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COM Update 1

A
dventist University of
the Philippines and the
Seventh-day Adventist
church in the Southern Asia
Pacifc Division
remain hopeful
that very soon a
medical college
will be estab-
lished in AUP.
This hope is grounded
on the frm belief that
God has been guiding
and opening doors for
the COM establish-
ment despite the latest
temporary setback en-
countered by the uni-
versity because of the
denial by the CHED
Technical Committee
on Medical Educa-
tion (TCME) for AUP
to offer the doctor of
medicine in June 2014. Admittedly, the
recent CHED TCME decision has caused
a host of mixed emotions and surmising
among concerned individuals, faculty, and
alumni both locally and abroad. Some
of the questions that are being asked are,
Why was it disapproved again? Was
AUP prepared for the TCME visit? Has
not God shown that AUP does not need
a COM? Is God leading the university
to open the program at the best time other
than 2014? These questions and con-
cerns demand answers and explanation.
In retrospect, a little history of the
quest for the COM is in order for a clearer
understanding of what is really going on
The COM
Goal Lives On
and how the university has addressed the
preparation issues for the realization of
the COM goal. Looking back at previ-
ous events will also show that God has
been guiding the university to accomplish
things for the COM.
It is a fact that plans
for a college of medicine
had been in the offng
from former administra-
tors who jumpstarted yet
other plans of administra-
tors in the past who had
dreamed about such a
college even in the Baesa
days. However, it was
during the past 10 years
that there were deliberate
attempts and efforts to es-
tablish a COM. A feasibil-
ity study which was later
on revised was done and
became the basis of the
plan for a COM. Ground-
breaking ceremonies for
a college of medicine
building and hospital had
been performed by past administrations
in hopes of making the dream come true.
This was because past administrators were
informed that the main requirements for
a Doctor of Medicine program were for
COM Update 2
the university to have a building for the
college and a hospital within its premises.
The cost of the two projects was close
to PhP600 million. Because of this huge
money requirement, the past administra-
tion in their desire to establish the COM
entered a joint venture contract with one
company for a subdivision project and
to a person for a condominium project
covering a large parcel of AUP land for
both agreements. The previous adminis-
tration thought that the income of the said
projects would be suffcient to fnance the
construction of the hospital, the college
of medicine building, and the Doctor of
Medicine program. However, God has
led the current administrators to see major
issues on the joint venture contract and
condominium projects that were disadvan-
tageous to the interests of the university,
thus, the planned projects were rescinded.
In July 2011, during a visit to the
CHED, the current administrators were
given copies of the CMO for medical
education. They were told that AUP could
start a COM if the conditions stated in the
CMO were met by the university. They
were even told by some other medical
education experts that AUP does not need
to have a completed building to start a
medicine program, much more have the
schools very own hospital. Because of
this information, the administrators went
to visit some medical schools in Metro
Manila to benchmark on their medical
education practices and their medical col-
lege structures. The administrators were
convinced that AUP could start the doctor
of medicine program with a building that
is smaller than the one previously planned.
Hence they asked an architect to plan for a
building which will cost about 80 million
pesos.
In August 2011, during the joint alum-
ni convention of AWESNA and EASNAC
in Maryland, the incumbent administra-
tors presented the renewal of the plan to
apply for the Doctor of Medicine program.
Together with it, they presented the plan
to construct a college of medicine build-
ing, which initially will be shared with the
department of Medical Technology. AUP
also informed the alumni that the 7-hectare
lot in Malitlit be sold to further fnance the
COM project.
During the latter part of 2011, AUP
learned that the TCME proposed for a
10-year moratorium starting 2013 in the
opening Doctor of Medicine programs in
the Philippines. The underlying reason for
the proposed moratorium is the improve-
ment of medical education in the Philip-
pines. The good news was, AUP would
be exempted from the moratorium if AUP
applies before 2013. As a response to
the information received, in June of the
following year 2012, AUP fled a revised
COM application adhering to the CHED
CMO on medical education. The plan
was for existing structures of AUP to be
used and that qualifed faculty of AUP
will serve as professors and instructors in
addition to the medical doctors who were
willing to teach in the COM. However,
the proposed moratorium did not happen
because it was disapproved by the CHED.
With this development, the TCME became
very stringent in the requirements imposed
on new applicants for the offering of doc-
tor of medicine program.
