7 Cebu grads top therapy exams

CEBU, Philippines — Seven Cebu graduates made it to the Top 10 of the August 2018 Physical Therapy (PT) and Occupational Therapy (OT) licensure examinations.

Six of them were products of Velez College, while one was a graduate of the Cebu Doctors’ University (CDU).

Jacette Gucor of Velez College aced the OT licensure exam with a rating of 83.6 percent.

Loumaryden Ballesta of Velez College and CDU’s Daugn Karisse Manhilot took the sixth spot with 82.4 percent rating.

Manhilot, 22, said she was surprised by the result.

She said she had to study doubly hard to prepare herself for the exam.

But Pelesco said she couldn’t reap the fruits of success without her family members’ robust support.

She said her journey was not smooth-sailing due to financial ordeal, but her family was able to pull it through.

Other Velez College graduates Nathaniel Gideon Tan (eighth, 82 percent), Elizabeth Ann Esma (ninth, 81.80 percent), and Tiffany Nicole Jao (tenth, 81.60 percent) also topped the OT exam.

Just like Manhilot, 22-year-old Jao did not also expect to top the exam.

But Jao admitted she was aiming for a top spot. She spent 12 hours a day studying.

Jao proved that hard work and prayers, as well as strong moral and family support bear positive outcome. She hails from Davao City.

Jao is also a human rights advocate.

"I want to help those in need by advocating the rights of the PWDs (persons with disabilities), specifically by removing the stigma the society has of them and giving them equal opportunities to participate in the society," she told The FREEMAN.

The six OT graduates were among the 203 passers. A total of 307 took the OT exam.

For PT exam, Niña Geraldine Yu of Velez College ranked seventh with 86.5 percent rating.

Yu was among the 931 passers of the 1,379 examinees.

On the other hand, CDU and Velez College ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, as the top performing schools in the PT licensure exam.

According to Professional Regulation Commission, 99 of the 107 examinees from CDU passed the board exam for PT. The university registered a score of 92.52 percent.

Velez College, on the other hand, logged 91.18 percent rating with 62 out of 68 examinees passed the exam for PT.

The other top performing schools for PT were Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (1st), University of Santo Tomas (2nd), and University of the East Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center (3rd).

UST was the lone institution named as top performing school for OT.

Both the exams for PT and OT were held in the cities of Cebu, Manila and Baguio last August 11 and 12.

The results were released on Wednesday, four days after the exam. — KBQ (FREEMAN)