CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Thirteen individuals and groups made the crème de la crème of the “Mekeni nation” that is the annual Most Outstanding Kapampangan Awards (MOKA) held on Dec. 11 at the Kingsborough Convention Center here.
Serving as the culminating activity of the week-long celebration of “Aldo ning Kapampangan,” the MOKA, that started in 1978, gives due and lasting recognition to Kapampangans who, in the words of the late Gov. Bren Z. Guiao, “have brought honor to the people and the province of Pampanga by their remarkable and exemplary achievements.”
“A legacy of greatness of the Kapampangans,” then Gov. Lilia “Nanay” Pineda hailed the MOKA during her Capitol watch.
The MOKA 2024 recipients are: Apung Monica De Minalin Multipurpose Cooperative for Institutional Category for Social Services; ArtiStaRita for Institutional Category for Performing Arts; Dr. Anton Victorio M. Lugue Jr. for Medicine; Elena C. Tesoro for Social Services; Peter C. Alagos for Mass Media; Dr. Noelynna T. Ramos for Science & Technology; Nicolas S. Lugue for Visual Arts; Abigail Danica Tungul Adriano for Performing Arts; Edgardo T. Yambao for Posthumous Category for Government Service; Thea Maria Rica Del Rosario for Government Service; Gian Christopher C. Santos for Sports and Dr. Enrique G. Baking for Education.
Guest of honor and speaker was foremost neurosurgeon Dr. Gerardo “Gap” Legaspi, director of UP-Manila Philippine General Hospital, himself a true-blue Kapampangan from Sta. Ana Town.
For the second year in a row, Punto Central Luzon editor Caesar “Bong” Lacson served as the chairman of the MOKA board of judges. Punto News Team/Photos: Gerald Gloton, FB photograbs
