Dr. Dubhie Raz formally got involved with MAFI in 2011 when she took over her father’s position as a board member of the Cotabato Tribal Consultative Council for Development Inc. (CTCCDI).
CTCCDI has been a dynamic partner of the foundation and the Energy Development Corporation since the creation in 1993 of the multi-sectoral management group for the effective management of Mt. Apo and its upland dwellers. Through the years, CTCCDI has actively assisted in conducting community investigations, interviews, screening, and evaluation of applicants for MAFI scholarship.
Tracing her roots from Magpet, Dr. Dubhie is a daughter of an Obo Manobo tribal leader and a Bol-anon settler. Since she was young, she has been immersed in Lumad culture and has a heightened awareness on the plight of indigenous peoples in the province, considering that her father worked as a provincial officer of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples.
She was fortunate to have availed of MAFI’s financial support when she studied medicine in Cebu from 1996 to 2001. Although MAFI subsidized only a portion of her tuition fee and allowance, she said that it was a big help then in defraying the high cost of her medical education.
She is quite thankful to MAFI and deems it important to return the favor by conducting annual medical check-ups for its scholars, and by serving as a volunteer doctor in its numerous medical outreach activities.
In various occasions, she has served as MAFI’s resource speaker to encourage and inspire poor and deserving Lumad students to pursue and realize their dreams of finishing their studies.
Because she has high regard for the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples, she has provided support for the conduct of the Alla’o To Sandawa (Day of Sandawa), a yearly festive get-together of tribal leaders and elders at Barangay Ilomavis, Kidapawan City.
The self-effacing and caring medical doctor hopes that more scholar graduates will be able to do their share in helping MAFI carry on with its vision and mission in the coming years.
Dr. Dubhie Joy A. Raz
CTCCDI/Magpet
