Another major milestone was achieved in 2005 with PSMID’s hosting of the 24th International Congress on Chemotherapy (ICC) in Manila, the very first time that ICC was held in a developing country. Dr. Evelina Lagamayo (2005-2006) presided over this realization of the Society’s dream, which began with the unrelenting efforts of Dr. Thelma Tupasi and Dr. Julius Lecciones in the previous years never to give up PSMID’s bid to host this event. With Dr. Thelma Tupasi as Congress President, ICC was attended by 1,842 local participants and 503 international delegates. The Manila ICC produced 6 Congress Declarations, namely, statements on (1) antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance; (2) the politics of TB drug development; (3) innovations in infection control in resource-constrained areas; (4) emerging infectious diseases (from the Asia Pacific Society for Medical Virology); (5) statement in support of a total war against retinoblastoma (from the Philippine Retinoblastoma Cooperative Group); and, (6) statement from the Philippine Partnership to fight TB, malaria and AIDS.

According to Dr. Tupasi, the Manila Declarations of the 24th ICC spelled out the road map for the International Society of Chemotherapy (ISC) and its allied professional organizations in confronting these contemporary issues. As she aptly puts it, “The Declarations posed a challenge to the ISC and its member societies for actions that are bold, swift and imaginative to control infection and cancer. The world waits with great anticipation to a meaningful response to this challenge.”