Three outstanding young Filipinos were the recipients of the Young Entrepreneur and Young Professional Awards (YEPA) at the Filipino Centre Toronto Presidents’ Gala held at the Fairmont Royal York, April 28.

The two recipients for the Young Professional Award were Russ Patrick Perez Alcedo and Roland Sintos Coloma, while the recipient for the Young Entrepreneur Award was Joseph Magkawas Alilio.

Roland Coloma has a string of educational achievements to his name: B.A. in Liberal Studies, University of California; M.A. and Ph.D. in Cultural Studies in Education, Ohio University; M.A. in Educational Administration, University of California.  His current employment and positions at the University of Toronto: Assistant Professor and Graduate Coordinator, Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education; Co-Director, Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies. He is only one of seven university professors of Filipino descent in the fields of Humanities and Social Sciences in the entire country of Canada.  He is at present involved with a research project on Filipino elderlies in Canada.
 
Patrick Alcedo’s impressive qualifications include a B.A. English Language from the University of the Philippines and PH.D in Dance History and Theory from the University of California.  He is the first and only Filipino to have been hired as a Tenure-track professor at York University where he was a recipient of the Dean’s Teaching Award for excellence in teaching in the Faculty of Fine Arts. He was a Rockefeller Humanities Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. He is the writer, director and producer of various documentary films.  Currently, he holds Canada’s Social Science Humanities Research Council creation grant for his work on performance, immigrant identities and emotional labor among Filipino caregivers in Toronto.

Joseph Alilio, part owner and Chief Operations Officer of FOREX Toronto and UMAC Toronto that deal with balikbayan boxes, received the Young Entrepreneur Award.  He acquired his BS Management from the Sacred Heart College in Lucena City, Philippines. Active in various Filipino associations, he is an officer in the Quezon Province Association of Canada, Dolores Association of Canada, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Knights of Columbus. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, his business acumen enabled him to steer a once failing company back to its feet. The Filipino community in the Greater Toronto Area had lost faith in the balkibayan boxes businesses and simply stopped sending boxes to the Philippines.  But Alilio helped bring back integrity to the business. UMAC, a sister company was established. After recovering from the disaster, the two companies have been growing beyond expectations.

The honorees received their plaques of recognition from the Chair of the selection committee, Dr. Nenette de Villa, and Co-Chair Geny Toribio with the assistance of committee member Tess Lumanlan.

 

 

Munting Nayon News Magazine