N.L Villa Memorial Medical Center

Officially inaugurated in May 1969, the N.L. Villa Memorial Medical Center has stood for the last 44 years as testament to a success story born of vision, initiative, industry, and the hardy collective perseverance of a family that Batangas can proudly call its own. The vision of establishing the medical institution had its roots in the 1960s when a young Dr. Nemesio Katigbak Villa, Jr. resolved that one day, he will put up a hospital in honor of his father, Dr. Nemesio Leyesa Villa, Sr. who had faithfully served the people of Lipa as Municipal Health Officer for 22 years prior. It was the young Dr. Junior’s vision to render service through the medical profession. Having grown up seeing his father put up beds to accommodate his needy patients, the young Nemesio, or “Junior”, as he was fondly known, pursued medical studies in Manila, after which he went to the United States in 1965 to complete his medical training in Pediatric Surgery. There he married his lifelong partner, Dr. Norma Samaniego Alindogan, who nurtured Dr. Junior’s vision with her steady presence. In 1968, a couple of years after Dr. Nemesio L. Villa, Sr. passed away, they returned to Lipa fresh from medical training. Armed with basic medical equipment that they have painstakingly accumulated while abroad, and with the committed support of the Villa family, they built a 25-bed facility designed by a fellow Batangueno, Architect Antonio Cabral. Over the years, N.L. Villa Memorial Medical Center has steadily grown from a small hospital almost entirely staffed by fellow members of the Villa family, to a multi-building complex with dedicated centers for Ophthalmology, Cardiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, and Surgery. And to date, it has kept a stellar reputation for state-of- the art diagnostic, therapeutic, and rehabilitation facilities. Inspired by the memory of the Villa patriarch, and the guidance of Dr. Junior and Dr. Norma, the third generation of Villa family physicians and professionals are carrying on the legacy and dreams that humbly began more than four decades ago as a personal tribute of a son to his father. Even with its remarkable growth, the N.L. Villa Memorial Medical Center has, in a sense, come full circle. This time, however, it is fueled by the shared efforts of the next generation as they continue Dr. Junior’s vision of serving the people through the medical profession.