One great challenge for AUP to offer
the doctor of medicine program at the
beginning was a qualifed dean. There is
no doubt that there are great and excellent
Adventist medical doctors in the Philip-
pines but based on the CMOs specifed
qualifcations, no Adventist doctor serving
in Adventist medical institutions in the
country was qualifed. Another challenge
was, even if there are qualifed medi-
cal doctors, the church provides that the
dean should be willing to give up his/her
lucrative practice and join AUP as full
time employee. Nevertheless, God has
called a qualifed lady doctor to serve as
the dean for the AUP COM. She is Dr.
Doris Mendoza, a former professor at the
West Visayas State University College
of Medicine who accepted the Adventist
faith in November 27, 2010. She was the
only person qualifed from all Adventist
medical doctors and when invited to be
the inaugural dean of the AUP COM, she
willingly consented. She opted for an
early retirement from her university, left
her lucrative practice in Iloilo and came to
AUP to lead out in the preparation for the
COM.
As part of the application process,
the TCME visited AUP in October 2012.
Unfortunately, the TCME denied the ap-
plication to open the Doctor of Medicine
in 2013 due to some defciencies. One
of the requirements that stood out is the
choice of base hospital for the college of
medicine. They emphasized among others
that the base hospital should be accessible
within the medical school area. In the
eyes of the committee, Adventist Medical
Center Manila was not qualifed to be
the base hospital of AUPs doctor of medi-
cine program because it is not located in
the same geographical area as AUP. As a
result of the denial, the administrators lost
hope. They even tried to cancel the visit
of the General Conference committee for
education in November 2012. However
the GC leaders insisted on coming. Dur-
ing the visit, the GC leaders encouraged
the AUP administration to move forward
in faith and take risks in spending money
for the program. This show of support
from the church leaders is seen as Gods
leading. In their visit, they saw that AUP
met all their expectations and thus gave its
blessings for the doctor of medicine pend-
ing government approval. In addition to
their visit, the GC coordinated with Loma
Linda to work with AUP in preparing the
curriculum and the planned facility as
well. Like the GC evaluation team, ex-
perts from Loma Linda gave its approval
to the faculty and building preparations
that AUP was doing for the COM. Both
church leadership and Loma Linda are in
one accord that AUP is ready to offer the
doctor of medicine program.
In response to the encouragement
of Adventist leaders, the administration
fled an appeal to the CHED on the issue
of the base hospital. In March 2013, the
CHED en banc reconsidered and ap-
proved Adventist Medical Center-Manila
COM Update 3
as AUPs base hospital. The decision was
an answered prayer and gave hope to AUP
and Adventist leaders of the Southern Asia
Pacifc Division. It has led AUP to fast
track the construction of the COM build-
ing through the generous support of many
alumni and friends all over the world.
In June 2013, AUP submitted a
compliance report to the remaining recom-
mendations of the CHED TCME Octo-
ber 2012 visit. The report was required
before another TCME visit scheduled in
October 2013; which did not happen and
unexplained by the TCME. It was only
in December 2013 that the university re-
ceived an offcial communication from the
CHED that the compliance report submit-
ted in June 2013 did not comply with the
requirements and therefore did not warrant
a campus visit. Hence in early Janu-
ary 2014, the administration went to the
CHED yet again to submit all the needed
requirements based on the CMO and the
TCME visit recommendations in October
2012. As a result, the TCME scheduled a
visit for March 20, 2014. They came as
scheduled yet once more denied AUPs
desire to offer the doctor of medicine
program in June 2014. Their exit report
states that there are still defciencies to be
complied with but encouraged the AUP
administration to work on the defciencies
and reapply in June 2014. According
to the TCME members, their decision is
actually a form of help to the university
so that AUP could recruit good students
for its medical school. They reasoned out
that other medical schools have already
recruited students as early as October of
the previous year and it would be too late
for AUP to recruit medical students for
June 2014. However, one thing is notice-
able with the recommendations of the
TCME. They looked for something not
specifed in the CMO and not included
in the recommendations of their visit in
October 2012 i.e., that the base hospital
must have adequate charity patients; that
the ratio of full-time to part-time faculty
should be 60:40; and that basic sciences
instructors should be medical doctors with
teaching experience in a medical school.
These requirements are yet to be included
in the revision of the CMO as steps to
elevate the quality of medical education in
the Philippines.
With the recent decision of the
TCME, should AUP now give up its desire
to offer the doctor of medicine program?
Some say that it is enough for dreaming
and it is high time to be realistic. Some
believe that God has spoken and that the
COM is not His will. The administra-
tion and the Adventist church leadership,
together with others believe otherwise.
God has been guiding and leading AUP
to achieve its present COM status. They
see that the answer of God to prayers of
alumni and Adventist all over the world
on the opening of the AUP Doctor of
Medicine program in June 2014 is not NO.
