University of the Philippines Manila

The University of the Philippines Manila (UP Manila) is one of the eight constituent units (seven constituent universities and one autonomous college) of the University of the Philippines (UP) System. It is a public and secular institution of higher learning that offers academic and training programs, as well as extension services in the health sciences, health professions education, arts, and sciences.The history of UP Manila is a compendium of the history of its individual units, some of which, like the College of Medicine (CM) and the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), antedate the establishment of the University of the Philippines. The Philippine Medical School, CM’s forerunner, was established on December 1, 1905 by the Philippine Commission under Commonwealth Act No. 1415 and opened on June 10, 1907, initially housed at the School for the Deaf and Blind on Malecon Drive (now Bonifacio Drive). It was later renamed UP College of Medicine and Surgery under Act No. 1870. The School transferred to its present home along Pedro Gil Street on July 1, 1910. The control and management of the medical school was entrusted to the Board of Regents on December 8, 1910. Its name was shortened to UP College of Medicine on March 1, 1923. In 1907, the US government passed a law establishing the PGH. On September 1, 1910, the 350-bed capacity hospital was opened to the public for health care delivery and clinical instruction and training of medical students, with Dr. Paul Freer as the first Medical School Dean until 1912. On February 5, 1915, the Philippine Legislative Act No. 2467 reorganized the Training School for Nurses into the PGH School of Nursing and established it as a department of PGH.