Greetings from the Philippine College of Optometrists! We are happy to update you on the latest news in optometry.

The 7th Asia Cornea and Contact Lens Conference
We were overwhelmed by the success of the 7th Asia Cornea and Contact Lens Conference. We owe this success largely to our speakers who came from different parts of the world to generously share their knowledge and expertise in cornea and contact lenses, to our generous sponsors, and to the tireless men and women of the ACCLC management committee. 

We were blessed by the support given by the Board of Optometry, the Optometry Council of Deans of the Philippines, the President of the Integrated Philippine Association of Optometrists (IPAO), and the President of the Optometric Association of the Philippines (OAP).

We are thankful for all the schools of optometry that supported their faculty and students who attended the ACCLC to experience this once in a life time scientific gathering in the Philippines. We thank the administrations of the Centro Escolar University, Cebu Doctor's University, Davao Doctor's College, Manila Central University, Mindanao Medical Foundation and Southwestern University for their support and cooperation.

We thank God for the broad base of support we received from all sectors of eye care here in the Philippines as well as other parts of the world, including ACCLC's permanent secretariat in Hong Kong.

The 17th Consultative Meeting
The PCO 17th Consultative Meeting on Optometric Education, Regulation and Practice Standards attended by the Credentials Committee of the Singapore Optometrists and Opticians Board showed that indeed there is a need for mutual cooperation among ASEAN countries for the advancement of optometric education and harmonization of training programs and regulatory policies in the region. This should prepare the each country, including the Philippines, to undertake negotiations to implement agreements in trade in services, starting with the Mutual Recognition Agreements ( MRAs) among Asean countries.

Faculty Training Program
We have finally arrived at the 21st century eye and vision examination by being able to finally break the yoke of the 21 Steps of the OEP, a significant milestone in the history of Philippine optometry education.

It was a historical event in optometry when the educators of this country converged to review the educational training program of the country, producing the Protocol for the Comprehensive Eye Examination and its implementing guidelines during the PCO-OCDP Faculty Development Program. These were forwarded to the Board of Optometry and Technical Panel in Optometry who are in the process of revising and revisiting the Examination Syllabi for the board examination and CMO 38 of the Commission on Higher Education, respectively.

We thank the Optometry Council of Deans of the Philippines and their respective faculty members, the Board of Optometry and the Technical Panel in Optometry Education for their unified support for this historic meeting.

PCO Forges Alliances with the New England College of Optometry and University of California at Berkeley.

We visited the New England College of Optometry and UC Berkeley and we were fortunate that they have agreed to partner with the Philippine College of Optometrists in advancing the educational training program of our country. In view of this, the Presidents of various colleges of optometry in the country agreed to partner with the Philippine College of Optometrists in sending the deans of optometric colleges to the USA to study the educational training program of New England College of Optometry and University of California Berkeley. Our goal is to be able to help the optometry schools design and implement a six-year curriculum that is at par with the rest of the world. We also aim to establish an International Optometry Program in the Philippines. In addition to the visits of our Deans to NECO and UCB, we will also pursue the faculty development program, students' exchange program, and clinical residency and fellowship exchange programs.

The Upcoming 15th PCO Forum
We cordially invite you to the 15th PCO Forum. We are focusing on advances in contact lenses, ophthalmic lenses, dry eyes and optical quality assurance. All of these will be delivered through a workshop format and it is our goal that attendees of this Forum will learn the clinical and practical applications of these new technologies and products in their practices.

We hope to see you all in the future meetings of PCO and thank you for your continued support!


Yours truly,

Jesse B. Caguioa, OD, FPCO, FAAO
President/ CEO