Venil Lovely Estella
Bolambao of SWU College of Medicine in Cebu City
Southwestern University graduate hails from Talisay City
2nd time in a row for a Cebuano to land first place in Physicians’ Exam
Agraduate of a Cebu university once again topped the Physician Licensure Examination administered by the Professional Regulations Commission Board of Medicine.
Venil Lovely Estella Bolambao of the Southwestern University Matias H. Aznar Memorial College of Medicine got a rating of 88.33 percent to rank first among the 594 successful examinees.
A total of 832 took the examination which was held in Manila and Cebu from Feb. 8 to 9 and 15 and 16. The results were announced yesterday afternoon.
Two other Cebuanos made the topnotchers’ list.
Mark Malalay Ando and Rodrigo Go Monleon Jr., both graduates from the Cebu Doctors University (CDU) College of Medicine, placed 3rd and 8th respectively.
Ando got a rating of 86.83 percent while Monleon got 85.75 percent.
It’s the second time in a row that a Cebuano topped the Physicians’ Licensure Examination.
In August last year, Raymund Martin Li, who graduated magna cum laude from the Cebu Institute of Medicine (CIM), shared first place honors in the licensure examination. His classmate, Debbie Rose Tanengsy, a cum laude graduate, ranked fifth.
Lowered expectations
Bolambao, who hails from Talisay City, last night said she was aiming to be one of the topnotchers, but because the exam was very difficult, she lowered her expectations and just prayed that she would pass.
When the results were released, she was overcome with relief: “Naka-syagit ko ug nakahilak (I shouted and cried out of joy),” she said.
Bolambao, 27, was with fellow examinees in a beach resort in Mactan when the results were announced.
Bolambao took up Nursing as her pre-Medicine course and graduated cum laude from the Cebu Normal University in 2007.
All 18 first-time examinees from SWU passed the examination.
Dr. Potenciano Larrazabal Jr., president and chairman of Cebu Doctors’ University Hospital, said he was very happy upon learning that two of their graduates were in the topnotchers’ list.
“We’re very happy. We also got a 100 percent passing rate. All our students who took the exam, passed. So kami, nagpasalamat mi Ginoo, maninguha pa gyud kami… we will keep on improving, especially the College of Medicine,” he said. (We are thankful to God; we also worked hard for this.)
No spoon-feeding
The CDU College of Medicine opened in 1975 and has produced a long list of topnotchers.
Larrazabal attributed their success to the teaching method adopted by the college eight years ago.
“What we have now is problem-based learning. Our students are divided into sections of ten students. We had to hire a lot of faculty members so it’s a very extensive and expensive way of teaching medicine. We let the students think, research, read…no spoon-feeding. So far, the result has been very good”, Larrazabal said.
CDU’s topnotchers will be officially recognized by the college and will get a full refund of tuition paid throughout their stay.
They will also be given priority in CDU’s residency program and teaching slots in the College of Medicine, Larrazabal added.