In his honor, POPCOM created in 1990 what has evolved into a yearly prestigious award: The Rafael M. Salas Population and Development Award (RMSPDA). It aims to perpetuate his legacy by recognizing local government units, individuals and institutions for their outstanding achievements and contributions to population management programs. (1) It also seeks to recognize individuals and institutions who continuously pursue the ideals and visions of Salas to "achieve a better world for the present and future generations." (1) Also instituted in his honor is the annual Rafael M. Salas Memorial Lecture at the UN headquarters in New York. The lecture series began as a memorial and tribute to Salas under whose "leadership, the UNFPA grew from a small trust fund to the world's largest multilateral provider of population assistance." (4) Past speakers include former World Bank president Robert McNamara, former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Philippine President Fidel Ramos, Baroness Chalker of Wallasey, Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh, and famed marine biologist Jacques-Yves Cousteau.
Citations, titles, positions of Rafael M. Salas: (2) • Professorial Lecturer of Economics & Law, 1955–66 • Asst. Vice President of the University of Phil. 1962–63 • Member of the Board of Regents, 1966–69 • Executive Secretary of the Republic of the Phils. 1966–69 • Executive Director of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, 1969–87 • Honorary professor at Universidad Nacional Experimental Simon Rodriguez, 1979 •
People's University of China, 1980 • Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo, 1981 • Universidad Central del Ecuador, 1982 • Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador, 1982 •
Moscow State University, 1982 • United Nations, delegate to the General Assembly, 1968 • Vice-president of International Conference on Human Rights, 1968 • Senior Consultant to Administrator of Development Programme, 1969 • Assistant Secretary General, 1971–72 • Under Secretary General of the United Nations Fund, beginning in 1973 • Coordinator of World Population Year, 1974 • Secretary General of International Conference on Population, 1984. • Presidential Consultative Council of Students, 1954 • Member of National Economic Council, 1955–61 • Special Assist. to the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources and to the President of the Republic, 1961 • Acting Chair of National Economic Council, 1966 and 1968 • National Coordinator and Action Officer in National Rice and Corn Sufficiency Programme (the "Green Revolution"), 1967–69. • Special assignments with the government included delegate to UNESCO Conference on media and youth, 1952 • Executive Secretary of UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines, 1957 • Assistant Secretary General of Second Asian Productivity Conference, 1960 • Chair of Board of Trustees of Government Service Insurance System, 1966 • Chair of Administrative Code Revision Committee, 1966 • Member of Official Philippine state visit to Japan and Philippine delegation to Manila Summit Conference, both 1966 • "Ambassador Extraordinary" to Indonesia, 1967 • Chair of Presidential School Building Committee, 1967 • Chair of International Tourist Year for the Philippines, 1967 • Member of the Board of Governors of the Philippine National Red Cross, 1967–69 • Chair of National Committee on Disaster Operations, 1966–69 • Chair of Reorganization Commission, 1968–69 • General manager of Manila Chronicle and assistant to the President of Meralco Securities Corp., both 1963–66.
Honorary degrees include: (2) • D.Humanities from
Central Mindanao University, 1969 • PhD from
Far Eastern University, 1969 •
University of Sarajevo, 1981 • LL.D. from
Sri Venkateswara University, 1975 •
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1978 •
University of Malaya and
University of Colombo, 1979 •
University of Wales, 1981 • Islamabad
Quaid-i-Azam University, 1982 •
University of the Philippines, 1983 • D.Soc.Sc. from
University of Cairo, 1978 •
University of Indonesia, 1981 • D.P.A. from
Yonsei University, 1978 • D.Econ. from
Nihon University, 1979 • D.H.C. from
Universidad Mayor de San Simon and
Universidad Nacional Federico Villareal, both 1979 • D.Pol.Sc. from
Chulalongkorn University, 1980 • D.Public Service from
University of Maryland at College Park, 1980 •
George Washington University, 1981 • L.H.D. from
American College of Switzerland, 1981
Other honours • Management Man of the Year Award from Management Association of the Philippines, 1966 • named Outstanding Management Practitioner of the Year by the Management Practitioners Association of the Philippines, 1967 • named Man of the Year by Asia Weekly Examiner, 1967 • Indonesian
Order of Mahaputra, 1968 • Knight Grand Cross (First Class) of the
Order of the White Elephant (Thailand), 1968 •
Panglima Mangku Negara of Malaysia, 1968 • nominated for the
Nobel Peace Prize by
José Figueres Ferrer, President of Costa Rica, 1974. • named Diplomat of the Year by the editorial board of Diplomatic World Bulletin, 1976 •
Order of Scientific Merit, first class, from Romania's Academy of Social and Political Sciences, 1980
Books written by Rafael M. Salas • People: An International Choice; The Multilateral Approach to Population, Pergamon, 1976. • International Population Assistance: The First Decade; A Look at the Concepts and Policies Which • Have Guided the UNFPA in Its First Ten Years, Pergamon, 1979. • More Than the Grains: Participatory Management in the Philippines Rice Management Program, 1967–1969, Simul Press (Tokyo Press, Japan), 1985. • Population: Conflict to Census, United Nations Population Fund (New York, NY), 2000. • Reflections on Population, Pergamon, 1984, 2nd edition, 1985. • The Far East and Australasia: A Survey and Directory of Asia and the Pacific, Europa, 1981 • ''The International Who' Who'', 50th edition, Europa, 1986.
Poems • Fifty-Six Stones, Weatherhill, 1985. • Footprints, Weatherhill (New York, NY), 1986. ==See also==