Martin “Dr. Balikbayan” BAUTISTA is a simple man made for true service. He was born and raised in Quezon City, and was an “Iskolar ng Bayan”. In 1989, he was a proud graduate of the University of the Philippines-PGH.
After graduation, he went to the United States and found himself in Guymon, Oklahoma, where his love for people enabled him to establish a name for himself in the field of medicine. Not only was he able to treat people as a doctor, but he was able to reach out to them as a person.
As an “Iskolar ng Bayan”, it came to him that it was time to give back to the country the good it has given him all these years. In 2006, he came back to the Philippines, realizing that there are a lot of Filipinos who badly need his help. He came back to tell the Filipino people that he has not forgotten to look back where he has come from after everything that he has attained.
Now, he is again back to continue this fight: to be the chief advocate for health care reforms and be an impetus for structural changes. With this, he left what he has built in Guymon, Oklahoma to be with the Filipino people. He is back to serve those who are weakest, poorest, and ill. In doing so, he feels the need to be engaged in the political process, as this is where political decisions are made that could affect all Filipinos now and in the generations to come.