ShareThis18th Gintong Pamana Awards, August 25th at Hyatt Regency O’Hare
Emir Abinion, CEO and owner of Fox Valley Auto Group and 1st Gintong Pamana recipient of Pilak Award in Business will revisit the gala awards night as Inspirational Speaker. Dep. Consul General Orontes Castro to deliver the theme of excellence and community service in a brief message.
Rosemont, IL. – Fourteen prominent Filipino Americans and Filipinos at heart from all over the U.S. will be honored for their outstanding achievements by the Gintong Pamana Awards Foundation, Inc. on its 18th gala awards night, Saturday, August 25, 2012 at the Grand Ballroom of Hyatt Regency O’Hare.
The 2012 Gintong Pamana awardees for outstanding achievements in various fields consist of: Andrea Andrada, Dr. Jose Rizal’s Pag-asa Award for outstanding achievements in college, Gloria T. Caoile, Gabriela Silang Award in Leadership, Dr. Philip S. Chua, Kamanyang Award in Medicine, Drs. Joe and Stella Evangelista, (Parents of the Year) Tahanan Award for Outstanding Parenting, Dr. Reinabelle “Reina” Reyes, Agham Award for Excellence and Exceptional Achievements in Science (Astrophysics) and Atty. Rodel E. Rodis, Apolinario Mabini Award in Leadership. A very special award, the Kindred Spirits Award, will be given to Paul and Linda Goldman of Magnum Advertising Group.
Four women, namely: Fresas Flores Balistreri, Maria Pacita “Longgay” V. Flores, Grace Gomez, Erlinda Limcaco and Weng Sanson will receive this year’s coveted Prism Award for Women of Style and Achievements.
Now on its 18th year, this annual Gintong Pamana (Golden Legacy) Award celebrates Filipino American excellence and outstanding achievements with commitment to community service. As immigrants in this country, these men and women have made their mark in history by achieving success and sharing rewards of their hard work with their local communities and their country of origin.
College achiever, Andrea Andrada of Elgin, IL learned to mobilize the resources around her so she could reach out to the underprivileged children in the Philippines and unexpectedly reaped the consequence of mainstream fame as she got interviewed on CNN for her good work. Andrea’s “ Kaibigan International, “an enormous endeavor to collect over 1,000 toys and school supplies for children in the streets of the Philippines received worldwide support.
Civic and labor advocate Gloria T. Caoile of Las Vegs, NV has been working tirelessly to empower Asian Pacific Americans through the organizations she had founded and led. In the words of past Apolinario
Mabini awardee, Jerry Clarito, “I have seen Gloria walk the halls of U.S. Congress to get the Filipino WWII Veterans Equity bill passed. Her passion lies in the struggle for political, social and economic justice.” An appointee of President Clinton to the White House Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Gloria is now actively promoting the GOTV (Get Out The Vote) initiative among Asian Pacific Americans.
Successful health book author of the newly released “Stop Killing Our Children,” Dr. Philip S. Chua of Indiana and Las Vegas, NV is also a syndicated columnist of health columns such as “Health Sentinel” and “Health @ Heart,” which also runs regularly in this paper. Dr. Chua’s book is a complete library of health advice and tips for people of any age. The wealth of information and practical health tips contained in his book and articles are guaranteed to be worth every penny of the book price.
Drs. Joe and Stella Evangelista of Bloomfield Hills, MI who have been honored before for various individual achievements by Gintong Pamana are jointly receiving the “Tahanan Award” for Parents of the Year for their outstanding parenting skills that produced six highly accomplished children in the fields of business, law and medicine. Dr. Joe is currently the Deputy Consul of Michigan. The Evangelistas became the first couple and first Filipino inducted to the International Institute Hall of Fame by the Institute of International Affairs of Metro Detroit.
Agham Award recipient, Reinabelle “Reina” Reyes, 28, is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics in the University of Chicago. She received her Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Princeton University in 2011, and her B.S. in Physics, summa cum laude, from Ateneo de Manila University. At 26, Dr. Reyes astounded scientists all over the world when she proved Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity on a cosmic scale. That was when she was only 26.
Einstein’s theories have been verified many times, but it took Reyes and her Princeton University collaborators to verify his Theory of General Relativity, beyond the confines of our solar system.
