MANILA, Philippines–”Icing on the cake” is how Carmencita T. Abella, president of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, describes the awarding ceremonies held every year in August.

“The entire year we look, we investigate, we research. We do a lot of backroom work,” she notes.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award turns 50 this year and it has honored the “greatness of spirit shown in service to the people” of 193 males and 54 females from 21 countries in Asia. Of the awardees, 38 came from the Philippines–27 men and and 11 women.

The Ramon Maysaysay Award may not be as well known as the Nobel Peace Prize, but Abella likes to think of it as the greater award. “Nobel does not look at the motivation and the person. Ramon Magsaysay is more difficult because the choices have to be unassailable,” she says.

MAKATI City, Philippines — Local non-government organizations (NGOs) that want to learn and use Microsoft technology can now access an online resource designed for them, a local executive told INQUIRER.net.

The global website, dubbed NGO Connection, was launched in the United States several weeks ago to help NGOs find more information on how they can get “software grants” from the company, said Mae Rivera-Moreno, PR and community affairs manager of Microsoft Philippines during its third Microsoft NGO Day.