University of Perpetual Help DALTA Medicine: What Foreign Students Should Check

TL;DR: The medical school at University of Perpetual Help System DALTA Las Piñas is the JONELTA Foundation School of Medicine, established June 1996, with CHED autonomous status granted 7 November 1997. It is a different institution from Dr. Jose G. Tamayo Medical University in Biñan, Laguna, and agency pages routinely merge the two. UPHSD publishes a detailed document checklist for foreign applicants and exactly one fee on its Las Piñas admissions page: ₱500 for a replacement ID. It carried the largest Indian FMGE cohort of any Manila-area Philippine school in the last NBEMS institute-wise report, 394 candidates in 2020, of whom 121 passed. And, like every Philippine MD, it runs into India's 54-month rule.

Two Schools, One Brand

Start here, because half the confusion around Perpetual Help comes from the name.

The Association of Philippine Medical Colleges directory, March 2025 edition, lists two separate medical schools under the Perpetual Help umbrella:

Two campuses, two provinces, two entries. Agency listings written for Indian families frequently title a page "University of Perpetual Help Dr Jose G Tamayo Medical University" and then describe the Las Piñas campus, or the reverse. If you are applying to Las Piñas, the school you are applying to is the JONELTA Foundation School of Medicine, and that is the name that should appear on your offer letter, your fee assessment and eventually your diploma.

This matters beyond pedantry. NMC and NBEMS record institutions by name. The 2020 NBEMS report lists "University of Perpetual Help System DALTA Jonelta Foundation School of Medicine" as a distinct line. If your paperwork says one thing and your degree says another, you will spend time you do not have explaining it to a State Medical Council.

The wider campus picture is on the UPHSD Las Piñas profile.

What the University Publishes About the Programme

UPHSD Las Piñas describes itself as the founding and biggest campus of the system, with around 14,000 students across grade school to graduate school. The JONELTA Foundation School of Medicine page states:

• The programme offered is the Doctor of Medicine.
• The school was established in June 1996.
• Founding dean: Dr. Aretas P. Singson-Alday.
• It "received autonomous status by the Commission on Higher Education on November 7, 1997."

What the page does not state is the programme's duration, its year-by-year structure, its base teaching hospital, its current dean, or any fee. That is a thin public record for a school this size, and you should treat every one of those gaps as a question to send to the registrar.

The structure is at least fixed by regulation. CHED Memorandum Order No. 10, series of 2006 requires that the medical curriculum "shall be four years, the fourth year of which shall be a 12 months rotating clinical clerkship," and that the MD degree "shall be given after the fourth year and postgraduate Internship continue to be a requirement before licensure," with APMCFI supervising that internship. The same order says no degree may be conferred unless the last two curriculum years were taken at the conferring college, that a student failing 40 per cent or more of the annual academic load is dismissed, that failing the same subject twice means automatic removal from the rolls, and that new students are accepted only in the first semester.

Admission for Foreign Students

UPHSD runs an Office of International Student Affairs (OISA) at Las Piñas. Its published requirements for international applicants:

• Complete scholastic records duly authenticated by the Philippine Consular Office
• Passport data page
• Police clearance from the home country
• Proof of financial capability, such as a bank statement and affidavit of support
• Medical and psychological clearances
• Birth certificate and certificate of moral character
• Application fee

For Medicine specifically, OISA adds the diploma, transcript, National Medical Admission Test result, and Certificate of Eligibility for Admission (CEA) to Medicine. The CEA is CHED's CEMed; foreign applicants apply for it through the CHED Office of Student Services at the National Engineering Center Building, UP Diliman.

The Las Piñas admissions page repeats the foreign-student set in slightly different words and adds two useful specifics: a medical clearance issued by the Bureau of Quarantine, and a student visa or special study permit. NBI or police clearance is listed there too.

NMAT fees, from CEM: ₱500 registration and ₱1,400 test fee for domestic applicants, ₱1,900 total, about ₹2,950. NMAT-International applicants pay US$15 registration and US$45 test fee, US$60 in total, roughly ₱3,700. The registration portion is non-refundable in both cases.

OISA names its contacts publicly: Admiral Wilfredo D. Tamayo as executive director for Las Piñas, reachable on (02) 8871-0639 local 159, and Dr. Norietta C. Tansio for consultancy partnerships and the Molino and Calamba campuses. Use them. The same page confirms that UPHSD works through accredited education consultancies in India, China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and other countries — which explains why so much of the online information about this school comes from recruiters rather than the university.

Fees: What UPHSD Publishes and What Agencies Claim

The only peso amount published on the Las Piñas admissions page is ₱500 for ID replacement. There is no medicine tuition figure anywhere on perpetualdalta.edu.ph that we could find.

Here is what agency sites publish instead, quoted as evidence of what agencies claim, not as UPHSD fees:

Two agency pages, two different course lengths, one with a fee and one without. Both assert NMC and WHO approval.

Neither claim survives contact with the source documents. The NMC does not approve individual foreign medical colleges — it sets conditions on the course and tests them at registration. There is no WHO accreditation scheme for medical schools; the World Directory of Medical Schools is operated by WFME and FAIMER, and Intealth's Recognized Accreditation Policy names only WFME and NCFMEA as the organisations whose recognised accrediting agencies count. The reference to the "Medical Council of India" is also stale: MCI was replaced by the National Medical Commission in 2020.

Not published — confirm with the registrar. Ask OISA in writing for: annual tuition and miscellaneous fees for a non-Filipino MD student, whether the pre-medical BS is billed separately, the internship year's cost, the base teaching hospital, and whether fees are fixed for the duration of the course.

