4 luminaries to receive Ateneo de Manila’ highest honors
A printmaker, a human rights lawyer, a peacemaker and a diplomat are the recipients of the 2018 Traditional University Awards of the Ateneo de Manila University. The awards recognize and honor men and women who exemplify the values of the universities. This year’s individual winners are Virgilio Aviado, Atty. Carlos Medina, Zenaida Brigida Pawid and Albert del Rosario.
This year’s “Gawad Tanglaw ng Lahi” awardee is Aviado, one of the pioneers of printmaking in the Philippines. He is responsible for introducing the art to many artists. His dedication to the art of printmaking has resulted in hundreds of prints, a multitude of awards and more than a hundred exhibitions here and abroad.
For his strategic role promoting and defending human rights in the Philippines and ASEAN region, Medina will be honored with “Parangal Lingkod Sambayanan.” He has led human rights institutions like the Ateneo Human Rights Center and the Philippine Human Rights Center. Medina also presided over the Philippine working group that helped establish the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights.
Pawid, who has dedicated more than 30 years of her life protecting the rights of the indigenous peoples (IP) of the Cordillera region in northern Philippines, will be conferred with the “Ozanam Award.” Her presentation of the perspectives of the IP of the Cordillera was vital to the passage of the Indigenous People’s Rights Act, the most important policy tool for IP self-determination.
As Secretary of Foreign Affairs, del Rosario strengthened the Department of Foreign Affairs by instituting reforms that upgraded the diplomacy skills of the career service corps and increased the accessibility of consular services. Del Rosario will be conferred with a Doctor of Humanities, honoris causa.
The 2018 Special Academic Convocation for the conferment of the Traditional University Awards will be held on September 25, 2018 at the Henry Lee Irwin, SJ Theatre. It will be streamed live at: http://www.ateneo.edu/
