UST students lead list of Physician Licensure Exam passers

A total of 1,680 passed the Physician Licensure Examination given by the Board of Medicine, with students from the University of Santo Tomas clinching the first three positions in the top 10 list, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) said. Melissa Paulita Villaflor Mariano topped the list with 88.17 percent followed by Erick Sta. Rosa Mendoza with 88 percent. Ranking third and fourth are UST's Katrina Mae Salcedo Gamponia and University of the Philippines-Manila's Tom Edward Ngo Lo with 87.67 percent and 87.58 percent, respectively. Placing fifth is Riavic Quiday Fuentes of the Far Eastern University-Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation with 87.42 percent, followed by another UST student, Joseph Borromeo Villanueva, with 87.17 percent and Ricky Helmuth Hipolito, also from UST, with 87.08 percent. Jaime Alfonso Manalo Aherrera of De La Salle University-Dasmariñas and Vincent Bryan de Guia Salvador of UP-Manila are tied in eight place with 87 percent. Herbert Zulueta Manaois of UST and Ana Noelle Mingo Monisit of Cebu Institute of Medicine are tied in the ninth spot with 86.92 percent. Melanie Timboy Estolas of University of the East-Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center with 86.83 percent completes the top 10. For the complete list of exam passers, click here. The Philippine Physician Licensure Examination is the national licensure exam for the admission to the practice of medicine. The August 2009 results were released Aug. 19, or three days from the last day of examinations. - GMANews.TV