The PULSE of the Philippine Diabetes Association (PDA) began to throb thirty six years ago, in the early part of July 1958. This was about the time when a group of internists and devoted physicians committed to the care, protection and recuperation of the diabetic patient banded together "to form the nucleus of the PDA". It was the aim of this group to unify all interests and entities in the Philippines concerned about diabetes mellitus into a single association. Thus, today, PDA stands as the umbrella organization of all associations involved in the care of the diabetic patient.

The efforts of the organizing group bore fruit when the PDA came into being on September 27, 1958. The memorable event was prompted by the visit to the Philippines of a distinguished pioneer in the diabetes mellitus from Joslin Clinic of Boston, Massachusetts, Dr. Howard Root. On this date, the charter members and a few other internists met at the historical Club Filipino. The first set of officers were elected as follows: Dr. Wenceslao Vitug, President; Dr. Paolo Campos, Vice-President; Dr. Carmen Salgo-Ora, Secretary; Dr. Aniceta Barcelon Guevara, Treasurer; and Dr. Antonio Ordonez, PRO. Elected to the Board of Directors were: Dr. Mariano Alimurung, Dr. Agustin Liboro, Dr. Conrado Pascual, Dr. Jesus Nolasco and Dr. Alfredo Navato. Their terms of office extended up to 1960.

On February 22, 1962, the Association was incorporated under the term of Dr. Basilio Valdes, who maintains the distinction of being the only physician to have served as Army Chief of Staff. Among the purposes for which the PDA was founded were to foster and support studies and researches on the prevention and care of diabetes mellitus, including cooperation with the government agencies to this effect; to collect, analyze, interpret, interchange and disseminate information about the disease in accordance with the latest findings, and to this end, to affiliate or establish relations with other diabetes institutions in other countries; and finally also to promote understanding of the individuals diabetics to lead normal and useful lives and conduct a Diabetes Detection Drive to find undiscovered diabetics.

To date, the complete list of the PDA Presidents is a display of distinguished names in the Philippine Medicine:

Dr. Wenceslao Vitug (1958-1960); Dr. Basilio Valdes (1961-1965); Dr. Agustin Liboro (1966-1968); Dr. Paolo Campos (1969-1970); Dr. Carmen Salgo-Ora (1970-1971); Dr. Gonzalo Austria (1971-1972); Dr. Sergio Rustia (1973-1974); Dr. Aurora V. Cinco (1975-1976); Dr. Germinio J. Germar (1976-1977); Dr. Lim Uy-Ching (1977-1978); Dr. Nestor M. Santiago (1978-1979); Dr. Virgilio L. Gonzales (1979-1980); Dr. Leland S. Villadolid (1980-1981); Dr. Flora Pascasio (1981-1982); Dr. Augusto D. Litonjua (1983-1994); Dr. Mary Anne Lim-Abrahan (1995-1996); Dr. Lina C. Lantion-Ang (1996-2000); Dr.Ruby T. Go (2001-2002); Dr. Rosa Allyn G. Sy (2003-2004);Dr. Ma. Teresa Plata-Que (2005-2006).

For 11 years as PDA President, Dr. Litonjua brought vigor and dynamism to the association. Under his able leadership, PDA projects were pushed one after the other. PDA became a staunch advocate of education as a right of the diabetic patient and as a fundamental component in the treatment of diabetes mellitus in addition on nutrition, exercise and hypoglycemic medication. In line with this, educational clinics were established nationwide alongside the PDA Chapters which started to be organized in 1987. The provincial chapter was tasked with the setting up of local educational clinic that would serve the community making the Philippines a frontrunner in the Asean region in this aspect. Training of the trainors was accomplished through a 2-day course carried out by Dr. Litonjua himself with the assistance of diabetes educators of the Makati Medical Center Diabetes Educational Clinic and various Endocrine Fellows of the Makati Medical Center and UP-PGH Medical Center.

PDA underwent several milestone during the period 1983-1994. The PDA Lay Organization was set-up. The Association won recognition as member of the prestigious Internal Diabetes Federation (IDF) as well as IDF Western Pacific Region. It came out with the semi-annual publication of DiabetesWatch with 15,000 to 20,000 copies per issue given free to physicians and patients. The diabetes magazine features new as well as scientific articles on diabetes mellitus for the layman.

To date, The DiabetesWatch has a wider circulation, with copies now being sent to Metro Manila's Medical School Libraries (UP-PGH, UST, FEU, MCU, UERMMMC).

In June 1991, the PDA Board decided to change the PDA seal to dramatize present concern for the family, not only the diabetic patient. The original seal contained the staff of Aesculapius, the cup and the beehive in the background. After a nationwide PDA Logo contest, the present seal portraying the family being cupped by two hands was recognized in December 1991. The motif was based on the winning entry of Dr. Gregorio del Moral of UST.

Whereas before, the PDA had no permanent headquarters, it now beams with pride to have a permanent home located at Unit 25, Facilities Centre, 548 Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong City with Telephone and Fax No. (632) 531-12-78; E-mail address: phildiab@pworld.net.ph . The offices were inagurated on June 15, 1992 with the attendance of past PDA presidents, and the heads of its pharmaceutical corporate members.

In 1995, the PDA co-hosted with PSEm the 8th AFES Congress at the PICC in Manila, Philippines.

A total of 1,002 delegates, attended the Congress (So far unsurpassed as of this meeting) and they remembered the Banquet Night where Mrs. Lydia Buendia, A professor of UP lead the delegates to the rhythm of Macarena as a form of healthy exercise at the Nayong Pilipino fair grounds.

