Vegetable vendor’s son tops med tech board exam

SAN CARLOS CITY, Pangasinan, Philippines – A vegetable vendor’s son topped the March 2021 Medical Technologist Licensure Examination given by the Professional Regulations Commission with a rating of 91 percent.

Felix Jayson Magleo Vegella, 21, who ranked first among the 3,251 examinees in this year’s exam, is from Barangay Ilang, this city and graduated cum laude from the local Virgen Milagrosa University Foundation.

The exam was given earlier this month by the Board of Medical Technology in the cities of Manila, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Legazpi, Lucena, Dagupan, Tacloban, Tuguegarao and Zamboanga.

Vegella told The STAR it had been his dream to really make it to the Top 10 in the Board exam, but after taking the test and finding it difficult, he thought passing it would be satisfying enough.

When the results came out Thursday night, he did not search the list of topnotchers and just looked up his name among the passers.

He said it was his mother Yolanda who looked up the results in her cell phone separately then approached him to ask: “Son, did you make it as number one?”

Vegella said he’s been used to his mother’s normally loud voice, but when she approached him this time, she spoke in a controlled and nearly trembling tone.

The excitement built up as together they browsed at the topnotchers’ list and just hugged each other, screaming jubilantly and crying a lot.

“Mixed emotions, happiness plus fear,” Vegella said of the feelings that gripped him.

The new med tech topnotcher said he wants to work first as a teacher at his alma mater to give back to the academic community that taught him well. He dedicated his feat to a lot of people, primarily his family.

Asked by The STAR about his secret to success, Vegella said: “Don’t be afraid to dream big because if you dream big, you will be motivated to do your best to reach it and you keep moving forward.”

He said he is proud of his mom for all her sacrifices to raise their family. “She is doing a great, decent job and I’m proud of her,” he said.

Yolanda said her son is really studious. “He spends most of his free time reading and studying.”

Yolanda added that it was his aunt who spent for his schooling. “I was just a vegetable vendor using a cart in plying my trade. There were times I really had to run when policemen were lurking,” she added.

The university management also lauded Vegella for this feat.

Board exams to push through

Meanwhile, Malacañang said all of PRC’s licensure examinations scheduled in May and June this year will push through amid stricter regulations imposed by government to arrest the surge in COVID-19 cases.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) approved the conduct of the licensure examinations administered by the PRC.

However, IATF Resolution No. 105 provides that all examinees under general community quarantine are strongly discouraged from traveling to and taking their tests in areas under the low-risk category or the modified GCQ, Roque said.

Based on the PRC website, the examinations scheduled in May are for civil engineers, dentists, chemical engineers, certified public accountants, dental hygienists, real estate appraisers, physical therapists, occupational therapists, naval architects and marine engineers, metallurgical engineers, criminologists, architects and interior designers.

Meanwhile, Roque said the Department of Information and Communications Technology shall issue the necessary certifications and facilitate the turnover of rights of the StaySafe.ph to the Republic of the Philippines, as donee, which is represented by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.