The Nobel Prizes and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences are a set of awards given, according to Alfred Nobel's will, to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind."
Since its establishment, the prize has been awarded 609 times to 975 people and 27 organizations including one Filipino Nobel laureate â Rappler journalist Maria Ressa who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov in recognition for their contributions to press freedom.
Before Ressa's win, Filipinos speculated multiple times when and who will be the first to win from their country. According to OPCW member Franz Ontal, winning the Nobel Prize is the last thing a Filipino could think of. Hence, the lack of Nobel laureates from the country.
The American news publication Foreign Policy has listed former Philippine president Corazon Aquino alongside Mahatma Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ken Saro-Wiwa and Václav Havel as people who "never won the prize, but should have". Filipino journalist Romulo Virola noted Ramon Magsaysay, Manuel L. Quezon, Felipe Agoncillo, Concepción Felix, Josefa Llanes Escoda, Lope K. Santos, Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, Huseng Batute, Carlos Bulosan, and Zoilo Galang as "Filipinos who could have won the Nobel Prize if only they were nominated."
Despite having only one Nobel laureate, numerous Filipinos (both citizens within the country and living in overseas communities) and Philippine-based organizations were affiliated with laureate organizations of which they contributed largely and were active members at the time the organization was awarded:
As of 2021, there has only been one Filipino Nobel laureate:
Since 1929, Filipinos have started to receive nominations for the prestigious Swedish prize. The following list are the nominees with verified nominations from the Nobel Committee and recognized international organizations. There are also other purported nominees whose nominations are yet to be verified since the archives are revealed 50 years after, among them:
The following Philippines-based organizations and Filipino individuals have nominated various candidates, local and international, for the Nobel Prize.