The 1997 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership

RESPONSE of Eva Fidela Maamo, SPC

Your Excellency, President Fidel V. Ramos; Mrs. Luz Banzon Magsaysay; members of the Board of Trustees; fellow Awardees; distinguished guests; friends, ladies; and gentlemen.

I thank the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation for this privilege of being one of the 1997 Awardees. I accept this award with all humility to praise and thank God for His tremendous love and concern for the poor, the sick, and the underprivileged.

In truth and in essence, an award for community leadership does not belong to any one person alone but rightfully to the community as a whole.

And who is that community?

It is the members of the board of trustees of the Foundation of Our Lady of Peace Mission, who together with the Alfonso Yunchengo Foundation and the Manila Doctors Hospital, have provided the structure, direction, and logistic support for us to do our work.

It is our dedicated staff and our Sisters, who take care of the different project centers, compassionately bring mothers, brothers, teachers, doctors, advisers, and friends to the poor men, women, and children of the squatter and Aeta communities, helping them to cope with their lives and empowering them to rise above their many problems.

It is the committed young volunteer doctors, nurses, dentists, midwives, and non-medical professional in our Medical-Surgical Missions, working tirelessly into the night not only in the operating rooms but also climbing up with me to the hills and mountains, unmindful of the heat and rain, to reach out to the Aetas and victims of calamities, bringing with them the gospel message of God’s love, mercy, and compassion to His people. Many times it seemed there was nothing more to give, yet they continued on giving.

It is my family: my parents, my brothers and sisters, who gave me love, taught me to love, and nourished me with their strength and courage.

It is my religious family, the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres not only in the Philippines but all over the world, through my Provincial Superior, Sr. Agnes Therese Teves and her council, and my Community Superior, Sr. Carmelita Chua, who encouraged and stood by me in many ways in this apostolate.

It is the men and women of business and government who have shared their many talents and resources so we could accomplish our mission. It is also the ordinary folks—just wanting to help, looking for neither reward nor recognition.

And most important of all, the community is the poor and the marginalized, our fellow Filipinos “who have less in life,” whom the late President Ramon Magsaysay sought to help and protect by giving them more in law. They are our brothers and sisters who hold a special place in the heart of Jesus, of whom He said: “Whatever you do to the least of your brethren, you do unto Me.”

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the community is all of us. And what of leadership?

Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself provided the definition of a leader—one who serves and inspires others by his life and example.

We are all leaders. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we all can and should be community leaders.

Let this Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership be a challenge for us all. Let it be the impetus for inner spiritual growth and for reaching out to all our brothers and sisters so that this world could be the world God has intended it to be: a world of peace, a world of sharing, and a world of love. Let our goals go beyond the boundaries of our nations and the milestones of the year 2000. Let us focus our sights upon that time when all men shall become one and “all creation, everything in heaven and on earth shall be gathered together under Jesus Christ name.” It is God’s plan, and as His creatures let us, individually and as an entire humanity, confidently and wholeheartedly accept this challenge. Like our Blessed Mother, let us humbly say: “Thy will be done, My God!”

Thank you and good evening.