Amilbangsa, 71, was one of the winners Monday, August 31, of the Ramon Magsaysay award, regarded as Asia's version of the Nobel Prize, for "her single-minded crusade in preserving the endangered artistic heritage of the southern Philippines."
The other winners were Sanjiv Chaturvedi, who exposed government corruption in India; Anshu Gupta, whose Indian volunteer group provides clothing to the poor and makes inexpensive sanitary pads for women; Kommaly Chanthavong, who helped revive Laos' ancient art of silk weaving and created livelihoods for poor villagers; and Kyaw Thu, a popular Myanmar actor whose group provides free funeral services for the poor.
The awardees each received a gold medallion and a $30,000 prize.
Amilbangsa, the daughter of a Catholic political family in Marikina City, married a Muslim schoolmate from a prominent clan and moved to southern Sulu province, where she first saw and became smitten by Pangalay at a wedding in 1969 on Jolo island.
A sister-in-law wondered why she was interested in an ethnic dance associated with rural folk but Amilbangsa, who loved culture and the arts, had made up her mind.
"I thought that this was so beautiful, it's so different," she said.
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