AFTER the successful launch of the Award for Promoting Philippines-China Understanding (APPCU) in 2021, the Association for Philippines China Understanding (APCU) and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Philippines jointly honor the 10 laureates for 2022 in a prestigious ceremony on June 10.

APPCU pays special tribute to Filipinos who have made efforts through time to strengthen friendly ties and promote mutual understanding between the Philippines and China using their respective advocacies and expertise in the various fields and disciplines of mass media and public service; trade and commerce; and arts, culture, and the sciences.

Leading the Outstanding Contributions category – where individuals of lesser prominence than the Hall of Fame awardees but nonetheless made notable contributions to promoting and strengthening Philippines-China bilateral relations, friendship, cooperation and understanding – is Wilson Lee Flores.

A multi-awarded writer, educator, poet in both English and Filipino languages, columnist in English and Filipino languages, author of five books, economics/pop culture/ politics/geopolitics analyst and entrepreneur, he also describes himself as a “social worker” in his undertaking various philanthropic and cultural projects either on his own personal capacity or as officer of various non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Among his unique civic and cultural projects include donating several public school buildings to rural communities; moderating the non-partisan “Pandesal Forum” and celebrating the annual “World Pandesal Day” by giving tens of thousands of free bread, free medical/dental/optical services to the urban poor; having his 83-yearold Kamuning Bakery Café cooperate with Quezon City Hall in baking many thousands of breads everyday for one month in 2020 pandemic hard lockdown distributed free to all the city’s government hospitals, medical and security frontliners and shelters for the homeless.

As an author, Flores has written on diverse topics ranging from business, economics, pop culture, humor, arts to politics, winning him a record 15 Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA), including three CMMA Hall of Fame Awards for Best Opinion Column, Best Business Column and even Best Entertainment Column.

He pioneered in writing about the often misunderstood and unheralded immigrant Chinese entrepreneurs and humanized their stories of struggles in his weekly Monday column called “Roots of Philippine Business” for the Manila Chronicle newspaper. These works were translated into the Chinese language and published first on the front page of Chinese Commercial News and weekly in World News.

In the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown in 2020, as chairman of Anvil Business Club Flores contacted the Shenyang City government in northeast China to solicit donations of medical supplies for Quezon City. He also led fund-raising among the Chinese community and donated P38 million worth of medical supplies for Metro Manila’s 15 largest hospitals.

In the 2021 pandemic period, he contacted Guangzhou City government in southeast China to solicit donation of P6 million worth of school supplies as gifts for 10,000 public school children of Manila.

In June 2019, as chairman of the Public Information and Media Committee of the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII), he spearheaded the timely humanitarian assistance for Mindoro fishermen whose boat was damaged in a mishap with a Chinese boat near Recto Bank at sea, this quick aid to fully repair the boat plus donations of rice sacks and a public school building helped calm down the weeks of daily, acrimonious media frenzy.

He proposed and spearheaded the donation of a larger-than -life granite monument of the great teacher and philosopher Confucius for the Chinese Garden of Rizal Park. The project included annual honoring of all teachers on Confucius’ birth anniversary on September 28 and Anvil donations of college scholarship grants for students of Polytechnic University of the Philippines.

With support of his late uncle philanthropist Manuel Chua of Tulay Foundation, he researched, traced and verified the ancestral roots of national hero Dr. Jose Rizal to the village of Zhang-Guo in Jinjiang, Fujian province, southeast China. In his articles, he proposed the installation of a Rizal monument in Fujian, which was eventually realized with the world’s largest Rizal monument of 18.61 meters height and even a huge Rizal Park. Both are now symbols of the ancient bond of friendship between the Philippines and China.

He left a legacy at Ateneo de Manila University, where he studied having been the founder and first president of the university’s multiawarded Celadon organization which promotes better appreciation of Chinese culture. Up to this day, among the noble projects of Celadon is the annual Spring Festival Film Festival, where world-class China-produced movies are shown for free to the public at a major shopping mall for a week during the Chinese New Year.

This year, APPCU recognizes Flores as one of its worthy recipients for his efforts and contributions to facilitating a better understanding of the Chinese culture and the Chinese community in the Philippines, through his writings as well as through his many socio-civic and cultural initiatives.