The Ateneo de Zamboanga University Peace Award

Every year, the Ateneo de Zamboanga University gives recognition to individuals or organizations who have shown great care for others especially in the religious, spiritual and social spheres of activity. It also recognizes those who have shown exemplary and outstanding service to the community and those who have made significant contributions to the peace process and the culture of peace. 

This year’s awards were conferred on the following: 

• Most Reverend Antonio J. Ledesma, S.J., D. D. for the Ateneo Peace Award

• Gawad Kalinga (GK) of Zamboanga City for the Mayor Cesar C. Climaco Award

• Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz (M.M.B.). for the Archbishop Luis V. Del Rosario, S.J., D.D. Award

The AdZU Peace Award

(This award is bestowed on persons or groups, government or non-government, who have made significant contributions to the peace process and culture of peace.)

         Most Reverend Antonio Javellana Ledesma, S. J., D.D. is a peace advocate.  Born in Iloilo City on March 28, 1943, he graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Arts in History and Government, magna cum laude, from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1963.  He joined the Society of Jesus a few months after his graduation from college and was ordained priest on April 16, 1973 in Jaro, Iloilo.

          He was ordained bishop at St. Augustine Cathedral, Cagayan de Oro City, on August 31, 1996 and installed as Bishop of the Prelature of Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay on July 16, 1997.  He was recently installed Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro in May 30, 2006.

          Practically half of his life and efforts has been spent in Mindanao and in the pursuit of peace in the Zamboanga Peninsula and throughout Mindanao.  He has been in the forefront of organizing groups building network to develop the Culture of Peace (COP) Framework which became the Peace Education Design and Tool in Tri-People Dialogues and Trainings all over Mindanao.  In a real sense, he is the man behind the COP Module, which became the Training Manual for Creating a Culture of Peace in Mindanao Communities.  This manual compiled the experiences and learnings through dialogues of christians, muslims, and lumads especially in areas of conflict situation.

          Before the creation of the Bishop-Ulama Council/Forum (BUC/F), Archbishop Ledesma was a Convenor of various groups and institutions that later became the Kalinaw Mindanao Network, a coalition of peace advocates in Mindanao composed of representatives from the academe, church, government, non-government organizations, media, business and industry.  As one of the Convenors of the Bishop-Ulama Council/forum and its most active member, he helped make the “structure”  strong thereby significantly contributing to the forging of friendship and better understanding between different ethnic and religious groups in the pursuit of peace and brotherhood.

          Archbishop Ledesma continues to be an inspiration to all.  His latest keynote address during the 2nd National Assembly of the Philippine-Misereor Partnership, a network of church and non-government organizations, incorporated his peace paradigms – The Solidarity of Human Security Framework.  He claims, “There is no time to stop, there is so much to do.” 
         
In a place wracked by violence and enmity, Archbishop Ledesma shows us that a life of service will bring us, someday, to a world of peace and harmony.

          The Ateneo de Zamboanga University is most happy to bestow the 2006 Ateneo Peace Award upon the Most Reverend Antonio J Ledesma, S.J., D.D.,  Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro.

THE MAYOR CESAR C. CLIMACO AWARD

(This award is bestowed on individuals or organizations, government or non-government who have shown exemplary and outstanding service to the community).

          The Gawad Kalinga Program, popularly known as GK, was a project of the Couples for Christ (CFC) to answer the call to help alleviate poverty by restoring the dignity of the poor and providing them with opportunities for a better quality of life.  The simple project has evolved from a work with the poor into a work of nation building, a growing multi-sectoral partnership driven by the same spirit and vision.

          The GK project hosts people-empowering activities that build integrated, holistic and sustainable communities in depressed areas throughout the country.  It gives priority to dismantling the pattern of despair and the feeling of abandonment, which overwhelm the lives of the impoverished.  The GK starts with establishing caring relationships with those who are among the most used, abused and neglected of society.  It then helps restore the dignity of the poor and marginalized and revitalize their capacity to hope and dream.  This is why GK builds brightly painted homes, beautiful parks and playgrounds, colorful gardens and clean surroundings.

          The caring spirit moves strongly to become a sharing one, symbolizing the GK revolution of love and the vision of total human liberation.  It begins with the CFC “Padugo System” – bleeding for a cause – which institutionalizes the giving of resources, exemplifying a culture of sharing, and promoting peace and development.

          In Zamboanga City, GK started sometime in 2001.  Its first site is the Lobregat GK Village in Putik with 116 units housing 140 families. Today, there are already six (6) GK sites with a total of 179 units all over the city.  The 7th is to be established in Tulungatong in the West Coast.  The total number of families involved has already reached 585, coming from many faiths – Muslims, Catholics, Protestants, and others.

          The ideals of GK state that “no one is too poor that he cannot share, and no one is too rich that he cannot care”.   This reflects the determination of CFC and its partners to heal relationships in society, from within the family to the national environment.  Rebuilding broken relationships translates to bridging gaps between people, and opens new and unlimited opportunities for human interaction and the exchange of resources.

          The Ateneo de Zamboanga University is most honored to confer the 2006 Mayor Cesar C. Climaco Award upon the Gawad Kalinga (GK) of Zamboanga City. 

THE  ARCHBISHOP LUIS V. DEL ROSARIO, S.J., D.D. AWARD

(This award is bestowed on individuals or groups who have shown great care for others especially in the religious, spiritual and social spheres of activity).

         The Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz (M.M.B.),  founded in 1540 in Berriz in the Basque country of Spain, is a congregation of women that started from a monastery of cloistered nuns.  In 1869, the nuns opened the La Vera Cruz College.  When Mother Margarita became principal of the school in 1920, she founded the Mercedarian Missionary Youth, awakening the great Mercedarian Missionary Spirit never experienced before in the monastery.  In 1926, the Pope authorized a group of Mercedarian Nuns to go to Wuhu (China), Saipan (Marianas Islands), Ponape (Caroline Islands),  and Tokyo (Japan).  On May 23, 1930, the monastery was transformed into a missionary institute following and belonging to the Order of Mercy, founded by St. Peter Nolasco, with the Charism and Fourth Vows of Redemption – “to lay down my life for the good of my brothers and sisters.”  Since then, the Sisters have made their presence felt in Asia, Micronesia, Africa, Central and South Americas, and the USA.

          The mission of the Mercedarian Sisters in the Philippines started in Zamboanga City in 1970 through an invitation of the late Archbishop Lino Gonzaga, D.D., 17 years after five (5) Mercedarian Sisters had been expelled from China in 1953.  They took refuge with the RVM Sisters in Pilar College.  Today, the Sisters are in Tagbilaran City, Lagro and Maligaya in Novaliches and in Cubao, Quezon City. 

          The Sisters pursue their apostolates in education, pastoral ministry among the poor, oppressed and the marginalized family, and life apostolates, youth and vocation ministry, counseling and spiritual formation through retreats, inter-religious dialogues and work among women and migrants.  In Zamboanga City, their main work is in education (teaching religion in the Our Lady of Mercy Kindergarten), pastoral work (BEC in the Parish of Sta. Maria), and in the two low-cost housing villages – Villa Margarita Village in San Roque and Tierra Madre Village in Tumaga.  The Sisters’ inspired work in these two villages exemplifies how far Muslim-Christian Dialogue can go in promoting peace and understanding.  

          The Ateneo de Zamboanga University is most pleased to confer the 2006 Archbishop Luis V. Del Rosario, S.J., D.D. Award upon the Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz (M.M.B.).