MANILA, Philippines?A polio-stricken former radio broadcaster who ended a political clan?s 40-year grip on power in Cagayan Valley and raised her people?s hopes for change is this year?s Ramon Magsaysay awardee for government service.

Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca was one of two Filipino winners of the Magsaysay Award announced Thursday.

The Philippine-based Center for Agriculture & Rural Development Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI) shared the prize for public service for its microfinance program that helped half a million poor women.

?I cried when Ms Abella called to inform me that I?m one of the awardees. I never dared dream about it. I thought it was an award reserved for others,? Padaca said in an interview by phone.

The foundation informed her of the award on July 1.

Padaca recalled she was also at last year?s award ceremonies at the CCP when former Senate President and her Liberal Party colleague, Jovito Salonga, received the Magsaysay prize for government service. She said she felt ?honored? then just to be in the company of those awardees.

Padaca and CARD MRI were among the seven individuals and one organization chosen by the board of trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation to receive Asia?s equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

Padaca was cited for empowering voters ?to reclaim their democratic right to elect leaders of their own choosing, and to contribute as full partners in their own development.?

Padaca, 44, worked at Bombo Radyo-dzNC in the early 1990s as assistant station manager. She shot into national prominence when she thrashed then incumbent Gov. Faustino Dy III, a scion of a powerful political clan in Isabela, in the 2004 elections despite her lack of money and machinery.

?We did the right thing?

She won a second term in May 2007.

?This is an affirmation of the decision of the people of Isabela to free themselves,? Padaca told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net). ?This is an affirmation that we did the right thing.?

The other awardees were Therdchai Jivacate of Thailand, also for public service; Prakash Amte and Mandakini Amte of India for community leadership; Ahmad Syafii Maarif of Indonesia for peace and international understanding; Akio Ishii of Japan for journalism, literature, and creative communication arts; and Ananda Galapatti of Sri Lanka for emergent leadership.

Asia?s pathfinders

Foundation president Carmencita T. Abella described this year?s batch of awardees as ?pathfinders in a changing Asia? who are ?charting new ways to address persistent, often intractable problems in their societies.?

The awardees, Abella said, ?share an uncommon faith in the tremendous potential of people and social institutions? as well as ?an indomitable will and persistence to tap into this potential and thus create greater, and lasting, good.?

?Mobilizing many others to join their efforts, their accomplishments bring us reassuring news of progress, justice, healing, reform, and hope,? she said in a statement.

Selfless service

Named after President Ramon Magsaysay, who died in a plane crash in 1957, the award is given out every year to individuals or organizations in Asia who have shown the late leader?s sense of selfless service.

The foundation will confer the award on the new laureates in a ceremony at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on Aug. 31, Magsaysay?s 101st birth anniversary.

The winners will each receive a certificate, a medallion bearing the likeness of the late President and a $50,000-cash prize.

Over the past four years, Padaca has received a string of awards, including ?Woman of Courage? from the US state department; First CEO Excel Award from the International Association of Business Communicators; ?One of the Exemplary Women in Politics and Governance? award from the Barangay-Bayan Governance Consortium; Parangal Para sa Mararangal from the Krusadang Bayan Laban sa Jueteng; and the ?2004 Woman of the Year? award from Kilosbayan, among others.

?I?m determined to do what?s right, and if changes are created, that?s what gives me fulfillment,? she said.

The foundation cited CARD MRI for its ?successful adaptation of microfinance in the Philippines, providing self-sustaining and comprehensive services for half a million poor women and their families.?

Other pathfinders

The other awardees and their achievements are:

? Jivacate for his ?dedicated efforts in Thailand to provide inexpensive, practical and comfortable artificial limbs even to the poorest amputees.?

? The Amte husband and wife team of doctors, for community leadership for enhancing the ability of the Madia Gonds tribe in eastern Maharashtra state to adapt to modern society through their healing and teaching work.

? Maarif for ?guiding Muslims to embrace tolerance and pluralism as the basis for justice and harmony in Indonesia and in the world at large.?

? Ishii for his ?principled career as a publisher, placing discrimination, human rights, and other difficult subjects squarely in Japan?s public discourse.?

? Galapatti for his ?spirited personal commitment to bring appropriate and effective psychosocial services to victims of war trauma and natural disasters in Sri Lanka.