New Don Vicente Gullas College of Medicine bldg rises

CEBU, Philippines — The new building of the Don Vicente Gullas College of Medicine is now open.

The inaugural ceremony last Friday coincided with the 104th birth anniversary of Doña Josefina “Inday Pining” Rivera Gullas who engineered the two-story College of Medicine 30 years ago.

Inday Pining’s youngest son, Jose “Dodong” Gullas, executive vice president of the University of the Visayas, recalled the day the old building was demolished.

“At that very moment, when I went home, there was a pain in my heart since the old building of the College of Medicine was constructed by Mama Pining. She was actually a wife, a mother, engineer, and architect made into one,” he said.

“Mama Pining would remind us (Gullas brothers) that it is great to take in knowing pain, to be humble, to be humane (and) to be compassionate because every time the Lord knocks at your door,” he said.

Because the new building sits between Cebu City and Mandaue City, the ma-yors of the two cities were present at last Friday’s event.

Acting Cebu City Mayor Edgar Labella and Mandaue Mayor Jonas Cortes cut the ribbon, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, Cebu City North District Rep. Raul del Mar, and First District Rep. Gerald Anthony Gullas.

Dodong’s brother, Eduardo, the president of the university, said the new building is a tribute to their parents.

“The precepts and values told by papa and mama to all Visayanans are love, service and leadership. To the faculty of the College of Medicine and to the students, one of the tenets that we always teach our students is humility,” he said.

 “Mama would have been 110 years old today (as) she was born in 1905 and very soon we will celebrate the centennial of the university in 2019. That’s only four years from now when V.I. (Visayan Institute) was founded by papa in 1919,” he added.

Palma, in his message, said, “We lift our hearts to the Lord and express thanksgiving for the two wonderful people, Don Vicente Gullas and Inday Pining Gullas, it’s the spirit of gratitude for being such an inspiration for the love of God and to His people.”

 “For Don Vicente and Doña Pining, for giving an example in bringing light to the earth to the thousands (of part of the academe) that today we dedicate this College of Medicine,” he said further.

 Dr. Leonard Raymund Cimafranca, the dean of the College of Medicine, said the new building is a great boost to the university’s efforts in meeting the demands of the times.

“We have to level up to cope up with the demands of reality. The building is really a blessing to us. We are getting ready because of the coming ASEAN academic integration. This is a big step,” he said.

“The old building was already functional but because of the increasing number of students, we have to upgrade our facilities. When I started here as dean six years ago, we only had a little more than a hundred students, but now, we have a total of more than 500 students from first year to fourth year,” he added. —JMO (FREEMAN)