A Salute to the OFW - continued

In recognition of the OFWs’ contribution to the country, President Arroyo recently honored outstanding OFWs by presenting them with the coveted 2005 Bagong Bayani Awards.

The Bagong Bayani Awards is an international search recognizing OFWs for their efforts in fostering good will, enhancing and promoting the image of the Filipinos as competent, responsible and dignified workers, as well as their contributions to the development of their communities and the country as a whole.

This year’s awards had four categories: Outstanding Employee; Community and Social Service; Culture and Performing Arts; and the Blas F. Ople Award para sa Natatanging Bagong Bayani.

Leading the Bagong Bayani Outstanding Employees was Kuwait-based Zenaida Batillano, a recipient of the OFA Presidential Citation for her courage and leadership during the Iraqi conflict in 2003.

Batillano is also the founder of an organization that collects donations for disaster victims.

The other outstanding employees are seaman Lugen Ortillano, Melvin Malvar of Northern Marianas Islands, Jaime King of Saudi Arabia, Veronica Ugates of Libya, George Palencia of Saudi Arabia, Marlon Joseph Molina of United Kingdom and the Filipino crew of the MV Merino Express, who earned the esteem of the Australian government and the livestock exporting community by keeping alive their cargo of 56,000 livestock while battling extreme heat and thirst during a voyage that lasted 86 days.

Receiving the Bagong Bayani for Community and Social Service were Jesse James Agustin, chief technical assistant in the Ministry of Development in Brunei, who established the international office of the Social Security System for OFWs; Leonor Mohammad Gile, who worked with the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah without expecting anything in return in solving the problems of OFWs against their employers; and the Filipino crew of the MV Stolt Capability, who received the Lloyds List International Rescue at Sea Award by helping rescue the crewmen of a sinking Vietnam-registered ship.

The Bagong Bayani Award for Culture and Performing Arts went to the photographer Gerico Canlapan, whose works are presented in group exhibitions in Riyadh and used to produce a calendar that benefited the Gawad Kalinga program.

Besides the Bagong Bayani Outstanding Employee Award, Zenaida Batillano also received the Blas F. Ople Award para sa Natatanging Bagong Bayani for being the only Asian woman in her company’s top management level who influenced the hiring of Filipinos for supervisory and management positions. She also led the Filipino community in managing the Iraqi crisis in 2004 and became its pillar of strength and courage.

Following tradition, the President on December 23 welcomed the OFWs returning to the country for Christmas. She handed out gifts, including a mobile livelihood store each to four lucky OFWs.

One of them was Alicia Gabasa Ponce, who comes from Jordan, Iloilo. She worked for 14 years as midwife at the Al-Fakkih Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration also reached out to the less fortunate OFWs, choosing an OFW family from each region in the country to be given goods and a livelihood project, Sto. Tomas said.

She said all the arrival counters of the OWWA at the NAIA, Cebu, and Clark international airports are now manned by a complement of workers’ assistance officers who will be on continuous duty in three shifts to facilitate the arrival and exit from the airport of returning OFWs.

"These OWWA assistance officers will be on the job until the last arriving flight on December 31, 2005, and from January 1 to 15, 2006, when the workers are expected to return to their jobs, the same officers will be on hand at the predeparture lounge to assist and send them off," she said.

OWWA, together with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and Phil-Health, has set up kiosks and satellite counters in Robinsons Galleria, Fiesta Duty Free, and in SM in Cebu, Iloilo, and San Fernando, Pampanga, where OFWs can renew their membership in OWWA, pay membership fees to Phil-Health, and file for Overseas Employment Certificates.

Sto. Tomas said the POEA has also set up the Balik Manggagawa Express Clearance Delivery System at its central office in Mandaluyong City.

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