Six deserving people from different walks of life were given and cited Ramon Magsaysay Award last August 30 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

The Ramon Magsaysay Awards deemed as Asia’s version of the Nobel Peace Prize is the Asia’s most coveted award giving to chosen people who created powerful awareness and advocacies to its nation and people.

The six awardees came from Burma, China, Philippines, Thailand and India.

First is Krisana Kraisintu of Thailand. She is awarded for “her placing pharmaceutical rigor at the service of patients, through her untiring and fearless dedication to producing much-needed generic drugs in Thailand and elsewhere in the developing world.”

Two individuals from China is also cited, they are:

Yu Xiaogang for “his fusing the knowledge and tools of science with deep sense of social justice, in assisting dam-affected communities in China to shape the development projects that impact their natural environment and their lives.”

Ma Jun for “his harnessing technology and power of information to address China’s water crisis, and mobilizing pragmatic, multi-sectoral, and collaborative efforts to ensure sustainable benefits for China’s environment and society.”

Burma’s Ka Hsaw Wa is awarded for “his dauntlessly pursuing nonviolent yet effective channels of redress, exposure, and education for the defense of human rights, the environment, and democracy in Burma,” and lastly

Antonio Oposa, Jr. from the Philippines for “his path-breaking and passionate crusade to engage Filipinos in acts of enlightened citizenship that maximize the power of law to protect and nurture the environment for themselves, their children and generations still to come.”

The six awardees were given certificates, a medallion bearing the likeness of the late Philippine president Ramon Magsaysay and a cash prize.

Bond funds are kind of investments, or are mutual funds that invest in bonds rather than in stocks. It is less risky compared to stocks since the money does not rely more on stock market.

Investing in Bonds is more likely suited to those who want to have sure income with less risk involved. The Bank of the Philippine Island (BPI) for instance has updated and broadens their program in Bond fund. BPI’s Premium Bond Fund and ALMF Peso bond fund are both designed to rebalanced the instabilities in which are continuously being positioned to take advantage of interest rate movement in the market.

Why invest in Bond Funds?

• Bonds provide higher return
• It is transparent, meaning investors are well updated on regular reports like Monthly Fund Performance Report and Quarterly Fund Statement.
• Investors can easily sell or buy their units
• Less hassle in monitoring your investments

Both government and private firms combined Php331 billion amount of bonds in the first quarter among neighboring countries in Asia, ADB reported.

The government hasd issued p298 billion amount of bonds while the private sectors had sold P33 billion.

Both government and private firms became more aggressive in tapping the capital markets to make higher expenditures.

Other Asian countries which also has high increase in bond issues are, Hong Kong (93.1%), South Korea  (38.4%), Thailand (36.7%) and Singapore (11.2%)

The search is on to honor again outstanding Filipino microentrepreneurs in the country.

The Citi Microentrepreneur Award of the Year (MOTY)  is a nationwide search for outstanding small scale businessmen that creates improvement not only in his finances but also manage to uplift the small time entrepreneurs in a more bigger scene.

MOTY recognized entrepreneurs in two categories, the “masikap” and “manunlad”. Masikap category is open for microentrepreneurs who made his/her business reliable to the extent that it already provide the needs of the family. The Maunlad category on the other hand, are awarded to entrepreneurs that manage to make their business grow and employ laborers.

The Citi Microentrepreneur Award of the Year is funded by the Citi Foundation that aims to recognize the small entrepreneurs and to create awareness about the micro finance in the Philippines.

This year’s board members are BSP Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr., (chair), Sanjiv Vohra (co-chair), Tessie Sy-Coson, Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Marixi Rufino-Prieto, Joey Concepcion III, Antonino Alindogan, Atty. Felipe Gozon and Dr. Darwin Yu.