Politician who fought Marcos, Korean helping blind among 2007 Magsaysay awardees

MANILA (AP) - A Filipino nationalist at the forefront of struggle for democracy during and after Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorship, and a South Korean minister who dedicated his life to curing blindness are among the winners of the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia's version of the Nobel Prize, organizers said Tuesday.

Jovito R. Salonga, 87, won the award for government service for tirelessly fighting for the rule of law, honest and competent government and showing compassion for the poor -- democratic and social ideals that were not always easy to find in the Philippines under Marcos.

A law graduate and senator, he was crippled by a bomb blast at a political rally in 1971, a year before Marcos declared martial law. He fought Marcos' iron-fisted rule by defending the president's opponents and working for the release of political prisoners. He was briefly jailed in 1980 and spent four years in U.S. exile.

He returned a year before Marcos was ousted in the "people power" revolt and put his personal ambitions aside to back Corazon Aquino, the pro-democracy icon who succeeded Marcos.

Salonga initiated the government's efforts to recover Marcos' ill-gotten wealth. In 1991, as the Senate president, he clinched his nationalist credentials by leading fellow senators in voting to close down U.S. military bases in the Philippines.