MindanaoToday.com | OWWA national awards elude Normin nominees
By: Uriel Quilinguing
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Two overseas Filipino workers (OFW) from Northern Mindanao were among the 34 nominees recognized by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in its 20-year search, but they could not match the credentials of contenders from other regions in the national 2023 Model OFW Family of the Year Awards (MOFYA).
Sea-based OFW Edgar Llagas of Bugo village in Cagayan de Oro City and land-based OFW Roderic Escudero of Iligan City, Lanao del Note received plaques of recognition and P10 thousand each as Northern Mindanao’s regional winners of the 2023 MOFYA at the National Awarding Ceremony at SMX Convention Center in Pasay City on March 4, this year.
Eugene Mesias, office-in-charge of OWWA-10’s programs and services, who attended the awarding ceremony said both Llagas and Escudero were proclaimed regional winners. Mesias said the two were among the three OFW families for the land-based category and three others for the sea-based category they nominated for the 2023 MOFYA at the national level.
Although Northern Mindanao was home to over 62 thousand OFW families in 2022, not one has won the coveted MOFYA at the national level as well as in the past 17 annual searches, against 16 other administrative regions with relatively big numbers of OFW families. The region’s share from the country’s total count of OFWs was barely 3.2%.
Calabarzon (Calamba, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) Region, for instance, had the most OFW families at almost 300 thousand, as of September 2022, representing about 15.3% of the 1.96 million OFWs across regions that year. Central Luzon and Western Visayas shared 13.3% and 11.1% of the total count of OFWs.
For three years, 1920, 2021, and 2022 there was no MOFYA search because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mesias said.
He said OFW, religious, and non-governmental organizations nominated the OFW families from Northern Mindanao for evaluation in the 2023 MOFYA regional search in the two categories of overseas workers, aside from community involvement and entrepreneurship special awards.
Mesias said all regional winners got P10 thousand each from Banco de Oro (BDO), a MOFYA corporate sponsor.
Declared national 2023 MOFYA winners were Jessie Lorenzo (sea-based category) from Region 6 (Western Visayas) and Amir Hawari (land-based category) from Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) and special awardees Edwin Paragas (entrepreneurship-land-based) from Region 12 (Soccsksargen) and Helen Balerite (entrepreneurship-land-based) from Region 8 (Eastern Visayas). They were recognized with family members.
Retired seafarer Lorenzo, a ship captain for 35 years, and wife Amelia, a public hospital dentist for 22 years, have 12 siblings to raise and financially support, also ventured into sustainable farming. OWWA recognized Lorenzo and his family’s “enduring legacy that embodies the values of familial dedication, social responsibility, and sustainable agriculture.”
Hawari, an OFW for 33 years, was cited for his “determination, hard work, and dedication to holistic success, overcoming challenges and reach one’s goals” and that his family’s success could inspire generations to come.
The two 2023 MOFYA national winners got cheques of P500 thousand each while the two special award recipients received P70 thousand each, aside from plaques of recognition and the free transportation and hotel accommodations. (MT)
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