Former SU trustee receives Asia's highest honor
the Weekly Sillimanian
August 8, 2007
     

      Former Board of Trustees member Dr. Jovito Salonga is the sole winner from the Philippines in this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Award.

      He was awarded in the field of Government Service. The six other Magsaysay awardees came from China, Nepal, India, and South Korea.

      "I am humbled by the award, it was supposed to be a secret until we receive the award on Aug. 31," said Salonga in the Philippine Daily Inquirer dated August 1.

      He was recognized through his long public career in service to democracy and good governance with exemplary integrity and substance.

      "It's well deserved and long overdue because he struggled for human rights in the midst of political [warfare], and he remained steadfast with his Christian faith. You can never hear anything [negative] about him," said Jovito Salonga Center for Law and Development Director Atty. Mikhail Maxino.

      Salonga was named "the nation's fiscalizer" for being persistent in exposing former President Ferdinand Marcos' anomalies. He was elected senator under three different administrations (Macapagal, Marcos, and Aquino). A former senate president who authored legislations such as the State Scholarship law, the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, and other laws protecting the state from plunder and military coups, Salonga is a recipient of the University of the Philippines honoris causa.

      "He will surely become an inspiration to many who continually struggle for democracy, freedom, and respect to human rights," Maxino added.

      The Ramon Magsaysay Award was created to honor the late president Ramon Magsaysay and perpetuate his exampling of integrity in government, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society. The award is Asia's equivalent to the Nobel Prize. (by Kimberly Daphne V. Gari)