History
Established in 1977 and granted University Status by CHED in 1997 — the first in Philippine history — University of Perpetual Help Tamayo Medical University is a landmark institution built on service and excellence.
About Tamayo
University of Perpetual Help — Dr. Jose G. Tamayo Medical University
The University of Perpetual Help — Dr. Jose G. Tamayo Medical University (UPH-DJGTMU) was formally established in 1977 in Biñan, Laguna City, Metro Manila, Philippines, as the Perpetual Help School of Laguna Foundation for Medicine and Health Sciences. Founded through the vision of Dr. Jose G. Tamayo and Dr. Josefina Laperal Tamayo, it is the flagship medical institution of the University of Perpetual Help System — the first University System created by CHED in the Philippines. It is NMC, WHO, CHED, and ECFMG recognised. MBBS in Philippines admissions are open for 2026.
The Founding Vision — Where the University of Perpetual Help Began
Every great institution begins with a moment of conviction — a decision by one family that they can contribute something lasting to the world. For the University of Perpetual Help, that moment belonged to Dr. Jose De Guzman Tamayo and his wife, Dr. Josefina Laperal Tamayo.
Their vision was straightforward but profound: the Philippines needed not just medical practitioners, but institutions that could train generations of them. Education and healthcare were inseparable in their minds — and that dual commitment became the founding philosophy of what would grow into one of the most respected university systems in Southeast Asia.
It was their eldest son, Dr. Antonio Laperal Tamayo, who turned vision into reality. It was he who conceptualised the establishment of the system's campuses, who studied the educational landscape, and who persuaded his parents to open the first school. Without Dr. Antonio's initiative and drive, the institution that millions of Filipino and international students now call their academic home may never have opened its doors.
The founding of the University of Perpetual Help was not a single event — it was a deliberate, phased, family-led movement to build educational and healthcare capacity across the Philippines.
1968 — The First Step: Perpetual Help College of Manila
- The first campus of what would become the UPH System opened in Manila in 1968, with Nursing as its flagship programme. From this single college, a system was born.
1970 — Expanding North: Perpetual Help College of Malasiqui
- Two years later, the family founded the Perpetual Help College of Malasiqui in Pangasinan — a deliberate choice to serve a province where health education development was needed most. The Tamayo family's commitment was never just to urban centres but to the Philippines as a whole.
1975 — A New Generation Leads
- Dr. Antonio Laperal Tamayo and his wife, Dr. Daisy M. Tamayo, founded the Perpetual Help College Rizal — now the University of Perpetual Help System DALTA. The second generation of the founding family was now actively building the system's reach.
1976 — Laguna: The Heart of the Medical University
- In 1976, the Perpetual Help School of Laguna was established in Biñan, Laguna — setting the geographic foundation for what would become the system's most celebrated campus.
1977 — Birth of the Medical University
- One year later, in 1977, the Perpetual Help School of Laguna Foundation for Medicine and Health Sciences was established — the institution now known and respected worldwide as the University of Perpetual Help — Dr. Jose G. Tamayo Medical University (UPH-DJGTMU). This was the realisation of the Tamayo family's core conviction: that dedicated medical and health sciences education, pursued with rigour and values, was the most powerful gift they could offer the Philippines.
1991 — The System Is Born: A Historic Consortium
- On September 10, 1991, the Perpetual Help institutions across the Philippines formed a formal consortium. A Memorandum of Agreement drafted in Biñan, Laguna, created an umbrella organisation responsible for implementing and monitoring common standards across all campuses — covering administration, faculty, academic programmes, libraries, laboratories, research, and outreach. A Board of Directors of 15 members was established, initially chaired by Dr. Jose G. Tamayo himself as Founding Father.
1993 — Planning for University Status
- On January 10, 1993, the Board of Trustees and Directors convened to pursue a comprehensive corporate planning process for University System status — the most demanding institutional recognition the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) could confer.
1997 — A Historic First: Philippines' First CHED University System
- After three years of rigorous visitation, evaluation, and verification by CHED, the University of Perpetual Help System was granted University Status — with campuses recognised in Las Piñas, Laguna, and UPH-DJGT Medical University. In a ceremony at the UPHS Performing Arts Theatre in Biñan on April 20, 1997, CHED Director Amelia Biglete presented the charter to Dr. Jose G. Tamayo. The activity was dedicated to the pioneering spirit of the late Dr. Josefina Laperal Tamayo on her natal day. The University of Perpetual Help System thus holds the unique distinction of being the first University System ever created by CHED in the Philippines — a landmark achievement in Philippine higher education history.
