One of this year's most impactful women, Child Protection Network's executive director Dr Bernadette J Madrid, celebrates how much her advocacy shared with David Bradley has contributed to societal development and reminds us how much more is needed to do
Never in the wildest dreams of Tatler Asia's Most Influential 2022 honouree, Dr Bernadette J Madrid, did she imagine that she would earn the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award. "When the Child Protection Network (CPN) was first envisioned, David Bradley and I only aimed to have a little clinic at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH)," shares Madrid. 26 years later, CPN is now present in 62 provinces through its Women and Children Protection Units (WCPU), and continuously serving every victim of abuse with utmost care and assistance in many aspects.
"But then we realised that whatever gives birth in PGH affects the whole country. . .My classmates from Batch '83 and I are just ordinary people who love our work and are passionate about them. As a result, we are altogether building a country that we're all proud of," Madrid says.
It has been months since Madrid was given the distinction. Yet the spirit of merriment remained fresh and warm at the reception prepared by the US Embassy to the Philippines at the Ambassador's Residence last March 10. There, Ambassador MaryKay Carlson welcomed Madrid, distinguished philanthropist and Fullbright scholar David Bradley, the rest of CPN's board of trustees, and Madrid's friends and relatives, to celebrate Ramon Magsaysay Foundation's laudation.
Read also: Grateful hearts bring hope: The CPN Dinner
Championing the Filipino child's right to protection, Madrid has been a renowned paediatrician for decades now. Since the Nineties, she has been teaching at her alma mater, the University of the Philippines Manila, aside from serving as head of the child protection unit of PGH. Born and raised in Iloilo, Madrid pursued her medical studies in Manila, then entered an international fellowship in Primary Care Paediatrics at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. That time, her eyes were opened to the deeply-rooted problem of child abuse and had realised that her home country suffers from it even worse as it is ravaged by poverty, child labour, trafficking, and violence.
She returned to the Philippines and tried to establish a Child Abuse Program in the PGH, but the program was short-lived for a lack of support. Madrid returned to Iloilo, started a private practice, and seemed headed for a quiet, provincial career until she was called back to Manila in the mid-1990s to head an emergency unit for abused children in PGH, at the insistence of UP Manila, Bradley, and the Advisory Board Foundation (now CityBridge Foundation).
