Four Cebu graduates topped this year’s Medical Technologist licensure examination.
Matthew Joseph Tan Po of Velez College got the No. 1 spot with a rating of 91.70 percent while three other graduates of Cebu Doctors University made it to the top 10.
They are 4th placer Thara Jill Sy Añasco who got a score of 90.60 percent followed by 5th placer Jay Toledo Buensalida with a 90.40 percent rating and 7th placer Efren John Oledan Misagal who got 90.60 percent.
According to the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), which released the exam results on Wednesday evening, 1,521 out of 1,865 examinees passed the examination given by the Board of Medical Technology in the cities of Cebu, Manila, Baguio and Davao last September 1 and 2.
Sydney Ferrer, CDU College of Allied Medical Services department secretary, said all 29 examinees from the school passed the exams.
Ferrer said the topnotchers from CDU would be rewarded for their achievement.
Fourth placer Añasco, 20, of Guindulman, Bohol province, told Cebu Daily News she was surprised to land in the top 10.
She said her achievement would be her gift to to her mother, Maria Esterlita Sy, who works as a nurse in the United Kingdom and is a single mother.
Añasco said she planned to take up a medical course next year.
Buensalida, the 5th placer, said his family was from barangay Sangi, Toledo City but they moved to Mabolo City.
He said he, too, didn’t expect to be in the top ten.
All he did was prayed to pass the exams.
Buensalida, who is the second of three siblings, is the son of Jevy, a retired general manager of Cebu Electric Cooperative 3. His mother works at the Toledo City post office.
He graduated magna cum laude last April at the CDU, leading 30 other graduates in his batch.
He was also the class valedictorian when he graduated from high school at the West Bay Learning Center in Toledo City,
He said preparing for the board exams was difficult because he didn’t want to miss his Medicine classes.
Buensalida is a first year student of Medicine course at CDU.
Buensalida credited his to his family, school and faith in God.