Armando T. Chiong, Sr., MD (1930 - 2018)

Dr. Armando T. Chiong, Sr. is fondly called by his contemporaries as Arman. A mild mannered man, he may be interpreted as a very docile and complacent individual but, for those who truly know him, this is far from the truth. He maybe a very accommodating person willing to listen and extend help to anybody but he is never complacent. Too caring may be a better term to describe him. I still can vividly remember the controversy regarding the six students. Though his term as chair of the department was already over, he stood his ground and supported the stand of the faculty in general but more specifically, he was even willing to resign from the college if any faculty of the department was removed from the roster because of their stand. Such was the fortitude of the man, that he is even willing to risk not only his security of tenure but also whatever retirement benefits that may accrue to him. Another incident that I can recall was his stand to protect the chairman’s prerogative regarding admission to the residency program. He decided to uphold and give premium to academic performance irrespective of the gender of the applicant. Where before females were only given at most two slots, he decided that as chair he has the final say on admission matters and gave the slot to an applicant with a better academic grade and incidentally a female one. Thus was abolished the quota system for females and academic performance upheld. He was also a man with a mission. He preferred approaching matters in a very organized manner. He required all services/sections to formulate and submit a research agenda for the section with the intention of having a guided/directed research effort/activity by the department. Thus was born the research handbook of the department. This transpired when his own daughter, Charlotte, incidentally was the chief resident of the department. However, implementation and pursuit of the objective has been spotty and sporadic except for a few services. A good family man, it can be said that he was, until now, the only one who can claim that two of his children became faculty members of our department. A third child is presently connected with another department of UPCM. It may be recalled that an early and untimely demise of another so devastated him. That is the hallmark of his being a good family man. He was never a flamboyant person. You can always expect him to attend departmental activities in his usual attire of colored pants, never in denims, topp