Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I am truly honored and privileged to be the President of the Philippine Society of Gastroenterology for fiscal year 2022-2023. Thank you very much for your trust and confidence in allowing me to serve our beloved society once more.

To the previous board of directors, thank you very much for all your support and I look forward working with you in our PSG activities. I am deeply humbled to be given this wonderful opportunity of leading our beloved society.

By practicing progressive and transformational leadership, I will continue the leadership of our predecessors and will do my very best to put PSG in its pinnacle as the leading authority in the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal, pancreaticobiliary, motility, and hepatic diseases.

I am joined by the current officers and board of directors and we commit to work together in harmony in accomplishing our goals towards achieving our mission and vision. We strive to continue the advocacy efforts with the Department of Health, to increase the accredited training hospitals, to be able to bring forth holistic and excellent gastroenterologists, to increase the PSG Chapters, and to improve the GI fellowship training and research in the country. All these will help answer the needs of our stakeholders especially in the regions where GI experts are most needed. I believe we can only achieve this through the combined efforts of our general body and by embodying the key elements as our driving force: collaboration, communication, innovation, and striving for harmony and excellence. Most importantly, we shall focus on our priorities: our members, fellows in training, and our patients.

My dear colleagues and friends in Gastroenterology, let us assess and determine our roles in shaping our community towards nation-building. Let us reflect on our shared responsibilities to our stakeholders–the primary healthcare physicians, barangay healthcare workers and our patients at the grassroots level. Together, let us fulfill our dream of becoming the lead organization of world-class Gastroenterologists.

I look forward in welcoming you and working with you all in this time of pandemic and beyond. Thank you very much. Yours sincerely,