15 November 2005—NEW YORK—Ambassador   Lauro L. Baja, Jr. Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations, is this  year's The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) awardee for bilateral and multilateral diplomacy. Ambassador Baja was cited for his   "outstanding work in the field of bilateral and multilateral diplomacy through the years, which have helped give the proper focus and attention to national and global concerns and issues to make the world a better place to live in."

The TOFIL award was conceived by the Philippine Jaycee Senate in 1988 to institutionalize public recognition of men and women, 41 years of age and over, whose exemplary achievements are worthy of emulation. TOFIL is an annual project of   the Philippine Jaycee Senate and the Insular Life Assurance Co., Ltd.

The Philippine Jaycee Senate is an organization of Jaycee International (JCI) members who, in recognition of their outstanding achievements, have been awarded the JCI senatorship, the highest and most coveted award of recognition given by the JCI. A senatorship confers "Life Membership" in JCI.

There are a little more than 60,000 JCI Senators all over the world. In the Philippines, there are about 3,000. They represent a little over 1 percent of the more than five million young people who have been Jaycees since JCI's inception in 1939.

The Insular Life Assurance Co., Ltd. is the first and largest Filipino insurance company, long considered as an institution in the Philippine life insurance industry and today one of the country's leading full financial service institutions.

The TOFIL award is the latest of many national honors conferred on Ambassador Baja. He has received Gawad Mabini Award with the rank of Dakilang Kamanong, and the Order of Sikatuna with the rank of Datu, the highest awards a member of the Philippine Foreign Service could receive; the Carlos P. Romulo United Nations Award from the United Nations Association of the Philippines; the Outstanding Alphan for 2003, from the Alpha Phi Beta UP Law Fraternity;   and  the "Dangal ng Batangas" Outstanding Batangueno award in 2004.

Ambassador Baja had also been conferred the highest awards from the Brazilian Government: the Ordem de Gran Cruz de Rio Branco (Order of the Grand Cross of Rio Branco) and the Ufficiale nell Ordine' Al Merito Republica Italiana (Order of Merit) by the Italian Government during his assignments as Philippine ambassador to those countries.

With this award, Ambassador Baja joins the ranks of previous TOFIL awardees such as Jaime Cardinal Sin (Spiritual Leadership, 1988); Marcelo B. Fernan (Judiciary, 1989); Diosdado Macapagal (Government Service, 1990); Teodoro M. Locsin, Sr. (Journalism, 1990); Jose T. Joya (Visual Arts, 1992); Jovito Salonga (Public Service, 1993); Menardo R. Jimenez (Entrepreneurship, 1997); and Efren "Bata" M. Reyes (Sports, 1999).

Conferment of the TOFIL awards will be on 6 December 2005 at the Insular Life Corporate Centre Auditorium, Filinvest Corporate City, Alabang, Muntinlupa City at 6 p.m. END