Men and women who make QC proud

For the last 10 years, the Quezon City government has been giving awards to Most Outstanding Citizens and Organizations for improving the quality of life of city residents. I will add, for inspiring other cities to follow suit. The awardees have made a dint in various fields such as in the judiciary, visual or performing arts, literature, journalism, music, medicine, business, and the academe. Every year, a board of judges scrutinizes nominees’ qualifications and contributions carefully, it’s a formidable challenge choosing the year’s winners from a long, long list.

The Gawad Parangal awards was conceptualized by a visionary, former QC Mayor Sonny Belmonte, who is now Speaker of the House of Representatives.

At the awarding program last October, incumbent Mayor Herbert Bautista rallied city residents on how they can emulate what the awardees had accomplished “in the task of nation-building, and also in the continued quest for the city’s sustainable development.”

The awardees for the 10th Gawad ng Parangal were honored at the city’s celebration of its 73rd founding anniversary at the Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila.

The 2012 recipients are Health Secretary Enrique Ona, dean of the Ateneo de Manila University Graduate School Dr. Alfredo Bengzon, multi-awarded musical artist Fides Cuyugan-Asencio, journalist Jose “Butch” Dalisay, visual artist Araceli Limcaco-Dans, economist and multi-media journalist Solita “Winnie” Collas Monsod, beauty and fashion expert Ricky Reyes, multi-awarded architect and designer Abelardo Tolentino Jr., and educator and publishing entrepreneur Ester Vibal.

A special feature in the evening’s grand affair was the Tandang Sora award, created to honor the memory of the Grand Old Lady of the Katipunan, Melchora “Tandang Sora” Aquino, born 200 years ago. The award was presented by the city government to Helena Z. Benitez, 94-year-old former senator, educator and women’s rights advocate. (HZB was a Gawad Parangal awardee in 2004.) The award, which in succeeding years will be given during the heroine’s birth anniversary on Jan. 6, is being conferred to individuals who best exemplify the life and advocacy of Tandang Sora.

Also given 2012 Gawad Parangal awards as outstanding organizations were Ayala Land Inc., Ortigas and Co., Metro Bank Foundation, Philippine Franchising Association, Philippine Children’s Medical Center, Himlayang Pilipino, Inc., and the Philippine Educational Theatre Association (PETA). These institutions have helped in the development of the city’s educational, financial, banking, real estate, medical services and cultural landscapes.

Former UP president Dr. Emerlinda Roman chaired the 2012 selection board, whose other members were Integrated Bar of the Philippines-QC Chapter president Atty. Victoria Loanzon, former councilor Alberto Galarpe, senior adviser to the mayor Dr. Manuel Alba, gender and development resource and coordinating office head Dr. Mary Ruby Palma, and cultural and tourism affairs office chief Rosario Yara.

Previous awardees included the late President Corazon Aquino, Lea Salonga, Charo Santos, Frank Sionil Jose, Flor Rosario Braid, Cheche Lazaro, Atty. Felipe Gozon, Rustica Carpio, Jullie Yap Daza, Fr. Joaquin Bernas, S.J., and the late comedy king, Dolphy.

The accomplishments of the awardees are too numerous to be accommodated in this space. One who goes through their records wonders how a city has nurtured so many outstanding individuals. The following years will reveal more of its gifted and dedicated individuals.

 The outstanding citizens are most impressive, like Secretary Ona for his, among many qualifications, “skills, among which is his transforming of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (incidentally a QC Gawad Parangal awardee of 2011), into “one of the most modern, well-administered, and excellent medical centers in the country.” There is, too, Dr. Bengzon, known for his “achievement of personal health and socio-economic welfare for every Filipino.”

Then there’s the fiery Solita Collas-Monsod, economist-academician, broadcast and print journalist, presented as “a highly credible multi-media journalist listened to and ready by government policymakers, business leaders, politicians, academicians, students, employees, and the man in the street.”

I personally know the awardee Esther Asuncion Vibal, who started her professional career as a newspaper lifestyle editor, and rose to become president of Vibal Publishing House, Inc., one of the country’s reliable printers and publishers of educational textbooks. Esther remains committed to her humanitarian and socio-civic commitments, extending assistance to economically disadvantaged groups.

She does not know me, but I have long been an admirer of Araceli Limcaco Dans, who told interviewers she paints and draws from life because colors in life are different from colors in photographs. Her marvelous pieces, lyrical yet realistic, are like photographs rich in fine details and colors of life executed in various paint media. No wonder her works are found in hundreds of institutional and individual or personal collections.

A most touching response was made by awardee Ricardo Enrique Reyes Jr., who seemed at a loss for words, unbelieving, that he would be recognized by the city as an outstanding citizen. Ricky Reyes’ story is fascinating. Popularly known as “Mother Ricky,” he started his network of 44 Gandang Ricky Reyes salons with a modest capital out of personal savings from his earnings as a floor sweeper in an aunt’s beauty parlor. Now one of the country’s well-known hair specialists, he hosts a television show giving tips in hair styling and makeup, and runs a nationwide livelihood program called “Isang Gunting, Isang Suklay,” which helps those who want to earn their keep in hairstyling. Then there is his Child Haus (a Center for Health and Life Improvement) which is a halfway house for cancer-stricken children from the provinces seeking treatment in Manila.

Forbes magazine listed Mother Ricky as one of  its 48 “Heroes of Philanthropy” in Asia.

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