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Community heroes honored at Cobra awards
From left: Workforce Hero Awardee Roy Torrentira, who provides free legal aid to indigenous groups; Youth Awardee Arizza Ann Nocum, founder of Kristiyan-Islam Library (KRIS); Service Awardee Erick Epistola, founder of the Solar Power Initiative (SPIN); and Modern Day Hero Awardee Dr. Anton Mari Lim, founder of the Yellow Boat of Hope. Photo courtesy of the Cobra Pinoy Hero Awards/Perkcomm
Seeing how the children of Layag-Layag, Zamboanga City had to wade or even swim to reach school every day, ending up too tired or too hungry to pay attention in class, Dr. Anton Mari Lim decided he wanted to help make their trip easier—and drier. So he came up with the Yellow Boat of Hope, a project that has not only become a source of livelihood for the rest of this fishing community but also takes the children to school dry, safe, and eager to learn.
Lim is one of four ordinary Pinoys doing extraordinary work who were honored at last week's Cobra Pinoy Hero Awards, given out by the energy drink of the same name. The winners, who each received a P150,000 cash prize, were recognized for overcoming hardships in life to extend a hand to many of our countrymen in need.
Lim, who earned the Modern Day Hero Award, said that his cash prize will turn into 18 more yellow boats. To date, 370 yellow boats are helping 21 communities nationwide.
Roy Torrentira is a lawyer from Bohol who, before getting his degree and passing the bar, worked odd jobs from ice cream vendor to taxi driver. He now works in Adamson University’s legal office and offers free legal counsel to NGOs and indigenous groups. He is the Workforce Awardee.
At the ceremony he thanked his girlfriend, who was the one who submitted his story to Cobra.
Bringing people together
Arriza Ann Nocum, an Industrial Engineering student from UP and the Youth Awardee, was inspired by her parents’ marriage. She asked herself: if her parents, a Muslim and a Catholic, can be happy together, why can’t this same exact peace exist between the rest of the country? This led to her founding the Kristiyan-Islam Library or KRIS, a learning environment dedicated to the education of Muslim-Catholic students.
Since the founding, her cause has expanded to six KRIS libraries, the education of 300 scholars, and volunteers coming in from around the world to help her advocacy. She accepted her award but denied the title of hero, saying that she has met people in her work more heroic than her and to whom she dedicated her honor. Her cash prize, she said, would go to the education of deserving students.
Bringing light to dark places
Bringing electricity to people in remote areas who need it won Frederick "Erick" Epistola, the Cobra Pinoy Hero Service Award. His Solar Power Initiative or SPIN project, featured in an episode of GMA News' Motorcycle Diaries, gives light to 86 Mangyan families and 500 homes in remote areas.
Crossing around ten rivers and climbing mountains for five hours in order to get to the places whose residents had no source of artificial light, Epistola had once questioned whether he was up to the task and if it was all worth it. He has since then been convinced that it definitely is, and continues to conduct workshops to help communities set up their own solar lighting systems.
With recent disillusioning events in our country—from corruption to calamities—we often wonder if there is still good being done in our nation. The Cobra Pinoy Hero Awards proved that there is, and with its continuous search for heroes, we are assured that there always will be. — BM, GMA News
Lim is one of four ordinary Pinoys doing extraordinary work who were honored at last week's Cobra Pinoy Hero Awards, given out by the energy drink of the same name. The winners, who each received a P150,000 cash prize, were recognized for overcoming hardships in life to extend a hand to many of our countrymen in need.
Lim, who earned the Modern Day Hero Award, said that his cash prize will turn into 18 more yellow boats. To date, 370 yellow boats are helping 21 communities nationwide.
Roy Torrentira is a lawyer from Bohol who, before getting his degree and passing the bar, worked odd jobs from ice cream vendor to taxi driver. He now works in Adamson University’s legal office and offers free legal counsel to NGOs and indigenous groups. He is the Workforce Awardee.
At the ceremony he thanked his girlfriend, who was the one who submitted his story to Cobra.
Bringing people together
Arriza Ann Nocum, an Industrial Engineering student from UP and the Youth Awardee, was inspired by her parents’ marriage. She asked herself: if her parents, a Muslim and a Catholic, can be happy together, why can’t this same exact peace exist between the rest of the country? This led to her founding the Kristiyan-Islam Library or KRIS, a learning environment dedicated to the education of Muslim-Catholic students.
Since the founding, her cause has expanded to six KRIS libraries, the education of 300 scholars, and volunteers coming in from around the world to help her advocacy. She accepted her award but denied the title of hero, saying that she has met people in her work more heroic than her and to whom she dedicated her honor. Her cash prize, she said, would go to the education of deserving students.
Bringing light to dark places
Bringing electricity to people in remote areas who need it won Frederick "Erick" Epistola, the Cobra Pinoy Hero Service Award. His Solar Power Initiative or SPIN project, featured in an episode of GMA News' Motorcycle Diaries, gives light to 86 Mangyan families and 500 homes in remote areas.
Crossing around ten rivers and climbing mountains for five hours in order to get to the places whose residents had no source of artificial light, Epistola had once questioned whether he was up to the task and if it was all worth it. He has since then been convinced that it definitely is, and continues to conduct workshops to help communities set up their own solar lighting systems.
With recent disillusioning events in our country—from corruption to calamities—we often wonder if there is still good being done in our nation. The Cobra Pinoy Hero Awards proved that there is, and with its continuous search for heroes, we are assured that there always will be. — BM, GMA News
