PAGBABAGO
It was in 1957 when the Ramon Magsaysay Award started, and in six decades the award has been given to 344 outstanding individuals in Asia. This year, at the 65th Ramon Magsaysay Awards Festival, the RM Foundation will showcase the significant and extraordinary influences of the works of the 2023 RM awardees to the world. The Philippines has received 65 awards, making it the highest among all countries in Asia, with India next with 59 awards.
This year, Miriam Coronel-Ferrer is recognized for having championed inclusivity and women’s participation in peace-building. Twenty years ago in 2003, Coronel-Ferrer’s older sister Sheila received the RM Award for Journalism, Literature and the Creative Communication Arts for “leading a groundbreaking, collaborative effort to develop investigative journalism as a critical component of democratic discourse in the country.
Another pair of siblings, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Hilario G. Davide Jr. and agricultural scientist Romulo Davide were also awarded the same prestigious recognition. Chief Justice Davide was recognized for government service in 2002 – for his life of principled citizenship and his profound service to democracy and the rule of law. His older brother Romulo was recognized for his pioneering studies on nematode diseases of plants in 2012.
As peace negotiator, Coronel-Ferrer was recognized for her “deep, unwavering belief in the transformative, non-violent strategies.” She was the first woman to head the government peace panel in 2012. As co-founder of the Southeast Asian Women’s Peace Mediators, she supported mediation in countries like Myanmar and Afghanistan. She was also mediation adviser for the United Nations and was involved in UN peace missions in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq, the Maldives, and Southeast Asia.
A UP professor in political science, she was a director of the UP Third World Studies Center and convenor of the Program on Peace, Democratization and Human Rights of the Center for Integrative and Development Studies. She was appointed by President Benigno Aquino III to the Government Negotiation Panel which she chaired and oversaw the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro. In 2015, she received the Hillary Clinton Award for Advancing Women in Peace and Security given by Georgetown University.
The other awardees are Dr. R. Ravi Kannan of India, Eugenio Lemos of Timor-Leste, and Korvi Rakshand of Bangladesh.
Kannan is honored for being a “hero of holistic health care.” As a surgical oncologist and director of the Cachar Cancer Hospital and Research Center, he is recognized for his “skill, commitment and compassion in pushing the boundaries of people-centered, pro-poor health care and cancer-care.
Lemos is recognized as a “Food Sovereignty Visionary, and for his efforts in ensuring adequate food for people, promoting the importance of conserving the environment, and social equality.” As an agriculturist, he promoted organic farming and as a singer, he uses his songs for food security and environmental protection.
Korvi Rakshand is recognized for “building bridges in education.” Together with six friends, they established the Jaago Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides access and quality education to the underprivileged. It is today considered the most dynamic non-profit organization.
The presentation awards will take place on Nov. 11, 2023 at the Metropolitan Theater in Manila ([email protected])