Co-director Dr. Sanduk Ruit has been awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding

On July 31, 2006, the Board of Trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation announced that this year six individuals from Cambodia, Korea, the Philippines, Nepal and India and a Filipino organization will receive Asia’s premier prize, the Ramon Magsaysay Award.

Dr. Sanduk Ruit, HCP Co-founder and Co-director, was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding. He is being honored for “placing Nepal at the forefront of developing safe, effective and economical procedures for cataract surgery, enabling the needlessly blind in even the poorest countries to see again”.

Established in 1957, the Ramon Magsaysay Award is Asia’s highest honor and widely regarded as the region’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize. It celebrates the memory and leadership example of the third Philippine President, and is given every year to individuals or organizations in Asia who manifest the same sense of selfless service that ruled the life of the late and beloved Filipino leader.

“The Magsaysay awardees of 2006,” says RAMF President Carmencita T. Abella, “continue this tradition of ‘greatness of spirit in selfless to the peoples of Asia’ through their courageous initiatives and passionate concern to assure every person – especially the disadvantaged – a life of dignity and efficacy. In a world grown increasingly complex, divided, and cynical, these remarkable Asians persist in addressing longstanding, painful social issues. Mobilizing many others to join their efforts, their accomplishments bring to the world inspiring news of progress, justice, generosity, reform and hope.

The seven 2006 Magsaysay awardees join 249 other laureates who have received Asia’s highest honor to date. This year’s Magsaysay Award winners will each receive a certificate, a medallion bearing the likeness of the late President, and a cash prize. They will be formally conferred the Magsaysay Award during the Presentation Ceremonies to be held on August 31, 2006 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, to which the public is cordially invited.

For more information, please visit the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation’s website: http://www.rmaf.org.ph/