02/02/2026
Full text of Dr. Enggay Melliza -Montales' closing remarks at today's flag raising ceremony:
Good morning, Chancellor Michael Tee, Dean Michelle Segarra, our professors, staff, students, alumni, and friends.
Happy Foundation Day!
On behalf of the Silver Jubilarian Class of 2001, maraming salamat, UP Dentistry. We celebrate not just 25 years since graduation, but the journey that shaped us — one of grit, resilience, friendship, and growth. You taught us that success isn’t just about titles or achievements, but about service, integrity, and the lives we touch.
We entered UP in 1995 as wide-eyed students in the age of pagers, Nokia phones, and piso texts. On the brink of the 21st century, our lantern parade entry was a cellphone. We were dressed in all-black, with gelled, glittery hair -- our version of futuristic – and yet we still won Most Colorful. That really summed up Batch 2001: unconventional, determined, and somehow always winning.
Together with the Classes of 2000 and 2002, we dominated cheer dance competitions, including the PDA Alay Parada. Beyond trophies, we also survived heartbreaks: like CD patients ghosting us right before installation, and the painful realization “delayed ka na.” Painful, yes — but formative.
Many of us are still emotionally scarred from Dr. Tumang’s FPD finals, where hearing Good Times, Bad Times instantly brings us back to the lab — rushing to finish our bridge preps. Add to that the dent mat impression taking activity that reached the uvula, gagging our partners all in the name of learning.
We faced cadavers for the first time — so shaken that some of us couldn’t eat chicken meat for days. Eventually, we became so immune that we could snack despite the smell of formalin. UP doesn’t just teach anatomy — it teaches emotional & gastric endurance.
We were among the last batches to graduate from the old building. We trained on dental chairs from different eras, each with its own quirks —some wouldn’t recline, some had no air. So we didn’t just plan treatments, we scheduled patients according to what our chair could handle.
And then there was that unforgettable endo case, let me confirm that it is not an urban legend ---- when the chair reclined just a bit too far and crashed backwards, trapping my very large patient while he heroically protected his file on tooth 11. With Dr. Conch Medina calmly telling me, “Ms. Melliza, puntahan mo muna yung patient mo,” and Dr. K instructing my trapped patient, “Gumulong ka, gumulong ka!” — we learned that UP dentistry trains not just our hands, but our nerves, composure, and sense of humor.
Outside clinics, Batibot was our refuge — that big tree in the small quadrangle where we debriefed over fishballs and banana cue, munching our stress away. Some would even consult their future with Mang Geno Ginintuan, the palm reader along Faura. We also saw Robinsons Manila morph into this massive one— escalators still wrapped in plastic, smelling of fresh paint, with only a few shops open.
And beyond the campus, history shaped us too. We witnessed EDSA Dos as students, marching in white with surgical masks that read “ERAP RESIGN,” learning that beyond dentistry, we were citizens — that our voices and convictions mattered just as much as our clinical competencies.
Batch 2001 is proof that success is not defined by a single timeline, a single career path, or even a single profession — but by resilience, purpose, service, and the courage to grow wherever life leads us.
The stress of dentistry made many of us question ourselves: “Para ba talaga sa ‘kin ‘to?” Getting into UP was already difficult — but getting out was even more grueling. Dentistry tested not just our intellect, but also our endurance. Some shifted early, some stayed and graduated years later — we used to joke that Batch 2001 lived up to its name because only one graduated on time. But everyone eventually crossed their finish line.
After graduation, most of us established ourselves in dentistry, others flourished in different industries. Early on, we heard, “Sayang naman.” The guilt was real. But with time, we realized — walang nasayang. Wether we focused in dentistry or added another feather in our cap, we are who we are today because of UP. The grit, and the tenacity — learned from exams, clinics, and from broken chairs— stayed with us wherever we went.
Twenty-five years later, we stand stronger, wiser, and deeply grateful — not just as dentists, but as leaders, mentors, parents, entrepreneurs, educators, and servants of our communities. Thank you, College of Dentistry, for shaping us, challenging us, and believing in us, even when we doubted ourselves. To our mentors, both our professors and the manongs and manangs, thank you for your patience and wisdom. To our fellow alumni, may we continue to honor this legacy through excellence and compassion.
And with that, we look forward to celebrating, reconnecting, and creating new memories with all of you at the 2026 Alumni Homecoming, hosted by the Silver Jubilarian Class of 2001, entitled “25 Years Strong: Redefining Success Beyond Dentistry.”
From Batch 2001 — maraming salamat po. We will always be proud and grateful to call this home.
Mabuhay ang UP Dentistry.
