CHAIRMAN Barry S. Gusi --NONIE REYES

THERE isn’t a day when headlines aren’t filled with stories of conflict. Whether it’s in the most famous—or infamous—conflict site in Iraq, where hundreds of thousands are estimated to have died since 2003, or in Darfur or even a new democracy like East Timor, some bloodshed is bound to make the headlines. In recent years, journalists and the very peacekeepers from the United Nations have become increasingly the poster boys and girls for conflict.

So why, Ambassador Barry S. Gusi demands to know, should the question even be raised of why an international peace prize has been his life’s most enduring—and toughest—work? In retort, he asks his interviewer, “why not?”

Gusi is the Filipino who has put his country on the vanguard of the promotion of world peace through his chairmanship of the Gusi Peace Prize Foundation—not as old as the Magsaysay Awards, but projecting to be Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize. “Peace cannot be a work of one man, or one party, or one nation but peace rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world,” says the man who, this week, is meeting once more with his fellow “peace warriors” from all over the globe to chart the foundation’s plans and projects.

Besides organizing the annual Gusi Peace Prize, the foundation does humanitarian work in the country’s poorest corners with help from rich friends and corporations who, Gusi explains, would often donate goods—their products—that the poor can use, like clothes, shoes, home products, or food—rarely cash.  Five-star hotels help host the judges who come around to help screen the hundreds of nominees for the peace prize.

Gusi was born in Buenavista, Marinduque, to the late Capt. Gemeniano Javier Gusi and Teodora Cha Sotejo. Captain Gusi was a hero who fought the Japanese invaders during World War II and became popular for advocating human rights.     

After the war, Captain Gusi became vice mayor and, thereafter, mayor of Buenavista, where he continued to perform charitable work with the support of his wife. They helped poor people in the urban areas, abused wives and children.

He died of heart failure at the age of 78 while his wife carried on her husband’s mission for several more years. A few years before Teodora passed away, she asked her son Barry, whom she knew would be the right person to take over what her husband had envisioned, to continue what they started.  Thus was born the Gusi Peace Prize Foundation.

The younger Gusi graduated from the University of the East in Manila with a degree in Business Administration and majored in Management. He also took Hotel and Restaurant Management at the Universidad de Madrid in Spain. It was during his stint in Europe that he developed a flair for international relations, exceptional multilingual skills, and was exposed to people of varied creeds and cultures, shaping his dream of world peace, which he used to enhance the vision of his old man.

The 2007 Laureates (From left) Constancia de Guzman (Philippines); Atty. Persida Rueda-Acosta (Philippines); Dr. Shigeru Suganami (Japan); Dr. Tae Sup Lee (Korea); Yu Pang Lin (China); Dr. Farland Stanley (USA); Manuel L. Morato, Gusi Peace Prize Foundation president; Dr. Evelyn Gusi; Barry S. Gusi, chairman; Vice President Noli de Castro; former senator Heherson Alvarez (Philippines); Michalos Constantine (Greece); Thomas Cheng Wai Yu (Hong Kong); George Bistis (USA); Dr. Peter Schantz (USA); Dr. Phet Phongternith (Thailand); Lt. Gov. Elmo Johnson (Federated States of Micronesia); Vice President Elias Camsik Chin (Palau); and Sen. Ney Robinson Suassuna (Brazil). --NONOY LACZA

The same attributes prompted the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Pacific Islands to appoint him as ambassador-at-large to Japan, Australia, South Korea, Micronesia and the Philippines in the 1990s for tourism purposes. His term ended in 2001.

Gusi adores his very supportive and charming wife, the former Evelyn Tantamco, a doctor of pediatrics and current president of the Pasig City Medical Society. “My wife’s contribution and love for the people are behind the success of the foundation,” Gusi explains. The night he was interviewed, Gusi patiently waited for Evelyn to return later at night from a string of meetings, having been neck-deep in medical missions.

The Gusi couple has four children—Mikko Dominic, 16; Maria Conchitina Eve, 14; Maria Evanka, 5; and one-year-old Marcus Nikolas.

The Gusi Peace Prize Awards, which began seven years ago, is based in Manila and is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The humanitarian foundation, with 85 members from New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Hong Kong, China, Greece, Brazil and the Philippines, helps hundreds of thousands of poor people who suffer from natural calamities in the Philippines. But it is more famous for its work of recognizing and honoring selected leaders from all over the world who have distinguished themselves in their respective fields while promoting the causes of peace and humanitarianism.

The mission of the Gusi Peace Prize, in its founder’s own words, is to champion human rights and maintain governance, democracy, equality, international peace and goodwill. It is also committed to working for people’s amelioration through medical missions, outreach programs and counseling to the deprived, the abused, the humiliated and the sick.

