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NEWS 5 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 14 DECEMBER 2022 renowned Mrs Bice Bisazza. In 1970, he took on learning the Bassoon under the auspices of Mro Joseph Sammut. The as- tounding talent he exhibited on this musical instrument led him to further pursue his skills on the Bassoon in 1975 in Turin under the tuition of Prof. Giuseppe Del- la Valle. Mro Mizzi put the ex- pertise gained on this instrument to fruition locally through his appointment as Principal Bas- soon with the Manoel Theatre Orchestra, a position he held for 40 years until retirement. The band march 'The King' re- mains one of Mro Mizzi's trade- mark, putting Malta on the inter- national platform. This musical piece has been played in various countries and is the soundtrack of the film Dopo Mezzanotte and Ispettore Montalbano by Rai. His international exposure made him play under the baton of famous conductors such as Mro Michael Laus, Mro Brian Schembri, Mro Wayne Marshall, Mro Peter Stark, Mro Charles Camilleri, Mro Olivier Monroe among oth- ers. MIDALJA GHALL-QADI TAR- REPUBBLIKA Anthony Abela Medici: Born in 1949 in Rabat, he is considered an expert in the field of foren- sics. Abela Medici spent 30 years working in the police's forensic laboratory on all major cases, including, murders, the Egyptair Hijack in 1985 and the recovery of the Caravaggio in 1987. In 1992, he was appointed by the Archbishop of Malta to car- ry out the exhumation of Blessed Adeodata Pisani and the same process was carried for Frenċ tal- Għarb in 1997 for the Diocese of Gozo. The Church appoint- ed him in 1999 to examine and report on the circumstances of the weeping Madonna tal-Għar at St Dominic priory, Rabat. In July 2000, he carried out the ex- humation and preservation of the saintly remains of Saint Ġorġ Preca. In 2016, Abela Medici was elected to serve on the Commit- tee of Experts for the Prevention of Torture and Inhumane or De- grading Treatment or Punish- ment, by the Council of Minis- ters of the Council of Europe. From 2018 to 2021, he held the post of Commissioner for Volun- tary Organisations. Robert Arrigo (Posthumous): Born in 1954, Robert Arrigo was a leading Maltese tourism opera- tor and a politician who served as MP from 2003 until his death in 2022. Between 2017 and 2022, he was appointed as deputy leader of the Nationalist Party. In 1994, he was elected as the first mayor of Sliema. Arrigo was also a prominent businessman and a pioneer within the travel and tourism industry. He spearheaded his company, Robert Arrigo & Sons Limited, by opening new source markets for incoming tourism to Malta and Gozo. Arrigo was also involved in sports management where he was elected chairperson of Gżira United and Sliema Wander- ers football clubs and served as Vice-President of Neptunes Wa- terpolo Club. Anna Bonanno: Anna Bonan- no was a renowned TV journal- ist and a broadcaster with the Public Broadcasting Services for more than 30 years. She became a pioneer in the field of televi- sion and news anchoring at that time dominated by men. She also became the first Maltese female correspondent abroad, sending her first reportages from Kua- la Lumpur in Malaysia for the Commonwealth Heads of States Meeting, Tiananmen Square in China for the official visit of Mal- ta's Head of State, and Brussels when Malta formally submitted its application to join the Euro- pean Union. She also presented a number of television news and current affairs programmes. Saviour F Borg (Posthumous): He served in Malta's foreign ser- vice from 1977 to 2012, having first joined the civil service in 1965. In 1994, he was appointed as the first director of the newly created multilateral affairs de- partment. From 1978 to 1982, he served as first secretary and dep- uty permanent representative of Malta to the United Nations Of- fice in Geneva, and from 1983 to 1987 to the UN in New York. In 2007, he was appointed as Malta's permanent represent- ative to the UN, also serving as the Rapporteur of the United Nations Committee on the Inal- ienable Rights of the Palestinian People. Following his retirement, Ambassador Borg served as ad- visor to the minister for foreign affairs and trade promotion and as Malta's non-resident ambassa- dor to the Swiss Confederation, the Principality of Liechtenstein, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Simone Borg: She is Malta's Ambassador for Climate Action and chairs the National Climate Action Board. Prof. Borg is a res- ident academic at the University of Malta, a visiting lecturer at the IMO International Maritime Law Institute and has lectured at various universities abroad. She specialises in international law and policy relating to climate, ocean governance and biodiver- sity conservation. She chaired the Steering Committee for Malta's National Post-COVID Strategy and occupied various other sen- ior roles at governmental level. She was the Occupational Health and Safety Authority's first chair- person. Prof. Borg started her