST, naging abot kamay ito para sa mga Pilipino,” Villanueva said.

“As a Thomasian, I am confident that FMS will continue its tradition of excellence in medical education, health science research, and community services guided by Christian ethics and values,” Villanueva added.

The House of Representatives adopted House Bill Resolution No. 270, similar to its Senate counterpart, for the sesquicentennial of the UST FMS.

To mark its 150th anniversary, FMS launched “Honora Medicum” (Honor the Physician), a 380-page coffee table book containing the history of the FMS, experiences of FMS alumni, medical missions, and breakthroughs in research, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The book title took its name from the Latin inscription at the facade

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of the St. Martin de Porres Building, where FMS is housed: “Honora medicum. Opera eius sunt necessaria. Deus autem est qui vitae et mortis. Habet potestatem.”

(Honor the physician. His works are necessary. But God is the one of life and death. He has power.)

Medicine Regent Fr. Angel Aparicio, O.P., who served as the book’s chief editor, said the book is a “witness” to the legacy of over 40,000 doctor-teachers.

“This is our history. It’s very important. We are part of it, an army of about 40,000 doctors, which gives us a feeling of collective accomplishment, a reason to believe that we have not been wasting our lives,” Aparicio said during the book launch on Nov. 29.

“This book is a tribute to our alma mater, [and] indirectly, a personal testimony of the nobility of the medical profession that I have come to learn better and appreciate more.”

Aparicio added that publishing a book was the most natural and appropriate thing to do for the sesquicentennial celebration because books are “sustenance to the soul.”

Formally opened on May 28, 1871, the UST FMS is the first medical school in the Philippines.

It is recognized by the Commission on Higher Education as one of the 13 Centers of Excellence in UST. Congress has passed Senate Resolution No. 336 and House Bill Resolution 270 to recognize UST’s “considerable contribution to the development of medical and health care educational institutions in the Philippines” for the past 150 years.

The UST FMS, founded on May 28, 1871, is recognized as the oldest and leading medical school in the Philippines. Its sesquicentennial celebration, which opened on May 28, 2021, closed on Dec. 17.

The Commission on Higher Education recognizes the University’s medicine program as a Center of Excellence.