REDWOOD CITY - Five Filipino-American organizations received the Gawad Geny Lopez Jr. Bayaning Pilipino 2009 awards recently in ceremonies held at the Studio TFC at the ABS-CBNi corporate office in Redwood City here.
This year’s honorees are: This year’s honorees are: Council of United Filipino Organizations of Tidewater (Cufot) from Virginia Beach, Virginia, represented by Dr. Manuel Hipol;
Filipino American Basketball Association (Faba) of Metropolitan DC Inc. from Oakton, Virginia, represented by Ken G. Mendoza;
National Alliance to Nurture the Aged and the Youth (Nanay) from North Miami, Florida, represented by Dr. Jocelyn Bruce;
PBA Legends USA Foundation from Gig Harbor, Washington, represented by Abe King; and
Philippine Nurses Association of Metropolitan DC Inc. (PNAMDC) from Alexandria, Virginia, represented by Alice N. Andam.
The awards were jointly hosted by the ABS-CBN International (ABS-CBNi), the US-based subsidiary of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Network, and the Ugnayan at Tulong para sa Maralitang Pamilya (Ugat) Foundation, headed by Fr. Nilo Tanalega, SJ, which also oversees the nomination and selection of winners.
The awards show, which coincided with the kick-off of The Filipino Channel’s (TFC) 15th year anniversary celebration, was attended by ABS-CBN Broadcasting Network president and chief operating officer Charo Santos-Concio.
“We are in media and, therefore, we have been given this great responsibility to serve our kapamilyas all over the world,” she said. “We can’t just pay lip service to this mission. We have to take it to heart and live it. We are in the business of mirroring life and human experience.”
ABS-CBN Global COO Raffy Lopez in his opening remarks recalled the reason for Gawad Geny Lopez Jr. Bayaning Pilipino: “A Filipina domestic helper in Hong Kong was run over by a car in the pursuit of saving a child. That single heroic act in 1994 inspired my father, the late Don Eugenio ‘Geny’ Lopez Jr., to partner with Fr. Nilo Tanalega of Ugat Foundation to conceptualize a program geared towards recognizing ordinary folks who had done extraordinary deeds in the service of the Filipino people.”
“Kicking off TFC’s 15th year celebration with a special tribute to the Gawad Geny Lopez Jr. Bayaning Pilipino awardees here in the US is our way of affirming what we truly value as a company: that is service with a humanitarian spirit at the core of our business,” said North America Managing Director Chinky De Jesus.
The ceremonies had ace musical performers in the popular Southern California-based Philippine Chamber Singers-LA, the powerful vocal trio III of A Kind, rising Disney star Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, and international musical theatre singer-actress Joanna Ampil.
The Gawad Geny Lopez Jr. Bayaning Pilipino 2009 will be telecast this Sunday, April 26, at 6:40 p.m. (PST) on TFC.
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