By Hrvoje Hranjski
Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines–A Filipino nationalist at the forefront of struggle for democracy during and after Ferdinand Marcos’ dictatorship, and a South Korean minister who dedicated his life to curing blindness are among the winners of the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia’s version of the Nobel Prize, organizers said Tuesday.

Jovito R. Salonga, 87, won the award for government service for tirelessly fighting for the rule of law, honest and competent government and showing compassion for the poor — democratic and social ideals that were not always easy to find in the Philippines under Marcos.

A law graduate and senator, he was crippled by a bomb blast at a political rally in 1971, a year before Marcos declared martial law. He fought Marcos’ iron-fisted rule by defending the president’s opponents and working for the release of political prisoners. He was briefly jailed in 1980 and spent four years in US exile.

He returned a year before Marcos was ousted in the “people power” revolt and put his personal ambitions aside to back Corazon Aquino, the pro-democracy icon who succeeded Marcos.

Salonga initiated the government’s efforts to recover Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth. In 1991, as the Senate president, he clinched his nationalist credentials by leading fellow senators in voting to close down US military bases in the Philippines.

“His rare moral authority stems from a simple fact: he practices what he preaches,” the organizers said.

The Reverend Kim Sun-tae, 66, from South Korea, is being honored for public service for devoting himself to a hospital dedicated to treating and curing blindness.

During the Korean War, Kim was blinded by a mortar shell, but soon learned to read Korean Braille and to type. The Korean Presbyterian Church named Kim director of Blind Evangelical Missions.

In 1986, with support from Korean businesses, he led in founding Siloam Eye Hospital, where sight-restoring surgery and modern facilities are available to the needy at no cost. In 1997, Kim opened Korea’s largest rehabilitation and learning center to help blind people cope with daily life.

More than 20,000 people have received free eye surgery, and 200,000 more have been treated at the hospital.

Other winners include Mahabir Pun of Nepal, who received the community leadership award for his innovative application of wireless computer technology that brought progress to remote mountain areas.

Tang Xiyang from China received the peace and international understanding award for guiding his country to meet its mounting environmental crisis.

Palagummi Sainath of India won the journalism, literature and creative communication arts award.

Chung To and Chen Guangcheng of China won the emergent leadership awards. Chung’s AIDS Orphans Project provides children who have an AIDS-infected parent with school fees.

Chen, blinded by a fever as a child, became a “barefoot lawyer” helping farmers with grievances to file court cases, leading protests against a river-polluting paper factory and documenting abuses.

He and his friends were beaten, Chen was held for months under house arrest and in a closed-door trial was sentenced to four years in prison for disturbing public order. He is still serving the sentence.

The awards will be presented August 31 in Manila.