Silliman University is the lone academic institution to receive this year’s Fr. Neri Satur Awards for Environmental Heroism on April 22 at the Malacañang Palace. The University joined eight other recipients selected for their significant contributions to the environment by the Climate Change Commission, chaired by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“The award is being bestowed upon the University in recognition of being a center of excellence for academic  initiatives in coastal and marine conservation, as a pioneer in community-based coastal resource management, and for being a research facility at the forefront of the environmental movement,” CCC Vice Chair Sec. Heherson Alvarez wrote in his congratulatory letter to Silliman President Dr. Ben Malayang III.

Dr. Hilocondia Calumpong, director of the SU Institute of Environmental and Marine Sciences, received the award on behalf of Dr. Malayang, in a ceremony that served as one of the highlights of the country’s Earth Day celebration.

Name in honor of the late priest-environmentalist Fr. Neri Satur, the award is given to individual, groups or entities from different sectors all over the country who have contributed to the projection of the environment. Father Satur was a deputized forest ranger who lost his life in the hands of illegal loggers in the forests of Bukidnon in 1991.

This is not the first time for Silliman University to be cited for its environmental initiatives. It has received various distinctions, among them, as Center of Excellence in Coastal Resrouce Management with support from the United States Agency for International Development, and as an Academic Center of Excellency in Biodiversity Conservation by the Haribon Foundation.

Here in the Province, Silliman was instrumental in the establishment of the Negros Oriental Advisory Council on Climate Change, which later organized the first Negros Island-wide climate summit that pooled local chief executives from Negros Oriental and Occidental.

The other recipients of the Fr. Neri Satur Awards for Environmental Heroim: Climate Change Congress of the Philippines, GMA 7’s Born to be Wild, Miss Earth Philippines of Carousel Productions, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Architect Felino Palafox Jr., Muelmar Magallanes (posthumous), Lutgardo Labad, and Illac Diaz.