Once in everyone's lifetime, I suppose, there comes a moment of intense joy and happiness that is so overwhelming it seems almost unbelievable. Such a moment has just come into mine.

A year and a half ago, as I was approaching the age of compulsory retirement from government service, I was saddened by the thought that soon I would be parted from a work that has become my second love—the first, of course, being my wife. However, even after that time came, I was allowed to continue my involvement in geothermal energy development and I was happy; it was a source of personal satisfaction for it meant that my services were still of some use.

Then like a bolt from the blue, came the announcement that the Board of Trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation had elected me as its 1982 Awardee for Government Service. I could hardly believe it. It was not possible, but it was so. Coming as it did in the twilight years of my life, it was indeed a moment of great joy for myself and my family. Suddenly life seemed to have an increased meaning—a new purpose for being.

After the elation had somewhat abated, however, came a moment of reflection and soul-searching. I asked myself, what have I really done to deserve such a great honor? Am I truly deserving? Then I realized that whatever it was that was being ascribed to me had been attained not by individual effort, but rather by the total efforts of so many. It was just my good fortune to have been singled out to represent this collective undertaking.

I have been cited for a role in the development of geothermal energy in the Philippines and in guiding national awareness to the use of one of the most valuable natural resources of the country. I feel deeply humbled for this signal honor accorded me, especially since it was more of a national effort rather than an individual one that brought the Philippines to its present position as one of the leading countries of the world in the use of geothermal energy.

Without the support given by the government and its instruments—the Executive Office, the National Science and Technology Authority, the Ministry of Energy, the Philippine National Oil Company, the National Power Corporation, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and the Bureau of Mines; by co-professionals, and by a host of agencies both foreign and local, geothermal development would not have progressed as much as it has. This development, born in the cradle of necessity some years before the 1973 energy crisis and nurtured through the state policy of energy self-reliance, is winning our battle for national economic survival.

In accepting the Award, I would like to express, on behalf of my immediate family and my geothermal family (since I am said to be the father of Philippine geothermal development) and on my own, a deep sense of gratitude to the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, not only for the incomparable honor bestowed on me, but also for its recognition of geothermal energy as an important indigenous energy resource to a developing country like the Philippines.