The awards are given out every year to individuals and groups worldwide who have proven themselves to be brilliant exemplars of society, as well as contributors to peace and human rights. The foundation receives more than 1,000 proposals each year but the 13 members of the committee strictly select only 15. All prospective awardees must be unanimously endorsed by their organizations who know and attest that the awardees are worthy of such. Nominations related to any particular member of the organization shall not be entertained unless it can be proven beyond reasonable doubt that such distinction is beyond question.

The Gusi family (From left) Mikko Dominic, Conchitina Eve, Maria Evanka, Marcus Nikolas (on Ambassador Gusi’s lap) and Mrs. Evelyn Gusi

The awardees come to the Philippines with their families and pay for their own way, hotel accommodations, etc. Past and current honorees are eminent people from various fields, such as medicine or physiology, journalism, humanities, scientific discoveries, politics, academe, performing arts, literature, physics, religion, internationalism, chemistry, economics, business, philanthropy and more.

According to the rules, the board of trustees, members and the international committees have only one year in the position, subject to reappointment except for the president who is reelected every two years. Members, who can be of any nationality, should share the same vision and mission of the foundation and should not expect any material or financial gain from their association with the foundation. For that reason, committee members take no part in the public debates, which follow the announcement of decisions. All meetings of the Gusi committee are held three times a year in Manila, once in Hong Kong and once in Europe, or other countries subject to the decision of the Philippine Gusi Committee.

The current president of the foundation is former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) chairman Manuel “Manoling” L. Morato, who is serving a second term since he was first elected in 2004. According to Morato, “The foundation’s noble goal of promoting world peace cannot be ignored because we live in a troubled world; it behooves us all to reach for what seems unreachable, which in reality isn’t impossible to achieve if we bind ourselves together. All nations the world over are crying for peace. For this reason, the Gusi Peace Prize painstakingly looks for men and women of goodwill who will serve as catalysts to world peace.”

The 2006 Gusi Peace Prize Awards Night, held at the Meralco Theater, was attended by more than 1,000 dignitaries and delegates from 28 nations and had as its keynote speaker President Arroyo. She extolled the Gusi Peace Prize as a prestigious international undertaking that brings a great honor to the country and its people.

In the 2007 awards night, keynote speaker Vice President Noli de Castro commended the foundation for its conscious effort to recognize individuals from all nations who have excelled in the same endeavor, including three Filipinos—Atty. Persida V. Rueda-Acosta, the feisty and indefatigable head of the justice department’s Public Attorney’s Office, was cited for social justice; chairman Constancia de Guzman of the Presidential Antigraft Commission, for antigraft and corruption; and former senator Heherson T. Alvarez, for public service and environment.

“Our government is for peace and unity. We will not stop working until those guns and violence are shut down. We continue to have peace talks and we will put an end to the bloody strife in Mindanao. President Arroyo and the government have been working hand in hand and we have been alleviating poverty in the country. We will not stop until all Filipinos are in peace with the whole world. To the laureates tonight, may there be more people like you,” de Castro said.

On January 16 the foundation will begin its medical mission, which will assist 20,000 people in Marinduque; 50,000 in Nueva Vizcaya; 50,000 in Abra; 10,000 in Tanza, Cavite; and 5,000 in Tala, Caloocan. The outreach programs are supported by the PCSO; foundation president Manoling Morato; Dr. Evelyn T. Gusi; the Gusi Peace Prize board of trustees, members, families and friends; Marinduque Gov. Jose Antonio “Bong” Carrion; Vice Gov. Tomas Tizarro; Mayor Ofelia Madrigal; Mercy Nies; the Philippine Air Force, which will provide the military trucks assisted by Gen. Lino Horacio Lapinid and Col. Joe Diosay; Her Highness Supreme Master
Ching Hai of the Universal Peace Organization; the Hong Kong committee’s Ringo Gao; the US committee’s Atty. Frederick Horecki; Smith & Bridge president Steve Radonich; Tony Lopez; the Philippine and international media; The Philippine Medical Private Practitioners; The Rotary Club of Makati Uptown; and the Pasig City Medical Society.

“With God as the Divine Providence, The Gusi Peace Prize Foundation will continue to touch the lives of millions of Filipinos and make a difference. May peace be with the whole world,” Gusi said. Amen.         

*****

The Gusi Peace Prize Laureates (2002-2007)

