An educator with four doctorate degrees. An expert who handles the IT operations of a government entity. Another IT expert who oversees the security of an international bank. An engineer who has seen action with CNN in covering news.
This, not to mention a top brass of the Philippine flag carrier and a ranking executive of a cargo and logistics forwarder, award-winning photographers, filmmakers and fashion designers; a cum laude and women breaking the glass ceiling.
This list goes on as The Filipino Times (TFT) Awards discovers more hidden gems in the community whose time has come for them to shine.
“All the nominees are experts in their respective fields and they have achieved quite a lot,” said Ambassador Constancio R. Vingno, Jr., who leads the seven-member panel of judges that deliberated on the nominations of 61 candidates shortlisted from 600 entries to this year’s third edition of the prestigious, highly anticipated event.
“The nominees have been carefully chosen; their credentials are impeccable; they are all qualified. There are so talented Filipinos here in the UAE. It is just that they haven’t been discovered,” the ambassador added.
Vingno said the TFT Awards “keeps getting better and better.”
“I am sure more will come out in the succeeding TFT Awards,” he said.
The panel of judges voted on the nominations following a day-long deliberation held at Avani Deira Dubai Hotel on July 17.
The judges scored the nominees on how they replied to a seven-point questionnaire –leadership, professional success, resilience and failure management, community service, values and work management, creativity and eye for innovation and winning advantage. The scoring was also supported by fact-checked background details of the candidates
Nominees with the best answers in the area of resilience and failure management as well as community service got nods.
“What is important to me is choosing candidates by their involvement in community service,” said Vingno. “That is very important. I also look at their qualifications, experience and contributions to the industry,” he added.
Asked if he had a hard time deciding on votes, the ambassador said, “Yes. It was quite hard. The finalists were all almost equally good and outstanding in their respective fields.”
Aside from the ambassador, other members of the panel of judges were H.E. Mohamed Saleh Badri, secretary general of the International Halak Accreditation Forum; Mary Jane Alvero, Top 100 CEO Awardee and CEO of Prime Group; Lou Olvido Parroco, HR director at CEEM; Roxane Magbanua, senior planning director at PHD Media; Ken Fortun, media strategist and MHYD consultant; and Jojo Dass, TFT editor. (JD)
Caption: DELIBERATION. Judges of the upcoming third TFT Awards pore through voluminous documents about the shortlisted nominees during the day-long deliberation. (Gio Romano)
