RAFI Triennial Awards Receives 295 Nominations

The Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI) has received a 295 nominations for the 6th run of the RAFI Triennial Awards, 97 of which were for the Outstanding Institution category while the rest were for the Exemplary Individual category.

Of the 295 nominees, only 98 accepted the nomination and submitted their documents for screening; thirty-four of these were for the Outstanding Institution category, and the remaining 64 were for the Exemplary Individual category.

In September, the RTA Internal Screening Working Group (ISWG), which is composed of RAFI employees and officers, would evaluate and identify the top 30 nominees per category. The remaining 60 nominees would then be endorsed to the RTA Search Committee, which would further screen the list to come up with the seven semi-finalists per category.

Field validations by the ISWG and RAFI’s external field partners would follow for most of the last quarter of 2014 and early next year. The awarding ceremony is slated in June 2015.

Mel Yan, RAFI for Citizenship, Leadership and Governance senior program officer, shared that recognizing those who exemplify in uplifting communities is not just the goal of the award-giving body. RTA was also created to share the stories of these people and organizations to inspire others and get people to support the cause, initiative or advocacy they are involved in.

“We want to tell the whole world, that in the Philippines—the Visayas and Mindanao in particular—there are people and institutions out there that are doing good work for the community and contributing to community development. The purpose of the Triennial Awards is to tell stories and to tell good news,” he said.

The Triennial Awards which is conferred every three years, recognizes individuals and institutions who have contributed to community development and who shares the ideals and beliefs of the founders of RAFI, Don Ramon Aboitiz and his son Don Eduardo Aboitiz. (by Marda Joyce M. Rayco)