Who was the first doctor of Plaridel, Misamis Occidental?
To those who are old enough to remember, the name that comes to mind is Dr. Juan Vallejo. In the 1930's, he was assigned by the Bureau of Health Services to Plaridel as the Municipal Health Officer (MHO) and to establish the Rural Health Unit (RHU) of the municipality. But, Dr. Vallejo was not a native Plaridelian. He was a full-blooded Spanish gentleman from Manila.
Another doctor, and a native of Plaridel, was Dr. Casiano U. Laput. But, again, he was a lawyer, a Doctor of Laws. He was the first and the only Plaridelian with that distinction. And, for that matter, the first in Misamis Occidental and maybe the whole of Mindanao.
So, to be more specific, who was the first Plaridelian Doctor of Medicine?
Sometime in March, 1977, my wife Buena Fe, was sifting through the documents and personal effects of his father, Alfonso "Dodô" R. Apdujan, who passed away weeks earlier. Among those that she found was a bundle of letters, addressed to his father from Edilberto "Bentong" R. Lumasag.
She knew that Nong Bentong was her father's first-degree cousin, their mothers being the sisters Mercedes and Epifania Rillas. The letters were dated in the late 40's and early 50's when his father was studying Medicine at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in Manila.
She read the letters, and noticeably, the recurring theme was the brotherly advice of taking his studies seriously as, in Nong Bentong's words,"we are all praying and hoping that the first doctor of Plaridel would come from our family". Our family referred to the Rillas-Apdujan-Lumasag clan, a big, prominent and the oldest clan of the town.
Alfonso Apdujan was the son of the couple, Clemente Apdujan and Epifania Rillas. He was born and raised in Plaridel. Their ancestral house was just across the street beside the municipio.
And so, it came to pass, the family was not disappointed. Alfonso R. Apdujan graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, a member of UST Medicine Class of 1951. He took and passed the board examinations the following year. He was Plaridel's first doctor of medicine.
Dr. Apdujan's medical practice was solely on public health. He started as the Municipal Health Officer of the nearby town of Calamba. He took up residence there, which was also the hometown of his wife, Inday Buena Yamuta.
At that time, although he was provided with a jeep, roads were so bad that sometimes he would walk to the barrios just to be able to care for the people there.
Taking a break from his work, he went to Manila and attended the University of the Philippines' Master of Public Health program. He finished the course in twelve months.
He was offered the opportunity to pursue advanced studies in Public Health in the United States, but he opted to come home to continue serving the people of Calamba.
He was promoted to Assistant Provincial Health Officer for the province of Misamis Occidental. Not very long after that, he was appointed the Provincial Health Officer (PHO).
It was widely believed that his next appointment would be as Assistant Regional Director for Region X, Northern Mindanao.
But it was not to be.
While attending a conference of public health doctors in Los Baņos, Laguna on February 8, 1977, Dr. Apdujan suffered a massive heart attack. He was rushed to a local hospital there, but he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Thus ending the career of an illustrious son of Plaridel.
His daughter and grandson followed in his footsteps and are both accomplished doctors as well.
