TOCA awardee is product of poverty

CEBU, Philippines -  Among the recipients of “The Outstanding Cebuano Award” tonight grew up as a worker at a sugarcane farm in northern Cebu where he learned early in life what poverty is all about.

At the plantation, lawyer Tomas Riveral was exposed to hard work but this did not dampen his spirit in any way. Instead, he considered poverty as a “spark plug” that ignited his resolve to strive harder.

“Amidst every crisis, amidst every storm in life, God’s good plan for you will always prevail,” Riveral said.

Tonight, he will be honored for his work in poverty alleviation and share how, despite financial limitations, he was able to finish at the top of his class at the Bogo Central School in 1977.

He also finished salutatorian at the Cebu Roosevelt Memorial Colleges in Bogo in 1981 and magna cum laude at the University of San Carlos in 1985 where he was one of the university’s most outstanding graduates. Subsequently, he earned his law degree from the University of San Jose-Recoletos and passed the bar examination in 1994.

At the awarding ceremony at the Sacred Heart Center tonight, he will speak on behalf of the nine other awardees from other fields.

Riveral is the president and general manager of Oriental Port & Allied Services Corporation (OPASCOR), a wholly owned workers enterprise and said to be the only successful workers enterprise in the country.

Founded in 1990, OPASCOR has been providing the highest salaries and benefits for rank and file workers for the entire cargo handling industry in the country.

Majority of the company’s Board of Directors come from the working class. In 1992, OPASCOR established the now multi-million pesos cooperative to further cater the financial needs of its employees.

The other TOCA awardees are Architect Ma-ria Sarah Abadia (Architecture), Enrison Benedicto (Management), Dr. Paulus Mariae Cañete (Education), Casimiro Madarang III (Government Service), Alfio Malinao Sr. (Science and Technology), Jose Navarro   (Public  Service),  Engineer Ramon Picornell (Engineering), Baltazar Tribunalo Jr. (Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction Management) and Agustin Sollano Jr. (Arts and Humanities).

Now on its 14th year, TOCA aims to honor outstanding Cebuanos for their contributions to the community and to nation building.

The awarding ceremony will be the main highlight of Bantay Radyo’s “Tingog Sa Lungsod Program” 32nd Anniversary and co-presented by the Publishers Association of the Philippines (PAPI) Cebu chapter.

PAPI national president Luis Arriola, publisher and editor-in-chief of Asean Times, is the keynote speaker in tonight’s awarding ceremony.  —/JMO (FREEMAN)