The 2007 Laureates

1.                   Chairman Constancia de Guzman, Philippines, antigraft and corruption

2.                   Sen. Ney Robinson Suassuna, Brazil, political governance

3.                   Thomas Cheng Wai Yu, Hong Kong, sports

4.                   Dr. Shigeru Suganami, MD, PhD, Japan, medicine

5.                   Dr. Phet Phongternith, Thailand, education

6.                   Sen. Heherson T. Alvarez, Philippines, public service and environment

7.                   Dr. Peter M. Schantz, VMD, PhD, USA, veterinary medicine

8.                   Michalos Constantine, Greece, poverty alleviation and job creation

9.                   Atty. Persida V. Rueda-Acosta, Philippines, social justice

10.                George Bistis, USA, broadcast journalism

11.                Vice President Elias Camsik Chin, Palau, humanitarian law

12.                Dr. Farland H. Stanley, USA, archaeology

13.                Mr. Yu Pang Lin, China, philanthropy

14.                Dr. Tae Sup Lee, Korea, public governance and humanitarianism

15.                Lt. Gov. Elmo Johnson, Federated States of Micronesia, poverty alleviation and indigenous rights

The 2006 Laureates

1.                   Gov. Carl T.C. Gutierrez, Guam, social service

2.                   Dr. Ioannis Lyras, Greece medicine—(plastic surgery)

3.                   Justice Ram B. Jethmalani, India, social Justice and humanitarian law

4.                   Former President Fidel Valdez Ramos, Philippines, statesmanship

5.                   Master Bup Kwan, Republic of South Korea, humanitarianism

6.                   Rev. Father Corsie Legaspi, Philippines, divine healing and services to the sick and needy

7.                   Ambassador Tarmizi Taher, Indonesia, religious affairs and humanitarianism  

8.                   Hadji Ismail Bin Mohamad, Malaysia, philanthropy

9.                   Dr. Leung Ping Chung, Hong Kong, medicine and academe

10.                Dr. Felipe I. Tolentino, Philippines, medicine-ophthalmology

11.                Katya Grineva, Russia, performing arts

12.                Alan John Hackett, New Zealand, sports

13.                Director Carlo J. Caparas, Philippines, cinematic excellence

14.                Madam Wang Zushi, People’s Republic of China, cultural heritage

15.                Supreme Master Ching Hai, Vietnam, philanthropy and humanitarianism

The 2005 Laureates

1.                   Dr. Anthony C. H. Wong, Hong Kong, economics

2.                   Sis. Arlene Riccio and The Daughters of St. Mary of

3.                   Providence, Vatican, social services

4.                   George Dovellos, Greece, business and humanitarianism

5.                   Regina Paz L. Lopez, Philippines, children’s rights

6.                   David T. Bussau, New Zealand, humanitarianism

7.                   Prof. Li Qi, China, visual arts

8.                   Jose Mari Chan, Philippines, performing arts

9.                   Cong. Madeleine Z. Bordallo, Guam, governance

10.                Dr. Sundaram Natarajan, India, medicine

11.                Archbishop Nikitas Lulias, Greece, religion

12.                Ma. Alexandra Prieto-Romualdez, Philippines, humanitarianism

13.                Malcolm William Prowse, Australia, human rights

14.                Maria Coop, Australia, women’s rights

15.                Mayor Edward S. Hagedorn, Philippines, ecosystem and biodiversity

The 2004 Laureates

1.                   Georg Von Dziembowski, Germany, science and technology

2.                   Dr. Peter K. W. Fong, Hong Kong, educational administration and urban development

3.                   Eugene Torre, Philippines, sports

4.                   Douglas Maclagan, UK, child welfare and development

5.                   Archbishop Gaudencio B. Rosales, Philippines, religious and spiritual leadership

6.                   Rodolfo “Dolphy” V. Quizon, Philippines, cinema and film industry welfare service

7.                   Dr. Iichiro Ohhira, PhD, Japan, scientific research and discovery

8.                   Sen. John Michael Quinata, Guam, legislation

9.                   Hiro Kundamal, Pakistan, business and philanthropy

10.                Mayor Feliciano R. Belmonte Jr., Philippines, local government administration and leadership      

11.                Lee Xiu Mien, China, poverty alleviation through education

12.                Fundador “Fundy” C. Soriano, Philippines, media & overseas welfare service

13.                Carmela “Mel” Tiangco, Philippines, broadcast journalism and social service

The 2003 Laureates

1.                   Maximo V. Soliven, Philippines, journalism

2.                   Enrique P. Syquia, Malta, humanitarianism

3.                   Fernando Poe Jr., Philippines, cinematic excellence

4.                   Queen Gloria Gibbon Salii, Palau, international women’s rights

5.                   Dean  Julita V. Sotejo, Philippines, nursing

6.                   Tommy Remengesau, Palau, advocate of ecosystem and biodiversity

7.                   Dr. Fe del Mundo, Philippines, pediatric medicine

8.                   Jesse Anderson Lujan, Guam, sports

9.                   Teresita Ang See, Philippines, human rights

10.                Carmen Fernandez, Guam, education

11.                Mildred A. Go, Philippines, education and children’s rights

12.                Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, Philippines, legislation

13.                Julius Babao, Philippines, broadcast journalism

The 2002 Laureates

1.                   Anthony Quinn, USA, cinematic excellence

2.                   Angelo T. Reyes, Philippines, military defense

3.                   Robert Barbers, Philippines, human rights

4.                   Benjamin Abalos, Philippines, urban development

5.                   Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Philippines, legislation

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