Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) senior business reporter Daxim Lucas on Tuesday won the citation Investigative Reporter of the Year of the Rotary Club of Manila (RCM).
He is to receive the citation during the RCM Journalism Awards ceremonies at the New World Hotel ballroom in Makati City on June 30.
Last Feb. 29, Lucas first reported that the Philippines’ financial regulators were investigating a money-laundering scheme that brought to the country an estimated $100 million stolen by computer hackers from Bangladesh.
The money laundering case turned out to be the single largest transaction of “dirty money” uncovered in the country.
It spawned investigations in the Senate, the Department of Justice and the National Bureau of Investigation.
The said accolade will be among the long list of awards that Lucas has received throughout the years. He has been hailed Reporter of the Year twice and won the Best Feature Story award eight times in the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines Business Journalism Awards.
He was also feted by the Society of Publishers in Asia for his investigative reporting on the Legacy Group banking scandal in 2009.
Sought for reaction, Lucas said the award is a validation of all the contributions of his Inquirer coworkers and sources in publishing stories that are relevant to readers.
“I thank the country’s premier Rotary Club for this honor. It’s truly a privilege to be in the company of esteemed journalists who have been similarly honored this year and in the past,” he said.
“More importantly, this award validates all the contributions of all my bosses and coworkers in the Inquirer—along with all my sources, on or off the record—in publishing stories that help our stakeholders make informed decisions in their day to day lives,” Lucas told INQUIRER.net. AJH/rga