Giving from the heart comes natural for this Doctor

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Jessica D'Aurizio
  • 917th Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AFB LA --  In 1952, a boy was born in the Philippines under strict Marshall Law. One day this same boy, Florencio Singson, would move to the United States and take advantage of the opportunity not afforded him in his mother country.

Serapio Chua left China for the Philippines in the 1920s where he met Teodora Singson, who was born and raised in the Philippines. The Japanese attacked the Philippines only 10 hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Serapio and Teodora were married and had seven children; the fifth child, Florencio Singson, was born in 1952. The family was a poor one, mom had not been able to attend school, they didn't have a television or refrigerator, but there was an abundance of fresh vegetables, fruits and love.

The family lived only a block from the school that the seven children attended in a small town in the most northern tip of the Philippines called Aparri, Cagayan. Florencio spent the majority of his free time playing basketball at the school. He also enjoyed swimming at the beach.

As the children finished high school, Serapio and Teodora decided it was time to leave the small town so their children would have the opportunity for a higher education. They moved to Manila, where Florencio was able to attend college and the family started a grocery store business in the city. The parents ran the store with the children helping as much as they could.

"Manila is just like Dallas or Houston; bad traffic, overpopulated, high rise buildings, Mega Malls and all the fast food you could want," according to Florencio.

In 1973, Florencio graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology and then with a medical degree in 1977, both from the Far Eastern University in Manila.

After graduation, Florencio returned to the city he was born in, Aparri, and paid a courtesy visit to the mayor. While there, he met Priscilla Villegas who was working for the mayor as an administrative assistant. She too had recently graduated from college with a law degree from the Universities of Santo Thomas and San Sebastian.

Priscilla, who was born in Hawaii and moved to the Philippines when she was four years old, had grown up in the same town as Florencio but had never met until this occasion.

"Love at first sight; you could say that. His height was very striking; not all Filipinos are tall...nobody could have not noticed Florencio," said Priscilla. "All the young, beautiful girls had their eyes on him."

It wasn't long after their meeting that they were married. To complete his residency they moved to the United State in 1979 where he worked at Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich., until 1983.

"After my internal medicine residency in Detroit, my wife and I decided to stay a few more years in the U.S. until the Philippines was more stable," said Dr. Florencio Singson. "The United States had been good to us."

He was thankful for the opportunity afforded him in the United States and wanted to give back something in return. Plus the Philippines was under martial law and it was too dangerous to go back home at that time.

He and his wife chose the small town of Center, Texas, which he compared to Aparri, as their new residence. The doctor opened his first practice there, a primary care clinic. Less than five years later he decided to join the Air Force Reserve and again give something back to the U.S. At that time he had already started a family and was teaching them the same values he lived by.

"My father's experience with the military has helped make me the person that I am today. He instilled in all of us a sense of civic duty and social responsibility," said Zarema Singson, the first of four daughters to the Singson's. "He has taught us to give back to our local communities."

Each daughter stressed that she had been very blessed to be born and raised in the United States where opportunities are limitless, but no matter where they had grown up, they would have been instilled with the values to be socially award, ethical, strong and independent.

Zarema is in her third year of residency in internal medicine at the University of California, Irvine Medical Center. Their second daughter, Diana, is a lawyer in Houston. The third daughter, Clarissa, is an architect working in California and their youngest daughter, Stephanie, is a professional accountant.

Twenty years, four daughters and two clinics later, Colonel Singson has reached retirement. He has spent his military career at Barksdale in the 917th Medical Squadron. He started as a Captain working alongside other medical personnel attending to the 917th Wing, was called to serve in Desert Storm, and progressed to become the commander of the squadron.

"To me, he (my father) IS the American Dream. He and our mom came to the United States with very little money, just the will to succeed and survive," said Stephanie.

His original office in Center, Texas, is now a non-invasive, non-surgical, drug-free pain management office. His second office is located in Nacogdoches, Texas, and it offers spinal care and laser acupuncture. Dr. Singson has been able to assist Parkinson's disease patients unable to walk for two years to walk again.

This is only one example of his successes in healing diseases through laser acupuncture.

"Medicare doesn't pay but $4 dollars a treatment, but it isn't about money anymore, it's about helping people," said Colonel Singson.

Now that his daughters have their own careers, and he and his wife are freer to do what they want, it isn't a burden to give back even more than they have over the years.

"I have never felt that my Dad's time spent with his patients or with the Air Force was time spent away from his family. He always seemed to make it to every dance recital, band concert, and academic competition. He even moved us in and out of the dorms every year, said Zarema. "He managed to find a balance that worked for our family. I can only hope to, one day, do the same for my family."

The Colonel still has family in the Philippines and visits them when he can; he even thought about going back to run for office...still trying to make a difference.