GMA to honor outstanding studes

President Arroyo will be the guest of honor and keynote speaker as the nation salutes the Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines (TOSP) during formal rites at the Ceremonial Hall of Malacañang on Thursday.

An annual search program launched in 1962, the TOSP counts among its past awardees some of the country’s most distinguished personalities in various fields of endeavor. So prestigious is the award that no less than the president of the republic hands out the trophies at Malacañang.

With Mrs. Arroyo, the traditional presidential award-giving has come full circle for the TOSP. The first batch of winners received their trophies from President Diosdado Macapagal and this was continued under the administrations of past Presidents Ferdinand Marcos, Corazon Aquino, Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada.

The winners of this year’s search will only be announced during the awards rites, which will be attended by the 30 finalists from all over the country. The finalists were selected from an original 326 nominees who are all academic achievers and campus role models and who graduated from their respective courses last March.

The TOSP is an annual project of the RFM Foundation Inc., in cooperation with the Commission on Higher Education, the Rotary Club of Makati Central, RFM Corp. and National Bookstore.

To assist the President during the awards ceremonies are RFM Foundation chairman Jose Concepcion Jr.; Dr. Ester Garcia, chairman of the Commission on Higher Education; Alfredo Ramos of National Bookstore; RFM Corp. president and CEO Jose Ma. Concepcion III; First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo; and Rotary Club of Makati Central president Eugene Yu.

The board of judges for the 2001 TOSP search is chaired by Dr. Mona Valisno, commissioner of the Commission on Higher Education, and the members are Napoleon Rama, publisher of the Manila Bulletin; lawyer Ricardo Romulo, chairman of the Makati Business Club; Dr. Patricia Licuanan, president of Miriam College; Baltazar Endriga, president of the Cultural Center of the Philippines; and Luis Lorenzo Jr., chief executive officer of Lapanday Holdings Corp.