Benito Valdes

Background

Benito Valdes was born on March 21, 1860, in Lubao, Pampanga, Philippines. He was the youngest of six children of Basilio Valdes and Francisca Salvador.

Education

Benito Valdes received his early education from a tutor in the town. Later, in 1878, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Santo Tomas. As he showed an inclination towards medicine - minor ailments of members of the family and tenants, receiving his care and attention - and there was no physician in the family, he was sent to Spain in April 1878 to pursue the course in medicine at the University of Barcelona, where he was a groupmate of Enrique Rogers, Ramon Planas and Fernando Cos. He obtained a Licentiate of Surgery degree in August 1884. During his undergraduate years, he was admitted as a member of the Academia y Laboratorio de Ciencias Médicas of Barcelona in 1882 for the interest, shown in medical work. He continued his studies at the Universidad de Madrid, which conferred a Doctor of Medicine degree upon him in 1885. There, he was a groupmate of Jose Rizal.

Career

After receiving a doctor's degree, Benito Valdes returned to the Philippines the same year, in 1885, and arrived in Manila in December 1885. In January 1886, he was appointed head doctor for Tayabas province with a salary of thirty-nine Mexican pesos a month. After six months, he was appointed municipal doctor in Santa Ana with a salary of thirty-six pesos a month with free practice. In 1889, he took a leave and sailed for Spain for the second time.

In Barcelona, Benito married Filomena Pica, to whom he had become engaged during his college days. The newly wedded couple met a disaster in the Gulf of Eden on their way to Manila, when their boat Anader collided with another vessel and sank. They were practically destitute, when they arrived in Manila. Resuming his duties for some time, he was transferred to Quiapo district, the assignment he filled until 1897. In 1896, in addition to his duties, he was a visiting physician of the San Juan de Dios Hospital. For alleged complicity in the Revolution, he was imprisoned in Fort Santiago. His wife, who had just delivered, secured his release, but died of relapse on October 30, 1896. The loss grieved him so much, that he had to leave the country for Spain once more.

During the occupation of Manila by the American forces and thereafter, he opened and maintained in his house on Mendoza Street a medical station, where soldiers received treatment. On July 31, 1899, he was appointed to the faculty of the University of Santo Tomas as a professor of history of medical science. When the Colegio Médico Farmacéutico was founded the same year, he was one of its enthusiastic exponents. In 1900, he accepted directorship of the San Juan de Dios Hospital, succeeding Dr. Carlos Nalda. He filled this position until 1919. During his administration, through his initiative, the positions for resident physicians were created and the nurses' training school was established in 1913. At the same time, he continued to teach more medical subjects at the University of Santo Tomas.

As a professor of medicine and practitioner, Benito preached and followed a high ideal of the profession. Patients from all walks of life received the same careful attention and fees mattered but little to him. He once expressed this view of the medical service: "This profession should never be commercialized. People, who embrace this most noble of human callings should be possessed of broad human sympathies." And when he told, that the medical profession was facing the danger of ruthless commercialization, he said: "There are indications to that effect, but it should not be so. In our country, where there is a continued battle between men and disease, the medical men have a great work before them. They will surely be failing in their mission, when they think in terms of material advantages."

Achievements

• Benito Valdes was a brilliant Filipino physician as well as a recognized professor at the University of Santo Tomas. He became especially known as director of the San Juan de Dios Hospital. During his directorship, he initiated the creation of a School of Nursing, whose graduates provided patients not only with excellent medical care but also took care of their spiritual and moral well-being.

Membership

Benito Valdes was a member of the Colegio Médico Farmacéutico, Medical Association of the Philippine Islands, Manila Medical Society, and the National Council of Hygiene. He was president of the Manila Jockey Club for over thirty years and the Central Azucarera de Ilocos.

Personality

Benito Valdes was a sought-after toastmaster and after-dinner speaker because of his ready wit and humor, even the American governors-general knew him well.

He loved music and played the clarinet in a group composed of Lopez, Cavanna, Llaneza, Arrechea, Ferraz, Jose Muezo and others under the baton of big brother, Ramon Valdes.

Also, Benito Valdes asserted that he owed his good health and long life to his keen sense of humour and right living.

Connections

Benito Valdes was married twice. The marriage with Filomena Pica produced five children: Alejo, Basilio Valdes, Francisco, Ramon and Jose. After the death of his first wife, he married Rita Legarda in 1904. The marriage produced seven children: Manuel, Fernando, Jose, Rosario, Teresa, Rita and Carmen.

Father:

Basilio Valdes

Mother:

Francisca Salvador

late wife:

Filomena Pica

Wife:

Rita Legarda

References

• Dictionary of Philippine Biography A book by E. Arsenio Manuel.
  1970