In 1998, the PDA joined forces with the PSH & PLS in putting up seed money to conduct Hypertension, Diabetes and Lipid Survey in the Philippines in cooperation with FNRI-DOH to update data on the 3 disease for 1999. Other Researches completed for 1998 were the Diabetes Data Collection Program (DCDCP) and Diabcare Asia Study.

In 1999, An Advanced Module on Diabetic Foot was conducted by Dr. Teresa Plata-Que on April 11, 1999. A mini lecture on Medical Nutrition and Exercise was conducted by PDA as per invitation of the Medical Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on March 10, 1999. A total of 88 personnel listened to lectures given by Dr. Rosa Allyn Sy, Imelda Cardino, moderated by Dr. Lina Lantion-Ang, President.

Gleaning from a meritorious past, truly the PDA has emerged as a staunchly and guardian of the diabetic patient and his family. Yes the PDA will be around until diabetes mellitus is no more.

The first PDA chapter was established in Davao City, 1987. Other PDA Chapters followed bringing the number to a total of thirty one. At present, the existing PDA chapters are as follows:

Albay, Baguio-Benguet, Batangas, Bulacan, Bohol, Cagayan de Oro, Cagayan Valley, Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Capiz & Roxas, Cavite, Cebu, Davao, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Iloilo, La Union, laguna, Leyte, Masbate, Misamis Occidental, Negros Occidental, Nueva Ecija, Palawan, Pangasinan, Quezon, Quezon City, Rizal, Sorsogon, Zamboanga - Zamboanga del Norte.

In 1987, PDA and Philippine Society of Endocrinology co-hosted the 4th Congress of the Asean Federation of Endocrine Societies held at the Manila Garden Hotel (now Dusit Hotel) from December 5-10.

PDA Workshops were conducted in various places of the country beginning in 1990. The workshops were concieved to provide an intensive 3-day course to physician members of the PDA chapter which coordinated the respective workshop. The medical members of the PDA board of directors served as faculty members. The different aspects of diabetes mellitus were tackled in each workshop with the intention to upgrade the participants' expertise in the management of diabetes mellitus:

1st PDA Workshop	Albay, Camarines and Sorsogon November 30 - December 2, 1990
2nd PDA Workshop	Cebu April 12 - 14, 1990
3rd PDA Workshop	Davao August 11 - 13, 1991
4th PDA Workshop	Quezon City October 28 - 30, 1992
5th PDA Workshop	Bulacan December 7 - 9, 1992
6th PDA Workshop	Cagayan de Oro July 15 - 17, 1993
7th PDA Workshop	Quezon, Laguna and Albay September 3 - 5, 1993
8th PDA Workshop	Baguio-Benguet, La Union, Pangasinan, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte and Cagayan June 23 - 25, 1994
9th PDA Workshop	Iloilo October 1 - 3, 1994
10th PDA Workshop	Negros Occidental, Iloilo & Capiz July 18 - 20, 1996
11th PDA Workshop	Pangasinan DDVHH Diabetes Club November 22 - 24, 1996
12th PDA Workshop	Albay & Sorsogon April 9 - 11, 1997
13th PDA Workshop	Davao August 21 - 23, 1997
14th PDA Workshop	Century Park Hotel October 3 - 5, 1997
15th PDA Workshop	Olongapo, Bataan, Zambales and Pampanga February 6 - 8, 1998
16th PDA Workshop	Ilocos Norte & Ilocos Sur June 29 - 30, 1998
17th PDA Workshop	Cavite April 9 - 11, 1999
18th PDA Workshop	Laguna August 6 - 8, 1999
19th PDA Workshop	Tacloban City March 24 - 26, 2000
20th PDA Workshop	Lucena City July 7 - 9, 2000
21st PDA Workshop	Baguio City May 26 - 27, 2001
22nd DiabetesWorkshop	EDSA Shangri La, Mandaluyong City April 27 – 28, 2002
23rd DiabetesWorkshop	Iloilo City September 28 –29, 2002
24th DiabetesWorkshop	Bulacan February 1 – 2, 2003
25th DiabetesWorkshop	Bohol April 11 – 12, 2003
26th Diabetes Workshop	Cebu City September 19 - 20, 2003
27th Diabetes Workshop	Nueva Ecija March 13 - 14, 2004
28th Diabetes Workshop	Cagayan De Oro September 24 - 25, 2004
29th Diabetes Workshop	Legazpi City April 29 - 30, 2005
30th Diabetes Workshop	Capiz/Roxas October 28-29, 2005
31st Diabetes Workshop	Sorsogon May 12 - 13, 2006
32nd Diabetes Workshop	Batangas City September 22 - 23, 2006
33rd Diabetes Workshop	Daet, Camarines Norte March 9 - 10, 2007
34th DiabetesWorkshop	August 10 - 11, 2007 Century Park Hotel, Manila
35th DiabetesWorkshop	March 14, 2008 (Friday) The Legend Hotel, Palawan
36th DiabetesWorkshop	May 9, 2008 (Friday) Hotel Roma, Tuguegarao City

In 1999, Para-Medical Personnel (Nurses & Dieticians) have been allowed to attend the 1st day of the PDA Workshop.

The intensification of the education drive included regional training courses for diabetes educator nurses and dieticians, the holding of a midyear PDA Convention with the first one held on July 10, 1992 aside from the annual convention and the active participation of PDA during the Diabetes Awareness Week which is celebrated on the last week of July each year. President Fidel V. Ramos Proclamation No. 213 on July 22, 1993, designating the last of week of July of each as Diabetes Awareness Week.