DAVAO CITY, Philippines (PIA) – The Regional Development Council in Region 11 (RDC-11), through its Regional Screening Committee for the Makabagong Rizal Awards, named seven young people as Davao Region’s nominees to the Makabagong Rizal Awards.

Three nominees were selected for the secondary level and four nominees for the tertiary level.

RDC-11 Vice Chairman and Region 11 office of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA-11) Director Maria Lourdes D. Lim, who managed the screening process, disclosed that the committee came up with the names of the final nominees of Davao Region after a competitive screening process.

This involved a short-listing of applicants based on documentary references, an essay writing on the relevance of Rizal’s ideals, and an interview to assess their intelligences, as well as, their commitment to the ideals of Dr. Jose P. Rizal.

Lim also disclosed that, initially, there were 28 applicants for the Awards from Davao Region.

Nineteen of the 28 nominees have been short-listed and only 14 completedthe screening process.

She said that the Committee has not endorsed nominees for the elementary level as the candidates were not able to undertake the interview stage, which is considered a critical part in the assessment of the regional applicants.

Lim mentioned that the Philippine Center for Gifted Education (PCGE) has requested the RDC-11 to undertake the screening of nominees for Davao Region involving the elementary, secondary, and tertiary levels.

With the theme “Mga Makabagong Rizal: Pag-asa ng Bayan,” the search is part of the celebration of the 150th birthday of our National Hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal, on June 19, 2011.

The PCGE, in cooperation with other agencies, took the lead in administering the Jose Rizal Awards. The objective of the search is to choose 35 children and youth who are willing to take an oath to model their lives after the principles which Dr. Jose Rizal espoused.

The seven Davao Region nominees are already endorsed to the PCGE Advisory Board who will administer the national screening of nominees.