Instead, the current administration sees
that the opening of the doctor of medicine
program is just delayed and that God is
leading the university to offer it in a better
time. Hence AUP is all set to submit its
compliance report this month of June 2014
so that the TCME could revisit AUP in
October of this year.
Meanwhile, the AUP administration
approved that the College of Medicine
building be used temporarily by other
disciplines as classrooms and offces this
school year 2014. Most of the rooms
will be occupied and used by the Medi-
cal Technology Department, the gross
laboratory will be used by the College
of Dentistry, and the area opposite of the
gross laboratory at the basement intended
for parking will be developed to house the
computer and IT departments.
COM Building Named as Alumni Hall
On March 17, 2014, the AUP Board of Trustees approved to offcially name the current COM building proj-
ect, as Alumni Hall. The main reason for the choice of the name is the fact that a substantial amount of the
construction cost is expected to come from alumni and friends. In addition, the building will not be used solely
by the future College of Medicine as the lower ground foor will be home for the Medical Laboratory Science
Department and part of the basement will house the Computer and IT departments.
The construction of Alumni Hall is so far the largest project in AUP that alumni are involved with a gift of the alumni
to AUP for its upcoming centennial celebration. And so in recognition of AUPs generous donors, the board also approved a
naming policy for rooms/buildings constructed in the campus which is applied in the alumni hall. The new policy provides
that a room/building can be named after a donor who exemplifes values for which AUP stands and contributes a substantial
amount of the construction/renovation cost of a room or a building costing 1 million pesos but below 15 million pesos.
Donors for buildings/rooms below the 1 million mark will be honored through a plaque that will be placed inside the room
if donation covers a substantial amount of the project.
COM Update 4
Elder Ted Wilson, GC president emphasizes
AUPs role to reaching out the cities that sur-
round its campus during the Sabbath afternoon
at the Alumni Hall building.
(Seated from right to left) Dr. Francisco Gayoba, AUP president, Elder Ted Wilson, GC president,
Nancy Wilson, Pastor Nepthali Maez, NPUC president, Dr. Robert Borromeo, AUP VP Finance
with some faculty standing behind during the Sabbath afternoon at the Alumni Hall building.
GC President Holds Special
Sabbath Service at the
Alumni Hall
On May 3, 2014 Elder Ted Wil-
son, GC president accompanied by
his wife, Nancy, and Elder Doug
Venn, Urban Mission director of
the Southern Asia Pacifc Division
joined the faculty and staff of the
university in a special Sabbath after-
noon service at the alumni hall. In his
message, he mentioned that health including
the future college of medicine and theology
should blend together in fulflling the mis-
sion of the church. He also emphasized the
reality that AUP is situated in a beautiful
place, a perfect place to learn but that AUP
should not forget its main mission of reach-
ing out to the world especially the cities
around the campus.
Originally, the plan was for elder Ted
Wilson to inaugurate the building on May
13, 2014 but due to unavoidable circum-
stances the inauguration was moved to
unspecifed later date.
Alumni Hall Financial Report
As of February 10, 2014 May 20, 2014
Funds Received (February 15, 2014 May 20, 2014) .......................................................................... 2,770,964.00
(Total Funds Received Since Aug. 1, 2007 PhP56,162,757.34)
Expenditures (February 10,2014 May 20, 2014) .............................................................................. 11,224,523.68
(Total expenses since March 30, 2007 May 20, 2104 = 95,798,975.31 )
Materials [including cement, rebar, sand, lumber, etc] .......................................................................... 3,763,100.44
Labor [including rental and maintenance] ............................................................................................. 4,706,318.50
Contract [material and labor] ................................................................................................................. 2,755,104.74
COM Update 5
GC President Visit...
ALUMNI HALL
photo updates.
GC Board of
Education Visit...
Alumni Hall New Donors/Donors under
a New Category
Patron (US$25,000 US$49,999.99 or PhP100,000 PhP229,999.99)
Dr. Elmer & Mrs. Lerie Bangloy
South Philippine Union Conference
Adventist Medical Center Bacolod
Sponsor (US$10,000 US$24,999.99 or PhP50,000.00 PhP99,999.99
Pedernal, Linson & Rachel [Varona)
Donor (US$5,000.00 US$9,999.99 or PhP25,000 PhP49,999.99)
Michael Perdon
Supporter (US$500.00 US1,999.99 or PhP2,000.00 PhP9,999.99)
AUPA Pathfnder Club
Myrna Castillo
COM Update 6

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