College of medicine bills signed into law

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has signed into law measures establishing the college of medicine program in four state universities and colleges (SUCs).

These universities are the Benguet State University (BSU) in the Cordilleras; University of Eastern Philippines in Catarman, Northern Samar;  Visayas State University (VSU) in Baybay, Leyte, and another  SUC in Lucban, Quezon.

President Marcos recently signed Republic Act 11970, 11971, 11972 and 11974, establishing the medicine programs in the SUCs in Benguet, Quezon, Northern Samar and Leyte, respectively.

Benguet lawmaker Eric Go Yap, author of House Bill 312, said he wants to address the gap in medical education in the Cordilleras.

The law was intended to provide residents of Benguet and neighboring provinces an opportunity to pursue medical education and training without the need to go to distant cities. 

Yap said that although the BSU is a state university, it has no medical school.

A report of the Association of Philippine Medical Colleges released in June 2021 showed that only two of 58 medical colleges in the country are located in the Cordilleras.

RA 11972 and 11974 were authored by Rep. Raul Daza of the first district of Northern Samar, and Rep. Carl Nicolas Cari of the fifth district of Leyte, respectively.

The Senate version of the measures  was authored by Sen. Chiz Escudero, who said this would strengthen the local health industry by producing more doctors in different regions.

Northern Samar. Gov. Edwin Ongchuan thanked Marcos for signing RA 11972.

For his part, Cari said the law would give VSU an opportunity to produce excellent doctors and medical professionals in the future.

Officials of the VSU thanked university president Edgardo Tulin for laying the groundwork in making this aspiration a reality.