ILOILO City – An alumnus of the University of San Agustin (USA) emerged as the country’s third-highest scorer in the October 2026 Pharmacists Licensure Examination (PhLE), leading a group of 35 newly licensed Augustinian pharmacists in the latest national board examinations.
Jason Rey Jimenez Peñaflorida secured third place nationwide with an impressive rating of 95.65 percent, placing him among the country’s top-performing pharmacy graduates.
His achievement highlighted the Iloilo-based university’s strong showing in the examination, whose results were released by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) on Wednesday, October 21.
Peñaflorida’s performance also reinforced Iloilo’s reputation as a center for health sciences education, with local institutions continuing to produce graduates capable of competing with the country’s best.
The University of San Agustin celebrated the achievement of Peñaflorida and its 34 other successful examinees, describing their accomplishments as a source of pride for the Augustinian community.
“You have made the Augustinian community proud. Congratulations, Augustinian pharmacists,” the University of San Agustin shared in an official statement on Facebook.
Nationwide, 3,830 of the 4,944 examinees passed the two-day licensure examination, translating to a national passing rate of 77.47 percent.
The results showed that more than three out of every four examinees successfully met the requirements for professional registration as pharmacists.
The examination was conducted on October 15 and 16 across 15 testing centers nationwide, including Iloilo City, Metro Manila, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Koronadal, Legazpi, Lucena, Pagadian, Pampanga, Rosales, Tacloban, Tuguegarao and Zamboanga.
It was administered by the Professional Regulatory Board of Pharmacy, headed by Acting Chairperson Alicia P. Catabay, together with board members Mildred B. Oliveros and Anthony Aldrin C. Santiago./PN
