‘Gawad Alab ng Lahi’ honors US-based lawyers, doctors, philanthropists
‘Our Gawad Alab ng Lahi awardees bring not only pride and honor to the Filipino race — they are the flames that should inspire all of us to work together to help us achieve our shared aspirations for our country and our people,’ said Consul General Elmer G. Cato
AFilipino woman lawyer -philanthropist seeking a cure for a rare degenerative disease that afflicts Visayan men, and an American businessman-philanthropist who helped bring the Balangiga Bells back to the Philippines, were among 11 individuals, organizations and enterprises recently honored by the Philippine Consulate General in New York and the Hiraya Foundation for Filipino-American Heritage Preservation.
Also feted at the first Gawad Alab ng Lahi: Pagkilala sa Mga Natatanging Dangal ng Lahing Pilipino held at the Whitby Theater in Manhattan were Filipino nurses who have been tirelessly serving in the frontlines against Covid-19, and Filipino World War II veterans.
“Our Gawad Alab ng Lahi awardees bring not only pride and honor to the Filipino race — they are the flames that should inspire all of us to work together to help us achieve our shared aspirations for our country and our people,” said Consul General Elmer G. Cato.
“We hope that the Gawad Alab ng Lahi will inspire more of our kababayan to stoke the flames of Filipino pride by demonstrating the best of our race in whatever they do,” said Dr. Romulo Aromin, president and chair of the Hiraya Foundation.
Lawyer Geraldine Acuna-Sunshine, a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University, president of the Sunshine Care Foundation, and co-founder of the Collaborative Center for X-Linked Dystonia Parkinsonism, was bestowed the Gawad Alab ng Lahi for spearheading efforts to find a cure for the disease that afflicts Filipino males from the Visayas while providing comprehensive support for patients and their families in the Philippines.
Dr. Henry Howard, Philippine Honorary Consul in Miami, Florida, was recognized not only for his scholarship programs in the Philippines, but also for his role in securing the release and eventual return of the Balangiga Bells from the United States.
The other awardees include the Philippine Nurses Association of America, which was recognized for the service and sacrifice of its members, especially amid the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed the lives of 66 nurses from the Philippines.
Another awardee is Dr. Leo Felix Jurado, chair of the Nursing Department at the William Patterson University in New Jersey, for his role in getting the Philippines included as a testing center for the National Council Licensure Examination that has benefited thousands of Filipino nurses.