AND now for some good news.
Three Southwestern University (SWU) Phinma School of Medicine graduates topped the 2020 Physician Licensure Exams, clinching the eighth, ninth and 10th places.
They are April Jean Gapo, Jessah April Naingue and Carren Emirose Solidor, respectively.
They will be recognized in a virtual ceremony and will get a cash incentive.
According to the report, SWU Phinma “is the only Cebu-based medical school with graduates included in the top 10.”
The school is a few meters from my grandmother’s house on J. Urgello St. in Barangay Sambag 1, Cebu City.
As a kid in the latter part of the 1970s, I would spend most of my weekends at my lola’s house.
I got to know many of the boarders. Some of them would “borrow” me and bring me downtown to watch a movie. One of them became the head of the Cebu City Medical Center, although I doubt she still remembers me. Most of them studied at Southwestern.
My grandmother also ran a “café” that was very popular among university students and staff as well as doctors and nurses at the then Sacred Heart Hospital now called the Southwestern University Medical Center.
So I would always see them in their white blazers with their stethoscopes hanging around their necks lining up at the counter to pick their food and then paying my grandmother who ran the till.
I guess it’s fair to say that my grandmother’s livelihood depended on the school’s fortune. And it seemed like she was doing pretty well.
Business was very brisk when I returned to Cebu in the ‘90s. The school’s population had ballooned, which was a boon to owners of boarding houses, eateries, laundry services, etc. that had mushroomed in the barangay over the years.
But then there was that big fire, which destroyed hundreds of houses and establishments before the start of the new millennium. Then the school’s enrolment dropped.
By the way, I’m basing this on observation since I don’t have any figures. But I’m sure other long-time residents could attest to this.
In 2015, the school and the hospital were acquired by the Phinma Group. Soon after, more shops opened. More buildings went up. More students appeared. It seemed like the barangay became a melting pot overnight.
In the last three years or so, the school’s name has been showing up on topnotcher lists.
That success has trickled down to residents who cater to the needs of the school’s growing population. That is welcome news indeed.