For a broader look at how these numbers behave, see what actually goes wrong with MBBS in the Philippines.

The FMGE Record

NBEMS published country and institute-wise FMGE performance up to 2020. After that, only session totals. So these are the only official per-school numbers that exist:

Both years beat the global average, 2020 by a wide margin. Both years also mean the majority of UPHSD candidates did not clear FMGE. And 394 candidates in one report year makes this one of the largest Indian pipelines of any Philippine medical school outside Davao.

Recent overall FMGE numbers give the context. For the December 2025 session, held on 17 January 2026, NBEMS reported 43,933 registered, 42,872 appeared, 10,262 passed — 23.95 per cent. The June 2025 session was 18.61 per cent. Whatever school you pick, three in four candidates fail. What happens after is covered in FMGE and NExT after a Philippine medical degree.

The India Problem Sitting Under All of It

India's FMGL Regulations, 2021, effective 18 November 2021, require a foreign medical degree of at least 54 months, taught in English, plus twelve months of internship in the same foreign institution, plus registration with the licensing body of the country awarding the degree, plus the screening test or NExT, plus a further twelve-month supervised internship in India.

NMC's own FAQ closes the usual escape routes. The entire course, training and internship must be done outside India in the same institution — no part in India or a third country. Internship or clerkship and clinical posting are "separate phases of practical learning." The course must be completed within ten years of joining.

The NMC public notice of 22 November 2023 deals with the Philippines directly. It records that NMC "de-recognises BS Course in Philippines" from 18 November 2021, and that even students admitted to the MD on or before that date need an extra internship year because "their course is of 48 months only unlike 54 months MBBS course in India." A further NMC advisory circulated in November 2024 warns that any variation in duration, medium, syllabus, clinical training or internship "may lead to disqualification in grant of registration in India," with "the sole responsibility" lying on the candidate.

One more item, rarely mentioned by anyone selling admissions. FMGL requires registration with the professional regulatory body of the country awarding the degree. In the Philippines that is the PRC, and Republic Act No. 2382, Section 9, lets a foreign citizen sit the physician licensure examination only where documentary evidence, confirmed by the Department of Foreign Affairs, shows the applicant's home country permits Filipinos to practise on the same terms. PRC even publishes an application form for a Certification of Ineligibility of a Non-Filipino Citizen to take a licensure examination. Ask UPHSD for its written position on this before you commit.

Living in Las Piñas

The campus sits on Alabang-Zapote Road in Las Piñas City, southern Metro Manila, near the Alabang business district. UPHSD lists computer laboratories, aviation and maritime training simulators, and clinical laboratories among its facilities. It does not publish hostel details, room rates or meal arrangements for medical students on the pages we read, so treat any "Indian mess included" claim as an agency statement until the university confirms it in writing.

How to Apply

1. Complete a bachelor's degree. Have the transcript and diploma authenticated by the Philippine Consular Office in your country.
2. Register for and sit the NMAT through CEM.
3. Apply to CHED for the CEMed, through the Office of Student Services if you are a foreign national.
4. Apply to the JONELTA Foundation School of Medicine through OISA, with police clearance, proof of financial capability, and medical and psychological clearances.
5. Get the fee assessment in writing, on university letterhead, before paying anything to anyone.
6. Convert to a 9(f) student visa. Bureau of Immigration lists 9(f) fees of roughly ₱9,720 plus US$50 for the ACR I-Card, with extensions around ₱4,020 plus US$50.

Verdict

UPHSD Las Piñas is the most established of these four schools in terms of foreign student infrastructure: a named international student office, published contacts, a clear document checklist, a formal consultancy network, and by far the largest FMGE cohort in the last official institute-wise data. Its 2019 and 2020 FMGE rates both beat the global average.

Against that: it publishes almost nothing about the medical programme itself. No duration, no hospital, no dean, no fee. A school that recruits internationally through accredited consultancies and then leaves the pricing to those consultancies is asking you to take the most expensive part of the decision on trust. Do not. And do not let the JONELTA and Tamayo names blur — get the exact institution name onto every document before you sign it.

Compare with the other three in this series: Emilio Aguinaldo College in Manila, Lyceum-Northwestern in Dagupan, and AMA School of Medicine in Makati.

Sources

• UPHSD JONELTA Foundation School of Medicine, Las Piñas
• UPHSD Office of International Student Affairs, Las Piñas
• UPHSD Admissions, Las Piñas Campus
• UPHSD Las Piñas Campus
• APMC Directory of Medical Schools, March 2025
• CHED Memorandum Order No. 10, s. 2006
• CEM: Admission to Philippine Medical Schools
• CEM NMAT Payment and Refund Policy
• NMC FAQs on the FMGL Regulations, 2021
• NMC Public Notice, 22 November 2023: clarifications for FMGs
• NMC advisory to Indian students seeking admission abroad, November 2024
• NBEMS: Country/Institute Wise Performance in FMGE 2020
• NBE: Country/Institute Wise Performance in FMGE 2019
• Careers360 on the FMGE December 2025 results, citing NBEMS
• Intealth Recognized Accreditation Policy
• Republic Act No. 2382, Medical Act of 1959
• PRC: Certificate of Ineligibility for Non-Filipino Citizens
• Bureau of Immigration: Student Visa
• Agency claim, cited as an example only: IndoMed Educare on University of Perpetual Help
• Agency claim, cited as an example only: RMC Edu on UPHSD