TACLOBAN CITY – Students from the mining-ravaged historic island of Homonhon who want to pursue a course in the medical field may soon be able to enroll at the University of the Philippines through a scholarship program.

UP Manila Chancellor Dr. Michael Tee signed a partnership with House Minority Leader and 4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan and Eastern Samar Rep. Christopher Sheen Gonzales to open a special class for 25 students who will train as midwives, nurses, and doctors in service to their community.

The students will be attending classes at UP Manila’s School of Health Sciences in Palo, Leyte, which pioneered the stepladder curriculum in 1976.

Under the curriculum, a student trains to qualify as a midwife, then a nurse, and eventually a doctor—within one integrated educational track.

In its present setup, students are accepted based on the needs of the community and the student’s desire to do community work. Rural communities nominate who will be the student assigned to them.

Libanan and Gonzales said the partnership will help build a sustainable, community-rooted health workforce for Homonhon Island. Gonzales is the former mayor of Guiuan town, to which Homonhon Island belongs.

Homonhon's eight barangays will select the 25 scholars who will form the inaugural batch, while the congressional offices of Libanan and Gonzales will shoulder the students’ allowances.

Libanan said the program will revolutionize public health services in Homonhon with community-rooted professionals who will stay and serve their people. “The island will finally be assured of sustainable, community-based health care,” Libanan said.

Graduates are expected not only to serve in the island’s hospital but also to act as adjunct faculty, ensuring ongoing mentorship and skills transfer within the community.

Gonzales said the project is urgent, especially since patients from the island still have to be transported to Guiuan via a two-and-a-half-hour motorized boat ride to get medical attention. He said this is hard for the 15,000 residents, who are mostly fisherfolk and coconut farmers.

Homonhon holds historical importance as the landing site of Ferdinand Magellan in 1521.