TWO alumni of the Silliman University received awards during the University of the Philippines Phi Kappa Phi Chapter’s 90th anniversary titled “Pagdayaw.”

Dr. Leslie Bauzon was honored with the Phi Kappa Phi Distinguished Achievement Award for History and Archaeology Research and Scholarship.

Bauzon was recognized for his active role in “helping uplift the poor, the Indigenous People, and their human rights, especially the Mamanwa in reclaiming their cultural history,” the school said.

He was also honored for co-convening several conferences on the Escalon Man, the Philippine traditional scripts, the true site of the First Easter Mass in the country, among others.

Citing the Phi Kappa Phi, SU noted that “various Surigao Declarations on these issues” are said to “attest to the assiduous search for various historical and cultural truths” led by Bauzon.

Meanwhile, veteran sculptor-painter Francisco Verano also received the UP Chapter Phi Kappa Phi Distinguished Achievement Award in the Visual Arts.

Verano was acknowledged for “the ingenuity and vision of his works, as well as for his years of vibrant presence in the Philippine art scene.”

He is known for his sculptures made of unconventional and indigenous materials, watercolor and acrylic media paintings, and for merging two-dimensional forms with sculptures.

Verano’s landscapes and still-life paintings garnered him awards from the Art Association of the Philippines and the Shell National Students Art Competition.