A Filipina doctor who champions the rights of children was adjudged one of four recipients of this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Awards, reputed to be Asia’s counterpart of the Nobel Prize.
Bernadette J. Madrid, 64, was conferred the award for “her admirable commitment in championing the rights of the most vulnerable.”
The three other awardees were Sotheara Chhim, 54, a psychiatrist and survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime; French environmental activist and filmmaker Gary Bencheghib; and Japanese ophthalmologist Tadashi Hattori.
Ramon Magsaysay Foundation recognized Madrid’s “transformative work” in integrating child protection into the health infrastructure in the Philippines.
Madrid has been at the forefront of medical, legal, and psychosocial care for children and women who are victims of abuse, the foundation said.
A graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine, Madrid headed of the Philippine General Hospital’s Child Protection Unit since 1997. She also taught Pediatrics for some 20 years at the University of the Philippines in Manila.
Madrid was the first president of the Philippine Ambulatory Pediatric Association and was elected to the executive council of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect from 2004 to 2010.
Prior to receiving the Ramon Magsaysay award, Madrid received numerous recognitions for her work on children’s protection and rights—both local and international.
She was recognized as the Most Outstanding Pediatrician of 2021 by the Philippine Pediatric Society Inc. for “being the true embodiment of a 5-star physician – a compassionate clinician, a committed educator, a passionate leader, a prolific researcher, and a dedicated advocate and social mobilizer.”
She was given the Most Influential Filipina in the World Award (Pioneer and Founder Category) by the Filipina Women’s Network in 2019 in Paris, France.
Madrid has published several articles in local and international peer-reviewed journals, chapters in books and manuals, as well as research on child protection that have “contributed to changes in policy and practice in the Philippines,” according to the Child Protection Network Foundation, Inc., where she serves as executive director.
Sotheara Chhim, 54, is a psychiatrist and survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime that killed nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population through starvation, overwork and mass executions in the 1970s.
He was cited for devoting his life to helping people who suffered under the Khmer Rouge, with a focus on treating “baksbat” — “broken courage” — a syndrome seen in Cambodia that is similar to post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Magsaysay Award organizers cited “his calm courage in surmounting deep trauma to become his people’s healer.”
Sotheara Chhim also testified as an expert witness before a United Nations-backed tribunal trying senior Khmer Rouge leaders.
Bencheghib, 27, was given the award for his efforts to clean up Indonesia’s polluted waterways.
Bencheghib and his brother built kayaks made of plastic bottles and bamboo to pick up trash in the Citarum river, one of the most polluted rivers in the world.
Tadashi Hattori, 58, was honored for providing free eye surgeries in Vietnam, where such specialists and facilities are limited.
His generosity, the Magsaysay Award foundation said, was “the embodiment of individual social responsibility.”
An in-person ceremony honoring the winners will be held in Manila in November.
This year’s 4 awardees will conduct virtual public lectures from September to November 2022, Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation president Susan Afan said.
Established in 1957 and named after former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay who died in a plane crash, the award honors those who have performed “selfless service to the peoples of Asia.” The awards have been given to 340 outstanding individuals and organizations in over six decades. With AFP