In Tune with the Times

CEBU, Philippines – It was an idea that took a while to finally gain ground. Doña Josefina Rivera Gullas – whom everybody endears simply as Inday Pining – then already widowed of her husband Don Vicente Gullas, had a yearning to help provide the health needs of their employees at the University of the Visayas (UV) and the poor in the community. She wished she had the means to put up a hospital.

It remained a mere wish for a time. Putting up a hospital was more daunting than starting another school, in terms of capital and human-resource requirements. The Gullas children – Gliceria (Inday Sering), Eduardo (Eddie) and Jose Jr. (Dodong), who were already much involved in the University – liked the idea. If only it was easy to do.

Plans for the Gullas Medical Center and the UV College of Medicine soon began to boil. But it would be a long way yet. Inday Pining was dumbfounded to learn of the estimated cost of the twin projects. It was far more costly and huge an undertaking than she had imagined.

When she and her husband opened the Visayan Institute (the forerunner of UV) in 1919, they had it small, just the size that they could manage to run by themselves. Don Vicente, being a lawyer, writer and educator, headed the whole operation, with Inday Pining vigorously supporting him. They wanted the school to grow at just the right pace, for them to be able to keep up in their knowledge to effectively run the growing endeavor.  

Inday Pining’s initial hesitation about the hospital and the medical school is understandable. A project much bigger than anything she and her husband had ever embarked on together is no doubt quite overwhelming to think about – especially that she was now a widow. But as the saying goes: “Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come.”

In his book, “To Never Forget,” Dodong Gullas, the youngest of the Gullas siblings, recalls pushing the idea of opening a medical school with his mother and siblings. “It would really put UV in the big league,” he writes. And, true enough, “UV became the third school to offer the Doctor of Medicine course in Cebu.”

The UV College of Medicine was established at the University’s Banilad campus, in Mandaue City. The construction of the Gullas Medical Center in the campus followed. “Eddie and I had assured Mama that we had already studied the funding part of the two-sided venture… [But] it was only when we told her that the hospital would serve the poor patients as well as UV employees that our mother finally agreed to the project.”

In 1977 the UV College of Medicine formally opened. Its location is most conductive to learning – away from the noise and bustle of the city center yet easily accessible. From the beginning, the student population of the College has been a heterogeneous group coming from many parts of the country and the world – Nepal, Taiwan, Thailand, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran and the United States.

The first batch of graduates consisted of 35 students, out of 78 who enrolled in the first year. Since then the College has produced topnotchers in the licensure examinations, including first, second and third placers. Its roster of deans bears the names of highly respected professionals in the country’s medical circle.

Many graduates of the UV College of Medicine are now public health officers serving the different communities of the Visayas and Mindanao. Inday Pining’s yearning to provide health services to the people has materialized – again way beyond her original intention. Dodong is right, for sure, in saying of his mother: “She is smiling, I know, wherever she may be.”

On Friday, March 13, UV inaugurates its new Don Vicente Gullas Medicine Building, in honor of the man who started it all. The good husband that he was, the building is in support to the noble aspiration of his wife. It is symbolic of Don Vicente and Inday Pining’s dedication to each other and their heart for others.

The six-storey structure is in response to the growing number of enrollees. It houses the various laboratories, dean’s offices, faculty offices, and the amphitheater at the topmost floor where classes are held. Good space is also dedicated for the prayer room, library, students’ lounge and other amenities. Everything is meant to complement the quality instruction provided by the highly qualified faculty of the College.

The UV College of Medicine is definitely in tune with the times – to produce graduates that are ready for the world!