A Jesuit priest and two Boholanos were given tribute for "molding the minds and souls of the youth and for shaping the destiny of the country."
The foundation paid tribute to Fr. James Reuter, a Jesuit priest and director of the Catholic church's National Office for Mass Media; Dr. Caesar Saloma of the National Institute of Physics at the University of the Philippines, and Alma Fernando-Taldo, musical director and conductor of the internationally acclaimed Loboc Children's choir.
Spending his entire life serving the church and the community, Fr. Reuter has inspired students in his 67 years of living in the Philippines. He was recipient of both the congressional medal of achievement and the Ramon Magsaysay award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication in 1989. Fernando-Taldo managed and directed the Loboc Children's choir to become the country's chorale ambassador to the world. She led the choir to win first prize in the 6th International Folksong Choir Festival-Children's Choir category and the Europe and Its Songs 2003 Cup.
Saloma, on the other hand, is the only Filipino awardee in the Pacific Ring areas in the International Commission for Optics. His work on photonics, a specialized branch of physics dealing with light, has earned him the 2004 Galileo Galilei Award given by the International Commission for Optics. Saloma, in a press conference yesterday, spoke of the reasons why there are only a few Filipino scientists in the country. He said that at present, there are only a little over a hundred mentors throughout the country specializing in physics.
Citing a data from the Department of Science and Technology, Saloma said that there are only 157 scientists for every one million Filipinos.
Although there is no problem in government support, there are only a few students of science in the country because most teachers do not recognize the potential of every student.
"It is important that the mentors should recognize the scientist aspect in every student to encourage more of them to become scientists. A teacher should have the wisdom to know what is important to teach," Saloma said. - Cristina C. Birondo