Heroes and awardees
THIS month, amidst events that have caused considerable outrage and divisiveness, our people have quietly turned to the observance of anniversaries of some of our national heroes. Last August 19th was President Manuel L. Quezon’ s birthday; last August 21, 34 years ago, Ninoy Aquino was shot on the tarmac; and on Monday, August 28, we shall celebrate National Heroes Day. Then on August 31, birth anniversary of President Magsaysay, the 59th batch of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Awards will be recognized.
According to RMAF President Carmencita Abella, the award is given annually to individuals and organizations who “address issues of human development in Asia with courage and creativity, and in so doing, have made contributions that have transformed their societies for the better.” Five individuals – Lilia de Lima, former director-general of the Philippine Export Processing Zone, Japan’s Yoshiaki Ishizawa, Indonesia’s Abdon Nababan, Sri Lanka’s Getshie Shanmugan, and Singapore’s Tony Tay – and PETA, the Philippines’ pioneering theater group, will be honored.
De Lima is recognized for her “unstinting, sustained leadership in building a credible and efficient PEZA, proving that the honest, competent, and dedicated work of public servants can, indeed, redound to real economic benefits to millions of Filipinos, and for building PEZA into a showcase of successful regulatory reform, a model institution of honest and committed public service, and a key contributor to the nation’s economic growth.”
She has earned tremendous respect from her peers at the Department of Trade and Industry where she was a former undersecretary, as well as colleagues from the business sector for what she has done in introducing best practices at the workplace. At the PEZA, for example, she entrenched the 24/7 culture where one renders 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including Sundays and holidays, except Good Friday. From the original 16 economic zones with 420 companies that she inherited from the original Export Processing Zone in 1995, these have grown to 286 economic zones with 3,000 companies and over 800,000 employees. It will interest many to know that 90% of Philippine manufactured goods come from PEZA and an estimated 60% of annual investments in PEZA are from companies that have located themselves there. These manufacturing, information technology, tourism and agro-industrial economic zones are host to companies that employ close to one million Filipinos. PEZA’s accomplishments have been nothing short of spectacular, the RMA Foundation notes. De Lima who was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, has been conferred several awards – a Doctor of Laws by MLQ University, and the Management Man of the Year by the Management Association of the Philippines. She is also a TOWNS (Outstanding Women) awardee.
PETA was founded 50 years ago with the vision of creating a national theater. A non-profit organization, its productions are in Filipino, the national language, and are remarkable for their artistry and social relevance. PETA has mobilized, mentored, and supported performing artists from various Asian countries to undertake advocacy-building through the arts on such issues as gender and health.
Yoshiaki Ishizawa, a Japanese scholar, is honored for empowering Cambodians to be proud stewards of their heritage. He has devoted 50 years of his life to assure that Angkor Wat survives and remains a living monument for Cambodians.
The most important person in Indonesia’s IP (Indigenous People) Movement is Abdon Nababan who is being honored for his leadership in pushing the landmark constitutional court ruling which decreed that forests in IP territories are not “state forests,” thus returning some 57 million hectares of government-controlled forest land to indigenous communities.
Getshie Shanmugam of Sri Lanka trained hundreds of practitioners and thousands of teachers in the psychosocial sector. And Tony Tay of Singapore organized “Willing Hearts,” a non-profit organization that operates 365 days of the year distributing hot, packed meals to the needy.
Their stories of passion, courage and sacrifice truly inspire us.