The Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama was presented with the 1959 Ramon Magsaysay Award after 64 years.
Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation president Susanna B Afan and foundation trustee Emily A Abrera personally presented the award to the spiritual at his residence in Himachal Pradesh’s McLeod Ganj.
This was the first international award given to the Dalai Lama "for community leadership in recognition of his leadership of the Tibetan community’s gallant struggle in defence of the sacred religion that is the inspiration of their life and culture" by the Foundation in the Philippines in August 1959.
The Dalai Lama also signed a drawing of himself for the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, Philippines.
According to the Tibetan spiritual leader's office, his elder brother Gyalo Thonden had received the Magsaysay Award on his behalf in Manila, the Philippines in August 1959.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 and has lived in India in exile since then.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award, often called the "Nobel Prize of Asia", is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in governance, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society.
The prize was established in April 1957 by the trustees of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund based in New York City with the concurrence of the Philippine government.
