5 Pinoys named outstanding Southeast Asian center alumni

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna — Five noted Filipino scientists, academics, and development administrators are among those chosen as outstanding alumni of a Southeast Asian center.

Together with six nationals of four other countries, they will receive the prestigious Outstanding SEARCA Scholarship Alumni (OSSA) award from the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) when it commemorates its 50th anniversary this November.

OSSA Day is Nov. 25, or two days before SEARCA celebrates its foundation day on Nov. 27.

The five Filipinos who will receive the OSSA awards are Agriculture Undersecretary Segfredo Serrano; Naomi Tangonan, professor/scientist (retired) of the University of Southern Mindanao in Kabacan, North Cotabato; UPLB professor emeritus Lucrecio Rebugio; Delfin Ganapin Jr., global manager of the United Nations Global Environment Facility-Small Grants Program; and Generoso Octavio, founder of Ahon sa Hirap Inc, (ASHI).

Serrano, who has been agriculture undersecretary for the past 18 consecutive years under four presidents and 18 DA secretaries, is known as the negotiator for agriculture and fisheries in all international trade negotiations that the Philippines is a signatory to.

Tangonan, a multi-awarded professor/scientist, has been recipient of the prestigious Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Teacher Award, among many accolades.

Rebugio had been dean of the UPLB College of Forestry and Natural Resources and served UPLB for about four decades.

Ganapin is a former Environment and Natural Resources ( DENR) undersecretary while Octavio has been helping many of the country’s “poorest of the poor” women through his now 25-yearold Ahon sa Hirap Inc.