Vincent Edouard Anthony Retardo Gullas was at the University of Sto. Tomas (UST) in Manila for last Friday’s medical board examiner’s gathering when he learned about the good news.
The 27-year-old grandson of Talisay City Mayor Eddie Gullas and younger brother of Rep. Gerald “Samsam” Gullas said he learned from his college dean that he topped the 2017 Physician Licensure Examination with a rating of 90.5 percent.
“Dili gyod nimo ma-expect ang ingon ana. Ako lang gyod gibuhat akong best, and pray lang gyod to God sa result. Shocked kaayo ko pagkahibaw (You will never expect what will happen. I just did my best and prayed to God. I am shocked upon knowing the result),” he said.
Another Cebu-based medical graduate, Mark Andrian Orillazo Yano of Cebu Institute of Medicine, ranked seventh with a 89.50 percent rating.
Both Yano and Gullas were classmates in pre-medicine school at Velez College.
The younger Gullas said his family called him first and congratulated him.
He credited his mother with encouraging him to enroll in medical school.
“In high school, I was still undecided, but she pushed me to study medicine,” Gullas said.
Gullas graduated with honors in high school at the Ateneo de Manila University and finished salutatorian in elementary level at Child Development Center Cebu in Mabolo, Cebu City.
He also graduated magna cum laude in Medical Technology in Velez College in 2011 and topped the medical technology board exam the following year with a rating of 92.50 percent.
“My inspiration is of course God, my family, friends; I wanted them to be proud of me,” Gullas told Cebu Daily News.
He said he prefers to specialize in internal medicine and wants to serve in community outreach activities.
When asked for advice on how to do well in the medicine board exam, Gullas said one has to strive and prepare as early as first year in college to stock up on knowledge.
In his Facebook page, Representative Gullas congratulated his younger brother saying he made the family proud.
“Today, he brings us the same happiness we felt 5 years ago as the Physician Board Exam results are out. NUMBER 1 YET AGAIN.
CONGRATULATIONS DAN,” Representative Gullas said in his Facebook post.
For his part, Yano said “it felt surreal,” learning that he ranked seventh in the top 10 of board examinees.
“I really didn’t expect to be in the top 10 since the board exam was very difficult,” said Yano who hails from Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte.
The Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) announced last Friday that 3,340 out of 4,064 examinees passed the Physician Licensure Examination this month.
Cebu Institute of Medicine and St. Luke’s College of Medicine were the top performing schools in this month’s board exam with a 100 percent passing rate for its examinees.