MANILA, Philippines – The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) believes good stories, especially those of individuals that have found their purpose in serving their communities, need to be known.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award – often called the “Nobel Prize of Asia” – is considered the premier prize in the region. Since 1958, the award has been given to individuals who have “[addressed] issues of human development in Asia with courage and creativity, and in doing so have made contributions that have transformed their societies for the better.”
For its 65th anniversary, the foundation launched a seven-volume series featuring stories about all award recipients, which include the Dalai Lama (who received the award in 1959 for community leadership) and Mother Teresa (in 1962 for peace and international understanding).
“We are not celebrating celebrities,” said Delia Albert, RMAF trustee and former secretary of Foreign Affairs. “I mean, we are celebrating, perhaps they become celebrities afterwards, but we’re looking at people who serve humanity in their own respective ways of doing it.”
The series features photographs, biographies, and anecdotes on the 348 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees glossed over 2,500 pages. Albert said that aside from inspiring the youth, the foundation is hopeful that this will also attract donors to help them with their cause and support more laureates in doing work for their advocacies.
“We felt that there is a gap in the awareness of the public on these role models in the community and the very, very main reason for the awarding, having been in the board, was to look for a manifestation of a person along the lines of greatness of God,” Albert said.
The Award
The foundation was set up in 1957, in honor of President Ramon Magsaysay – who figured in a plane crash on March 17, 1957. Magsaysay is remembered for his “example of integrity in public service and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society.”
“There was a line in one of the letters saying, six weeks after Ramon Magsaysay died, John Rockefeller wrote to President Carlos P. Garcia saying that, ‘Will you allow us to set, to set up this foundation?’ [Because] we have to concur and President Garcia concurred, so that set the thing rolling,” Albert said, recalling the history of the foundation.
The RMAF was launched in May 1957, and has since awarded 322 individuals and 26 organizations from from 22 countries and territories in Asia. Here are the number of awardees from each country and other regions:
- 3 – Afghanistan
- 13 – Bangladesh
- 8 – Cambodia
- 18 – China
- 7 – Hong Kong
- 59 – India
- 29 – Indonesia
- 27 – Japan
- 4 – Laos
- 11 – Malaysia
- 7 – Myanmar
- 5 – Nepal
- 13 – Pakistan
- 65 – Philippines
- 3 – Singapore
- 20 – South Korea
- 10 – Sri Lanka
- 9 – Taiwan
- 25 – Thailand
- 1 – Tibet
- 3 – Timor Leste
- 4 – Vietnam
- 4 – Southeast Asia-based
The award is given in six categories every year – recognizing those whose work on government service, public service, community leadership, peace and international understanding, emergent leadership, and journalism, literature, and creative communication arts made an impact in their respective communities. Recipients whose life’s work range from advancing human rights, public health, poverty alleviation, education, to social development, among others, get recognized through the RMAF.
“I think we are quite relevant to what’s going on in the world today, but it’s very difficult to find those people because normally, these people don’t do it for recognition,” Albert said. “They are the first to be shocked to know that they were selected… that’s the value of this award, nobody works to get that award.”
“You are recognized for what you have done and what you have shared with society.” – Rappler.com