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Four scientists, three educators, two journalists and
a business executive are this year’s Ten Outstanding Women in the
Nation’s Service (TOWNS) awardees. They will get their awards from
President Arroyo at fitting ceremonies today at Malacañang.
Patterned after the older TOYM,
TOWNS is proving to be the more prestigious largely because the
awards are handed out only once every three years. Hence, the
competition is stiff—for this year, 71 nominees that was whittled
down to 30, then 16, then ten. According to Mel Alonzo, a previous
TOWNS awardee, there had been instances in which TOYM winners lost
in the TOWNS race.
For 2007, bagging the award has
been made more difficult by an innovation introduced by a new
sponsor, Metrobank Foundation. The 16 finalists had to undergo
rigorous interviews conducted by the judges led by Chief Justice
Reynato Puno. What normally should be a walk in the park became an
inquisition. The nominees are no ordinary mortals. They are the best
of the race.
The four scientists are: Ma.
Corazon A. de Ungria, 39, winner for science; Alyssa M. Peleo-Alampay,
43, also, science; Eva Maria C. Cutiongco-de la Paz, 45, medicine;
and Hilly Ann Maria Roa-Quiaoit, 38, environmental conservation.
The educators are Dina S. Ocampo,
42, education; Catherine P. Vistro-Yu, 43, education; and Glecy
Cruz Atienza, 45, arts and culture. The two journalists are
Alexandra “Sandy” Prieto Romualdez, 40, print journalism; and
Maria A. Ressa, 44, broadcast journalism.
The lone awardee for business is
Elizabeth H. Lee, the executive vice president of Universal Motors
Corp., and the first woman and youngest president of the Chamber of
Automotive Manufacturers Inc., the organization of 12 automakers
with total investments of P98 billion.
Ungria is a biology honors
graduate from Macquarie University of Australia (1993) and holds a
doctorate in molecular microbiology from the University of New South
Wales (1999). She has headed the University of the Philippines’
DNA Analysis Lab since 1999. DNA analysis is a fairly recent science
useful in pinning down suspects in rape, murder and other crimes,
tracing wayward parents, and making a database of the genes of the
Filipino race.
Alampay gave up her green card to
make a name in the Philippines as a geologist, earth scientist and
professor of geological sciences at UP, where she finished geology
in 1981 and earned her masters degree in geology in 1990. She has a
Ph.D. in earth science at the University of California San Diego
(1997). She has studied million-year-old fossils of elephants in
Antipolo, microfossils at Scripps and, of course, global warming.
De la Paz is a biology graduate,
cum laude, of UP and a doctor, UP, 1989. She is the assistant
director of the UP Institute of Human Genetics and a professor at
the College of Medicine. She is one of only five medical geneticists
in the Philippines. Her Molecular Genetics Lab runs diagnosis of
genetic conditions affecting humans, genetic disorders and breast
cancer.
Quiaoit finished marine biology,
cum laude, at Ateneo de Cagayan, masters in marine science at UP,
and a doctorate in natural sciences, magna cum laude, at the
University of Bremen, Germany. She is the director of McKeough
Marine Center, Xavier University; and director, Kinaadman Research
Center, Xavier University where she also an assistant professor in
biology. Known as the “mother of giant clams,” she discovered a
new specie of giant clams found only in the Red Sea.
Ocampo is an expert on dyslexia
and reading education. She has an elementary education degree, cum
laude (UP 1985), MA in reading education (UP 1991) and a doctorate
in psychology from the University of Surrey. Children and young
adults benefit from her advocacy, especially for language and
literacy competence.
Yu is a mathematician, having
finished math at Ateneo in 1984, masters in math education,
University of Georgia 1987, and doctorate in math education, also at
Georgia. She is a math professor at Ateneo.
Atienza has a bachelor’s
degree, MA and a PhD in literature, all from UP. Theater is her
passion.
Having two winners from media
shows you the pervasive influence and power of journalism,
especially in the age of information technology and politicians
adhering to their values of corruption and incompetence.
Romualdez is president and CEO of
the Philippine Daily Inquirer, while Maria Ressa, the SVP for news
and current affairs of ABS-CBN. Under Sandy, PDI became a
much-improved daily, a little less emotional, and focusing more on
the good news and good deeds of people. Maria brings to ABS-CBN a
decade of international experience from CNN, and a global
perspective to local news. No wonder, ABS-CBN has begun to recover
its ratings.
Finally, Beth Lee, magna cum
laude, California State University, and MBA, also of CSU. The Awards
Committee says she restored the confidence of the auto industry,
which resulted in new and additional investments, because of her
successful campaign against smuggled used vehicles which the
President and the Supreme Court declared as illegal. “In effect,
she helped save the local auto industry, a P98-billion business with
P12-billion taxes, 74,000 workers, P325-million payroll and
$2-billion exports, from collapse.”
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