Rodel Rodis is a California lawyer, a syndicated writer and columnist, a former university instructor, a former San Francisco elected public official, a founder of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) and currently the national president of US Pinoys for Good Governance. He will receive the Apolinario Mabini Award in Leadership. Rodel also organized the First Global Filipino Networking Convention at the Moscone Center in San Francisco in September of 2002 with 4,000 delegates and participants in attendance. In 1999, Rodel received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Filipinas Magazine and the
Distinguished Service Award from the Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education (APAHE).
Gintong Pamana honors Paul and Linda Goldman, president and owner of Magnum Advertising with the Kindred Spirits Award for their friendship with and extensive support for the Filipinos, especially the Filipino community of Chicago. A 32-year old international company specializing in Market Research and multi-sensory Advertising and Promotion of Premium Food Preparation Products, Magnum Advertising’s community sponsorship is helping organizations with their fundraisings and creating jobs, especially in this tough economy. Their offices in the Oakbrook Terrace Tower opened in May 2012, and Magnum Advertising is currently looking for talented, outgoing, ambitious people to be trained in Market Research and Promotions.
This year, five women of style and achievements will receive the coveted Prism Award. Fresas Flores Balistreri from San Diego, CA currently leads NaFFAA Region 10 as Youth Affairs Chair in Southern California. A music teacher, business manager, musical performer and aspiring scholar with Masters in Business degree, Fresas has been slowly but surely carving her name in a community where positions of influence and importance are highly achievable for those who will dare to aspire.
Maria Pacita “Longgay” V. Flores is an accomplished nurse entrepreneur, having successfully established and managed a flourishing home health care agency, 1st Assist, which she co-founded with some friends. A well-rounded nurse with specialty in critical care nursing, who also engages in consultancy, Longgay shares with her church and community her various other talents such as directing plays and shows, singing and script writing.
Grace Gomez of Canada and Michigan, a Critical Care and Trauma Nurse at the Neuro-Trauma Intensive Care Unit at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI also served as an Adjunct Faculty at St. Claire County Community College Associate Degree in Nursing. A multi-talented lady, she likes music, plays guitar and piano, loves to dance, from ethnic to folk dancing, jazz, ballet, Hawaiian, flamingo to ballroom, does gardening, cooks gourmet dishes, swims in Lake Huron and organizes fundraising shows and events for charity in her communities in Ontario, Canada and Michigan.
Erlinda Limcaco is currently serving as Commissioner of Camden County Human Relations Commission, vice state chair of NaFFAA Pennsylvania, New Jersey state convenor for US Pinoys for Good Governance, past president of the Philippine Nurses Association of PA and a recipient of the Martin Luther King Freedom Medal Award by the Camden County of New Jersey. Linda cherishes the memory of having been invited by President Bush to the White House in 2006.
Finally, Weng Sanson, co-owner of Human Touch Home Health Care, is an accomplished nurse with 20 years of ICU experience that has earned her the positions of Practice Leader at the Surgical ICU and Assistant nurse manager at Illinois Masonic Medical Center. She was nominated for the American Association of Critical Nurse Excellence Recognition Award and received the Dorothy Rome Nursing Award as Nurse of the Year. Weng has given to different causes and has pledged continuing support for the Gintong Pamana Awards Foundation, Inc.
The evening’s award ceremonies will be ushered in by a video clip presentation of the Gintong Pamana events through the years, followed by a message on excellence and community service by Deputy Consul General Orontes Castro and the inspirational speech of Mr. Emir Abinion, President and CEO of Fox Valley Auto Group. Emir Abinion received the very first Gintong Pamana Award in Business while co-owning the Landmark Ford dealership in Niles, IL. Eighteen years hence, he now owns three car dealerships, Volkswagen and Buick in St. Charles, North Chicago and Schaumburg.
The evening will be capped with a raffle drawing for a set of Magnum Advertising products worth over $2,000 and 4 Magnum Fuel Rx worth $250 each. This product is designed for cars to reduce carbon and increase miles per gallon (mpg), reduce emissions and increase power. A grand prize of 2 round trip tickets to the Philippines will be drawn in November. Winners need not be present. More information on the raffle can be found on page 23.
Gintong Pamana will give 2 free raffle tickets each to the first 50 guests to register at the Registration Table. The Gintong Pamana event starts at 7:00 P.M. and dinner will be served at exactly 7:30 P.M.
The 18th Gintong Pamana Gala Awards Night is sponsored by Fox Valley Auto Group, Magnum Advertising, Carefirst Home Health Services, Inc., United Home Care, Inc. and Cruise & Tours, the Experts.