"If I die, I'd like for people to know that I died fighting" - Oposa Jr.

MANILA - This year's lone Filipino recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay award has accomplished many feats, from crafting environmental laws to surviving a near-fatal fire.

Though it is not often mentioned, Atty. Antonio Oposa Jr. had an almost heroic episode in 1979 when their house caught fire and 70% of his body was burned in the process.

According to an account in Oliver A. Houck's, "Light from the Trees: The Story of Minors Oposa and the Russian Forest," Oposa barely survived the incident.

"Nobody knows how the fire broke out. Young Tony Oposa, home from law school on Christmas break, woke up in the night to the smoke and roar of his house in flames. He was sleeping upstairs. Between him and the front door was an entire level of fire," Houck writes in his paper.

"He [Oposa] thought to himself, 'If I die, I'd like for people to know I died fighting.' So he went downstairs into the heat, the door that was supposed to be locked simply opened for him, and he went out," he added.

Oposa emerged from the house with his head and arms on fire, and his "skin dripping like wax."

Houck notes that from then on, "Tony Oposa was a little more serious, a little more focused, and ready to take up an amazing journey."

Setting the bar

An amazing journey it was indeed.

After obtaining law degrees from the University of the Philippines and Harvard Law School, he followed his passion for protecting the environment through litigation, advocacies, and establishing environmental networks.

He is perhaps best known for the "Oposa Doctrine," where the court ruled that the interests of future generations could be protected in court.

The doctrine was established after he filed a controversial lawsuit on behalf of 43 minors against rampant logging. He argued this constituted a violation of their Constitutional right to a healthy environment.

He also organized environmental groups like the Law of Nature Foundation, the Visayan Sea Squadron, and the School of the Sea and Earth Advocates.

He wrote two books and co-wrote one, including "The Laws of Nature and Other Stories", "A Legal Arsenal of the Philippine Environment", and "Environmental Law in the Philippines."

For his work, he has won numerous honors like the United Nations Environmental Programme Global 500 Roll of Honor, the International Environmental Law Award from the Center for International Environmental Law in the United States, and most recently, the 2009 Ramon Magsaysay Award - considered the Asian Nobel Prize.

Dubbed as "Asia's Heroes", other Ramon Magsaysay awardees this year include Krisana Kraisintu of Thailand, Yu Xiaogang and Ma Jun of China, Deep Joshi of India, and Ka Hsaw Ma of Burma. abs-cbnNEWS.com.