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Saturday, October 01, 2005
Eagle conservationist, Lihok Filipina in finals
By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
An eagle conservationist, an honest mayor, a woman revolutionist, a priest who championed the rights of war victims and a marine biologist have earned recognition for inspiring Filipinos, especially the youth.
The Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (Rafi) presented yesterday the finalists to the Third Triennial Awards for exemplary individuals and outstanding institutions in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Their stories drew applause from forum participants at the Eduardo Aboitiz Studies Center.
One of them is Domingo Tadena, 59, deputy director of the Philippine Eagle Foundation-Conservation Breeding Program.
He started as a caretaker of captured Philippine eagles in Davao City. Determined to give his family a better life and with the help of his wife, a teacher, Tadena got a scholarship and finished BS Biology at the Ateneo de Davao.
Poverty forced Tadena to enroll in high school at the age of 29.
Conservationists all over the world now regard him as an expert in the field. His work has led to various efforts to protect the country’s wildlife and forests.
“My advice is, choose your destiny. Do what you love to do,” he said.
For the outstanding institution category, the Lihok Pilipina Foundation Inc. in Cebu City is one of the five finalists.
“I feel uneasy with the recognition because we’re doing what we love to do,” Lihok executive director Tessie Fernandez said.
Lihok has programs for women, like credit assistance, and for street children. It also organized the Bantay Banay, which assists victims of rape, incest and domestic violence.
Other institutions that were recognized are Brokenshire Integrated Health Ministries Inc. (BIHMI), Maharlika Charity Foundation Inc., Mahintana Foundation Inc. and Save Mindanao Volunteers Inc. (SMVI), all based in Mindanao.
BIHMI and Maharlika give health services to underserved and war-torn areas in Mindanao.
Mahintana Foundation’s health, livelihood, educational and environmental programs have helped communities in Socsargen.
SMVI reaches out to remote and inaccessible communities of Agusanon Manobos in the Agusan marsh.
The group’s work includes literacy and medical programs that resulted in the setting up of floating learning centers, library and mobile clinic.
The former illiterate community now earns from fishing, farming and ecotourism with the help of different organizations and the government, which only learned about the community from SMVI.
In the individual category are professor Margarita dela Cruz of the University of the Philippines-Visayas, Department of Social Welfare and Development-Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao Secretary Hadja Bainon Karon, Fr. Robert Layson of North Cotabato and Upi Mayor Ramon Piang Sr.
Dela Cruz helps in coastal resource protection and preservation programs in Eastern Samar, while Karon founded the United Mindanawan Bansamoro Women Multi-purpose Cooperative, which has empowered women through livelihood programs.
Layson works for the protection of Muslims, Lumads and Christians in Pikit, Cotabato. He works for the recognition of differences among groups, and uses this approach to establish the “spaces for peace.”
Piang, a teacher, won as mayor against a member of a powerful political clan in Maguindanao. During his term, he built a leadership based on moral principles and participatory governance.
He won the 2004 Galing Pook Award for establishing a system of settling cross-tribe conflicts and reducing crime rate in his town by 35 percent.
Rafi chief operating officer Dominica Chua said screening will take three years and the announcement of winners will be in March 2006. Winners will receive P300,000, but each of the finalists will get P75,000.
(October 1, 2005 issue)
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