Spoelstra, Apl.de.ap get awards

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino-American hip hop icon Allan Pineda or apl.de.ap, fashion designer Monique Lhuillier and Miami Heat coach Eric Spoelstra are among this year’s recipients of the Presidential Awards for Filipino Individuals and Organizations Overseas.

President Aquino paid tribute to the awardees yesterday for having chosen to “pay their successes forward” by taking part in the collective task of nation building.

Pineda, Lhuillier and Spoelstra led the 11 recipients of the Pamana ng Pilipino Award, which recognizes individuals who brought honor and distinction to the country in pursuit of their work or profession.

Mary Jane Al-Mahdi, the chief executive officer of the Geoscience Testing Laboratory of the United Arab Emirates, the biggest independent testing laboratory operating in the Middle East; Delia Amaya, a food technology expert and a retired professor of the University of Campinas, Brazil; Samuel Bernal, director of GlobeTekPro, a science foundation based in the Czech Republic and the United States, and a noted cancer specialist and lawyer who pioneered in stem cell research; Antonio Fernando III, an expert in the field of sleep medicine and professor of psychiatry at the University of Auckland, New Zealand; Almira Astudillo Gilles, an award-winning writer of children’s books in Chicago; Ruth Elynia Mabanglo, a leading proponent of Filipino as a global language and professor of Filipino language and culture at the University of Hawaii; Jorge Ortoll, executive director of Ma-Yi Theater, a premier vehicle for showcasing Asian-American talent and a nurturing ground of Filipino-American artists in New York; and Francisca Tolete-Velcek, a multi-awarded pediatric surgeon in New York were the other Pamana ng Pilipino awardees. Manuel Cacdac, a Boston-based neuro-surgeon who treats disadvantaged Filipino children afflicted with hydrocephalus and cranio-facial defects; Christopher Guerrero, a Chicago-based physician; and The Aguman Kapampangan UK, an organization of London-based Filipinos from Pampanga were recipients of the Lingkod sa Kapwa Pilipino Award.

Thirteen Filipino individuals and associations received the Banaag Award in honor of their contributions toward the promotion and advancement of the interests of overseas Filipino communities or sectors.

The Banaag Awardees were engineer Carlito Alpay, immigration lawyer Imelda Argel, Tomas Avendaño Sr., Rafael Castaños, retired nurse Luzviminda Micabalo, San Francisco entertainment commissioner Al Perez Jr., Lt. Eric Michael Quema, Ma. Luzviminda Tsai and non-profit organizations Filipiniana-Europa V.Z.W, Filipino Digerati Association and The Stichting Bayanihan.