career as a diplomat and coordinated the transposition of the environmen- tal acquis communautaire before Malta joined the EU in 2004. In 2017, during Malta's Presi- dency of the Council of the Eu- ropean Union, she chaired the EU working party on climate ne- gotiations. She is also very active in promoting climate action with stakeholders and civil society. Antonio P Briguglio: Born in Ħamrun in 1934, he started his refereeing career in 1961 and for 16 years was on the FIFA/ UEFA panel of referees. He also attained a UEFA 'C' licence as a football coach. Briguglio attend- ed several courses on advanced refereeing instruction and lead- ership organised by UEFA, the FA, FIGC and the Olympic Com- mittee of Germany. He held var- ious administrative positions in- cluding that of president of the Malta Football Referees Associ- ation, and member of the MFA Referees' Board between 1985 and 1987. He was also an active member of the Malta Basketball Association and a Basketball ref- eree between 1974 and 1996. In the early 1980s he founded and was the first president of the Fed- erazzjoni Klabbs tal-Boċċi, where he compiled the statute and com- petition rules. Fr John Caruana (Posthu- mous): Born in 1941 in Mosta, Caruana was ordained as a priest on the 11 March 1967. He was already considered a social activ- ist along his 17-year experience as a priest at the St Julian's par- ish church. In 1984, Fr Caruana left the country to start his mis- sionary vocation in Brazil, where he spent the rest of his life. He leaves a legacy of relevant work with Basic Ecclesial Communi- ties, social pastoralists and his ad- vocacy for agricultural reforms. His most notable and relentless commitment to the poor could be demonstrated by his constant and unwaivering support to the Landless Peasants Movement. He was one of the few who chose to defend the poor and was al- ways present to help peasants oc- cupy land and ranches purposely left untilled and turn these into productive farms to feed them and thousands of other families. Karl Farrugia: Born in 1973, Farrugia is an engineer. After working in the private sector, he joined the health ministry as a biomedical engineer in 2001, where he was responsible for the procurement and commis- sioning of medical equipment at Mater Dei Hospital. He furthered his studies and in 2003 obtaining a Master's Degree in Engineer- ing. In 2007, he was appointed director for hospital materials management and logistics. He was selected as CEO in 2011 to spearhead the consolidation of the government procurement health services, today known as the Central Procurement and Supplies Unit. His role included the provision and distribution of pharmaceuticals, medical and surgical supplies, hospital equip- ment and services across the whole National Health System which accounted for a portfolio of over €500 million. In 2016, he was promoted to Managing Director with add-on responsi- bilities including the Pharmacy of Your Choice and the National Blood Transfusion Centre. Louis Fsadni: Born on 18 Au- gust 1941 in Birgu and raised in Bormla, he served for 47 years in the public service. He was in- volved in numerous important reforms and the introduction of new systems mainly with respect to the counting of votes. Suc- cessive Electoral Commissions retained his services for 17 years after he retired from the public service in 2002. His first experience in vote counting was the Gozo Referen- dum in 1973. He served as Senior Manager (Counting Hall) during nine general elections, four refer- enda, four European Parliament elections, 27 calls of Local Coun- cils' elections, numerous casual elections and other minor ones. Fsadni's best achievement is the introduction of e-counting. He proposed the idea of e-count- ing to the Gonzi Commission in 1994 and again to a Parliamen- tary Select Committee in 2008. After the 2014 MEP Election, once again Fsadni proposed the e-counting system to the Elector- al Commission. Fsadni's dream became true after 29 years during the 2019 European Parliament and Local Councils' Elections. Brother Edward Galea: Born as Anthony in 1924 in Żabbar, in May 1939 he left Malta with another 11 aspirants and trav- elled to the Juniorate at Avignon, France. Despite the outbreak of the Second World War in Sep- tember 1939, he stayed in France and was given the religious name of Tiburce Marie. When he re- turned to Malta in 1945, he start- ed being called Edward. In 1940, he started his novitiate at Pibrac, near Toulouse and in 1942, he moved to St Maurice L'Exil where he was given a spe- cial identity card allowing him restricted movement. He and the other Maltese Brothers were almost discovered by the Nazis due to their British passports and they decided to flee from St Mau- rice L'Exil. Edward headed to the Immaculate Conception Board- ing School in Bezier where he started his first teaching practice in an elementary class. Marina Arrigo receiving the Midalja ghall-Qadi tar-Repubblika awarded posthumously to her late husband Robert, who died earlier this year