Laotian paramedics group, Filipino ombudsman win Asian Nobels
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Manila - A Laotian paramedics group that defied odds to help victims of road accidents and a Philippine official fighting corruption in government lead this year's recipients of Asia's equivalent to the Nobel Prize, award organisers said Wednesday.
Vientiane Rescue, which has 200 volunteers, was cited by the Ramon Magsaysay Award for its "heroic work in saving Laotian lives ...under the most deprived of circumstances."
The group, formed in 2010 by a French paramedic and fire fighter and 16 Laotians, had struggled with small contributions from private donors and personal money of some of the volunteers.
The volunteers, who were students and mostly poor Laotians, "worked 20 to 168 hours a week ... slept in shifts when they were not sleeping on roadsides, often subsisting on nothing but instant noodles," the award citation noted.
"By dint of sheer perseverance and the passion to help, the ragtag group of volunteers improved and professionalised its services, acquired more equipment, and expanded the range of its work," it added.
Philippine Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales was cited for "her moral courage and commitment to justice in taking head-on one of the most intractable problems in the Philippines."
"She prioritised the filing of cases against high-ranking officials, sending the strong signal that the Office of the Ombudsman is earnest in its anti-corruption campaign," organisers said in the award citation.
Under Morales' term, a former president and three incumbent senators were detained on corruption charges.
Former president Gloria Arroyo was freed last week after the Supreme Court dismissed the charges against her, while one of the senators was granted bail while on trial.
Other Ramon Magsaysay awardees for this year are Bezwada Wilson and Thodur Madabusi Krishna from India, the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers and Dompet Dhuafa from Indonesia.
The award was established in 1957 to honour late Philippine president Ramon Magsaysay, who died in a plane crash without finishing his term, and promotes his example of integrity in public service.
- DPA
