2022 Ramon magsaysay awaRdees to inspiRe youth leadeRs via public foRum

Gary Benchenghib will be joined by his fellow 2022 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees — mental health advocate Sotheara Chhim from Cambodia, sight-saving humanitarian Tadashi Hattori from Japan, and children’s rights crusader Bernadette J. Madrid from the Philippin

This year’s Ramon Magsaysay Emergent Leader Awardee Gary Bencheghib will speak on Instagram Reels Bringing Real Change, his advocacy to eradicate marine plastic pollution in Bali, Indonesia, the headliner of the two-part forum which features this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation honorees.

For the second part of the event, Benchenghib will be joined by his fellow 2022 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees — mental health advocate Sotheara Chhim

from Cambodia, sight-saving humanitarian Tadashi Hattori from Japan, and children’s rights crusader Bernadette J. Madrid from the Philippines — as they shed light on their respective advocacies and impart their very own stories of triumph against adversities.

Bencheghib is a French

filmmaker and social media content creator based in Indonesia.

Chhim was recognized for “his calm courage in surmounting deep trauma to become his people’s healer; his transformative work amidst great need and seemingly insurmountable difficulties, and

for showing that daily devotion to the best of one’s profession can itself be a form of greatness.”

Hattori, an ophthalmologist who dedicated his time and resources in providing free eye surgeries, was honored as the embodiment of individual social responsibility.

A stalwart champion of

every Filipino child, Madrid was acknowledged for “her unassuming and steadfast commitment to a noble and demanding advocacy; her leadership in running a multisectoral, multidisciplinary effort in child protection that is admired in Asia; and her competence and compassion in devoting herself to seeing that every abused child lives in a healing, safe, and nurturing society.”

The forum is made possible by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation and the De La SalleCollege of Saint Benilde. The assembly will be conducted on Thursday, 1 December and will run from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

It will be held live at the Design and Arts Campus Theater of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde. For more information about the awardees, visit

Photographs courtesy of raMon Magsasay aWarDs 2022 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees (from left) Sotheara Chhim (Cambodia), mental health advocate; Bernadette J. Madrid (Philippines), children’s rights crusader; Tadashi Hattori (Japan), sight-saving humanitarian; and Gary Bencheghib (Indonesia), anti-plastic pollution warrior.