DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/15 March) – The Ateneo de Davao University’s institutional awardees this year – Redemptorist Brother Carlito “Karl” M. Gaspar and Dr. Jose “Ting” M. Tiongco – share not only intense passion and commitment for what they do in their respective fields, they also write for MindaNews.
Gaspar , church worker and anthropologist, artist and peace advocate, was conferred the Archbishop Clovis Thibault Award this morning “in recognition of his untiring advocacy and achievement for over three decades for justice, peace and development, especially on behalf of the Indigenous Peoples’ communities and other marginalized sectors in Mindanao.”
Gaspar writes “A Sojourner’s Views,” and a Bisaya column titled “Panaw-Lantaw” for MindaNews.
Tiongco , chief executive officer of the Medical Mission Group Hospitals and Health Services Cooperative-Philippines federation, was conferred the Dr. Jess and Trining dela Paz Award “in recognition of his advocacy and work in providing affordable and accessible health care to the poor and the general population through the Medical Mission Group Hospitals and more than fifty hospital cooperatives throughout the country.”
In June last year, the Ateneo de Manila University conferred its Ozanam Award on Tiongco for giving the poor “the Health and Humanity they deserve” through cooperative health.
Tiongco writes “Child of the Sun” for MindaNews. His essays have been compiled into a book titled “Surgeons do not cry,” published by the University of the Philippines Press and launched in Davao City last Friday afternoon at the UP Mindanao downtown campus. The book has yet to be launched in Manila.
Gaspar graduated AB Sociology (cum laude) from the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) in 1967, his MS in Economics from the Asian Social Institute in Manila in 1971 and his doctorate in Philippine Studies from the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman in 2000.
Tiongco finished elementary and high school at the ADDU, his pre-medicine at the Ateneo de Manila University and Medicine at UP, graduating in 1971.
The ADDU also conferred on Fr. Joaquin Bernas, SJ, an honorary doctorate of laws. Bernas was the commencement speaker.
Gaspar was commencement speaker of UP in Mindanao in 2005. The following year, the commencement speaker was Tiongco.
The two awardees are also book authors. Gaspar has written several books in English and Cebuano, delving on the “personal, spiritual and political– examining the theology of struggle and the martial law era.
Gaspar was detained for 22 months by the Marcos regime.
Among his recent books are “To be poor and obscure,” and “Mystic Wanderers in the Land of Perpetual Departures.”
Tiongco has written two books – the newly-launched “Surgons do not cry” and “Child of the Sun returning,” which tells the story of the country’s first health cooperative. (MindaNews)