History of veterinary medicine in the Philippines

[2] The cattle plague that affected the cow and carabao (water buffalo) population between Manila and Bulacan were caused by sick animals that were imported from Indochina and Hong Kong.

The 1888 cattle plague (also known as steppe murrain) prompted the need for the services of veterinarians in the Philippines, including those from the ranks (commissioned officers) of the Spanish Army.

[1] The government of the United States sent groups of American veterinary doctors to the Philippines to function as inspectors of cattle imported through Manila, as inspectors of both locally butchered and imported beef, as caretakers of the health of animals owned by the government (including the horses of American soldiers), and as sanitary inspectors of public and private stables.

In 1899, 60 civilian American veterinarians were working hand-in-hand with the United States Army Veterinary Corps.

The Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH) stayed in Diliman, Quezon City.

[1] The curriculum of the college for the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) course started as a five-year education program.

[1] As of February 11, 1913, the practice of veterinary medicine in the Philippines was being regulated by Public Act No.

The board was composed of appointees chosen by the Governor-General and was supervised administratively by the Director of Agriculture.

[1] In 1916, the veterinarian members of the Veterinary Corps of the US Army assigned to the Philippines were given military ranks (they previously did not have ranks in the US Army) and thus became commissioned military officers through the efforts of Dr. William Proctor Hill, the president of PVMA from 1910 to 1911.

In 1918, two Filipinos (Dr. Victor A. Buencamino as vice-president and Dr. Sixto N. Almeda Carlos as treasure) became officers of the PVMA.

[1] During the years of the Fifth Philippine Republic (1986–present), the regulatory law called Public Act No.

[4] Several chapters of PVMA, Inc. had been established as the profession of veterinary medicine progressed during the period of modern-day Philippines.

The first association to be affiliated to PVMA, Inc. was the Cebu Veterinary Medical Society, founded in November 1963 and was then headed by Dr. Nestor R. Alonzo as its president while seconded by Dr. Rosalio C. Mandin as vice-president.

Filipino veterinary physician Dr. Alejandrino S. Quizon, Colombo Plan Fellow and a research veterinarian with the Laboratory Services Division of the Philippines Bureau of Animal Industries, was photographed in 1959 while he was nearing the end of a four-month Australian tour during which he had been studying cattle diseases. In the picture above, Dr. Quizon prepares to carry out a blood test while being assisted by two bacteriologists from the Queensland Animal Research Institute , namely Mr. G. C. Simmons, standing at rear, and Mr. C. G. Ludford, on the left.