BACOLOD CITY, Philippines - The Negros Occidental provincial government recently conferred awards on five Negrenses, for outstanding and exemplary achievements in their respective fields, during the 113th Cinco de Noviembre anniversary celebration at the Capitol.
Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. encouraged the young generation to emulate the lives of the five awardees whose values and love for education and hard work have made them successful in their careers and endeavors.
The five outstanding Negrenses were Dr. Ramon Gustilo in the field of medicine, Dr. Ricardo Yanson Sr. for transportation, Lydia Gaston for culture and the arts, Antonio Mapa for agriculture and Dr. Oscar Hilado for business.
Gustilo was a former “bakero” from Manapla town who, in his determination "never be poor in front of the carabao,” took up medicine and later became the world-famous inventor of BIAS hip and the Exodus and Genesis knee replacement systems.
For 25 years, he headed the Department of Orthopedic Surgery of the Hennepin Count Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, and he now owns the Gustilo Town Center, the Northland Resort Hotel, the Villaverde Subdivision and the R.B. Shell Service and Gasoline Station in Manapla.
Yanson started his transport business in the province with one jeepney in 1965. Now, the Yanson Group of Bus Companies or the Ceres Liner has 2,000 buses plying Visayas, Mindanao and part of Luzon, and is the country's largest transport firm employing 10,000 people nationwide.
Gaston, a well-loved dancer, teacher and choreographer, got a degree in education from Maryknoll College before going to the US for graduate studies and dance training at the School of Ballet Russo de Monte Carlo and Ballet Arts Studio.
She trained for ballet with the world-famous Remedios De Oteyza, Alexandra Danilova, Mia Slavenska, Leon Damelian and the legendary Martha Graham, among others. She was a founding member of the Dance Theater Philippines and performed with Alice Reyes of the CPP Dance Company (now Ballet Philippines), and has taught at the Baltimore Ballet School and Mt. Vermon (Maryland) Ballet School in the USA.
Mapa was the only Negrense who pioneered and ventured in specialized and mechanized integrated rice farming, using 245 hectares of his land in Moises Padilla town and Canlaon City for more than 25 years now. He pioneered the farming of Japanese rice “Koshi Hikari” in the province which is being sold and distributed to their clients in Metro Manila.
Mapa owned Agro Marton Corporation, the producer of the premium-grade Japanese rice, under the Mt. Fuji brand, which is of better quality than the one produced by China. He employs 600 households and provides the education of the children of his farm workers. He was president of OISCA-Philippines from 1992 to 1994, and OISCA-Canlaon Chapter from 1975 to the present.
Hilado is a respected name in the corporate world, both nationally and internationally. Among the pioneering Commerce graduates of La Salle-Bacolod, he was a Smith Mundt/Fullbright scholar at the Harvard Graduate School of Business where he obtained his Masters Degree in Business Administration.
He was named Management Man of the Year by the Management Association of the Philippines in 1991 and Outstanding Fullbright Awardee for Business Management by the Philippine Fullbright Scholars Association in 1996. Now the chairman and chief executive officer of PHINMA, Hilado raised P1 billion for an education program and, through his MARIPOSA Foundation, sponsored the construction of 65 Gawad Kalinga houses and 25 units more in Barangay Sum-ag in Bacolod City.
Marañon told the crowd during the awarding rites: "We must emulate the lives of these five awardees." He said the youth today have so many "distractions" due to information and communications technology, which tended to set aside the values of hard work, education and perseverance. - THE FREEMAN