DABAWENYOS made a rare feat when they snagged the top prizes for both individual and group in the most coveted Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (Rafi) Triennial Award for two different but most deserving of the awards.
Rafi, last August 31, 2018, awarded Doctor Benedict Edward P. Valdez the Ramon Aboitiz Award for Exemplary Individual and the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) the Eduardo Aboitiz Award for Outstanding Institution, besting eight other finalists who like Dr. Valdez and the PEF have committed a lifetime of service to the communities and their advocacies.
As if the distinction that is most coveted by individuals and groups who serve the communities in Visayas and Mindanao was not enough, Dr. Valdez went on to get yet another award just last November 26, 2018, as The Most Outstanding Physician in the Doctor Evelyn Tantamco-Gusi Awards on ceremonies held in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
Valdez's day job is as chair of the Emergency Department and he also heads the Trauma Unit of the Department of Surgery of the Southern Philippines Medical Center, the country's biggest and most comprehensive government hospital.
He chose to spend his private life still in service to the public as he is president of Maharlika Charity Foundation, Inc. in Davao City, where he previously served as director of missions. Maharlika, founded by Doctor Rizal. P. Aportadera, a highly-regarded and service-dedicated surgeon of Davao City, has been serving the unserved sectors providing free medical and dental services to impoverished communities in remote areas including reconstructive and eye surgeries -- services that the poor especially those in faraway places would have otherwise not been able to access.
Filling in the large shoes of Aportadera would have made a less deserving doctor shriveling. But Doctor Benedict, as he is known to many, proves he has the mettle and dedication to serve the unserved.
The twin awards is but milestones in Valdez’s chosen path in his medical career, which he thought was just about healing the sick abut turned out to be a calling to serve the people.
"I realized back then, the lack of good quality health care services, especially for the indigent and marginalized Filipinos in remote areas. After having been involved in more than 159 major medical missions within the past 22 years or so, I have seen how extending a helping hand has benefitted around 100,000 patients in our country," he said in his speech during the Rafi Awards.
Aside from leading the city's oldest medical charity foundation, Valdez also trains medical professionals in pre-hospital care and serves as medical director of the City's Central 911 Emergency Medical Services (EMS).
"I’ve always wanted the Philippines to have the kind of efficient emergency response practices we’d often see on American TV and films. Starting the first Emergency Medicine Training Program in Mindanao and improving the services of 911 EMS Davao, have been the initial steps taken toward that goal," he said.
Rafi, a social development foundation based in Cebu that has been serving communities for half a century now, confers the Rafi Triennial Awards every three years since it was launched on December 6, 1996 during the foundation’s 30th anniversary to commemorate Don Ramon Aboitiz and his son Don Eduardo Aboitiz whose efforts have expanded from that of traditional philanthropy into democracy-based and people-oriented endeavors.
The Ramon Aboitiz Award for Exemplary Individual and the Eduardo Aboitiz Award for Outstanding Institution aims to recognize individuals and institutions who have committed themselves to building a more humane, equitable, and caring society.
The Doctor Evelyn Tantamco-Gusi Awards was established to recognize physicians who have chosen to take the path less trodden to serve the marginalized sectors of society. Doctor Tantamco-Gusi, in her lifetime, has chosen to serve as a people's doctor through her various community outreach programs. She advocated for volunteerism and spearheaded medical missions in far-flung areas to provide medical and basic needs of the poor. The awards body is headed by Ambassador Barry Gusi, the doctor's widower, who founded the Gusi Peace Prize Foundation.