May 7, 2019 — This year’s Scholar’s Convocation held on May 2 recognized 2,092 students from the different colleges of UP Manila with the honorific titles of University Scholars and College Scholars.
In her welcome message, UP Manila Chancellor Carmencita Padilla acknowledged the students’ good work and encouraged them to be balanced. “Balance in the sense that it cannot be all books. I need you to balance what is in the head and also what is in the heart. You have to know what’s happening outside,” she said. “We all know that being a UP student is a challenge and being a UP graduate is even a bigger challenge. The faculty here would testify that once you are a UP graduate, so much is expected of you,” she added.
Ms. Angeline Kaye A. De Vera of the BA Development studies garnered the highest general weighted average for the school year.
Reflecting on his journey as a UP student, keynote speaker Dr. Mark Anthony Sandoval said that he is willing to repeat medical school all over again; that is how much he had fun in UP Manila. “I was told by a classmate that had I not been so active in extracurricular activities, I would’ve been the valedictorian. I told him I have no regrets, I had the time of my life and I don’t regret being just salutatorian,” Dr. Sandoval said.
Dr. Sandoval graduated magna cum laude with a BS Biology degree from the UP Manila College of Arts and Sciences. He finished Doctor of Medicine cum laude and was class salutatorian at the UP College of Medicine in 2003. He ranked third in the physician licensure examination. He was chief resident in Internal Medicine and chief fellow in Endocrinology at the Philippine General Hospital. He earned numerous awards for his excellence and research prowess as a medical student and intern. Two very special awards are being one of the Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines in 2003 and one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men and Women of the Philippines in 2018.
Dr. Sandoval appealed to the students to help each other excel because they will all be serving our countrymen. “You will become pharmacists, nurses, physical therapists, teachers, physicians, etc. at hindi dapat isa lang ang magaling. Dapat lahat kayo ay magaling.” According to Dr. Sandoval, of the 165 graduates of his batch, only 72 stayed in the country. “I think I found my niche here because I put value in the intangible that no amount of material wealth will ever replace.” He explained that there was also no point of him working abroad if he cannot be a doctor to his own family. “‘Yung isang milyong piso, hindi kayang tumbasan ang appreciation ng ibang tao dahil nandito ako.”
Utak at Puso were his final words for the scholars. “Alam ko mayaman kayo sa utak. But I hope mayaman din kayo sa puso. The little effort of calling patients by their names instead of ‘Nanay’ or ‘Tatay’ or bed or room number make an impact to your patients.” Dr. Sandoval recalled an encounter with a patient who once told him, “Doc, ikaw lang po ang tumatawag sa akin ng Mrs. Ramirez. Ako lang po ay isang nagtitinda ng isda sa palengke at para po sa akin kapag tinatawag na misis, naka-reserba po ‘yun para sa mga nag-aaral at nag-o-opisina. Parang umaangat po ang antas ko sa buhay.”
At present, Dr. Sandoval is an associate professor at the UPCM Department of Physiology and Department of Medicine, and is also the Director of the Research Grants Administration Office. He has a community-based Diabetes-Care program in San Juan Batangas that provides health education to the rural folks.
Anne Marie Alto | Published in UP Manila Healthscape May – June 2019
