EMERALDS II PROJECT

The UPCM Class of 1971 launched the first EMERALDS Project in 1996 with support from Senator Franklin Drilon. It was the class’s gift to their Alma Mater, the University of the Philippines College of Medicine (UPCM) during their Silver Jubilee. The acronym stood for Electronic Medical Research and Library Database System. As the world was going into personalized computers and launching into cyberspace, it was prescient of the class to choose a project in keeping with digital technology to build a computerized database facility with data storage capacity for electronic medical journals and to establish a network link between the Medical Library Local-area network (LAN) and the campus wide-area network (WAN). The facility was located within the Florentino Medical Library building and functioned there for more than ten years. In 2012, during the construction of the new Medical Sciences Center at the site, the area experienced a sinkhole collapse. The hardware was moved to the Biochemistry building, where students and faculty at UP-Manila still use it.

This year, 2025, a new UP Manila Library is undergoing construction and plans are underway to relocate the EMERALDS back into the Florentino Herrera Medical Library on the 3^rd floor of the new building. The facility which will now be known as EMERALDS II will be bigger and there is a need to increase the number of iMac computers to 80 from 10 in the first EMERALDS facility. The members of Class 1971 who are now approaching their Emerald Jubilee in 2026 aim to fund this need to keep its legacy of launching the first ever computerized system and internet connectivity of the UPCM. We welcome the public to join us in maintaining this project and keeping it up to date.

Below are pictures of the architectural plan and finished room of the EMERALDS, courtesy of UP Manila Chancellor Michael Tee, as submitted by Architect Rosalie Flores-Bernardo