DATU BAGO Award Organization Board of Trustees chairperson, Councilor Pilar Braga said there were a total of 12 nominees for Datu Bago Award 2025.
Braga said five of the nominees from 2024 were considered to provide credit, after suspending the nominations last year to recognize the former president Rodrigo Duterte as the lone awardee.
“Some of the nominees for this year’s award were from last year and the preceding year, inulit lang namin,” Braga told reporters in a sideline interview during the regular session on Tuesday.
Datu Bago Awards 2025 recognized five exemplary Davaoeños whose extraordinary contributions have shaped Davao’s growth in various disciplines.
This year’s awardees are Luis Alfonso Ybañez Aboitiz (Posthumous) for innovation; Perla Pichon Kwan for leadership in education; Maria Antoinette Tiukinhoy Pamintuan for creative arts; Protacio Tan Tacandong for business & finance; and Josefina Carriedo-Tionko for visual arts.
Oscar S. Ong, CRNA, will also be awarded a Plaque of Appreciation for humanitarian service offering free, life-changing surgical care to indigent patients in Davao City and Region 11.
Braga said Ong cannot be listed as a Datu Bago Awardee because he is not a resident of Davao City, but he deserves to be recognized for Operation Care Abroad (OCA), which provided hope and healing to Davaoeños.
The councilor stressed the selection process largely depends on the nominees and their documentation to prove qualification.
Last year, former President Duterte was the lone awardee of the Datu Bago Award 2024 edition. The last lone awardee was Julian P. Rodriguez, Jr., in 2005. After 2005, the annual event had about two to four awardees.
