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RP honors outstanding overseas workers
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Female chief executive of Middle East firm leads honorees
MANILA
A woman chief executive of a multinational company, a construction manager
and a comics creator were among outstanding overseas Filipino workers who
were honored by the government in this year;s Bagong Bayani awards.
President Arroyo presided over the ceremonies in Malacanang.
Leading the awardees was Mary Jane Al Mahdi’, who bagged the Blas Ople
para sa Natatanging Bagong Bayani Award and Most Outstanding Employee
Award.
Al-Mahdi is chief executive officer (CEO) of Geoscience Testing Laboratory ),
one of the biggest independent laboratories in the Middle East.
She is the first Filipino recipient of the Emirates Businesswomen Award 2008
and Woman of Substance 2009 Award. She was also nominated as board
member of the 2009 Dubai Quality Group, an organization under the auspices
of Dubai Sheik Saeed Ahmed Maktoum.
The other Most Outstanding Employee awardees were Manuel Perito, Jr., Murry
Demdam, Robert Ramos, and Antonio Alabastro.
Perito, is the brains behind the Super Oman and Risk Man info comic series of
Oman Insurance Co. in Dubai. The series was published in the British
Automatic Fire Sprinklers Association website, Risk Consultants/Loss
Prevention Consultancy Ltd. website, and the Institute of Risk Management
InfoRM Magazine, thus making OIC a byword in the global insurance industry.
Demdam is general manager of M.A. Al-Kawani Establishment, which he
steered from a small startup company to the position of one of the recognized
construction contractors in Saudi Arabia. He is also instrumental in the holding
of licensure examinations for engineers, architects, and accountants in Saudi
Arabia.
Ramos started out as an ordinary employee in Al Babtain Contracting Co. and
he rose to project manager and field operations manager. He pioneered the
OFW congress in Riyadh and co-founded and continued to lead the SAMAFIL-
ABG, a Philippine Overseas Labor Office-accredited community partner.
Alabastro helped put up the first English daily newspaper in Brunei 19 years
ago.
Also recognized were Dioscoro Uy-Ayag, Jr. for culture and arts and Rebenson
Recaña, Domingo Borja, Jr. and Maria Josela Zamora for community and
social service.
Uy-Ayag has choreographed dances and held fashion shows at Philippine
Embassy grounds. He also directed plays and conducted acting workshops for
Filipino theater enthusiasts.
Recana founded the Filipino EPS Workers Association in 2006. Through this
association, aggressive labor education activities, training and symposia in
various workers’ communities were conducted all over South Korea.
His initiative in publishing SULYAPINOY, the first and only newsletter managed
by factory workers, which later established its website, became an effective
venue for promoting the exchange of issues as well as Filipino arts and culture.
Borja is the founder and first President of SODALIS, a Filipino-Italian
association that provides socio-cultural assistance to OFWs in Milan with the
aim of easing OFWs’ integration into Italian society.
Zamora is the president of the Asociacion de Mujeres Filipina (AMFIL) based in
Madrid, which advocates the interest and causes of women. She is also a
coordinator of Tahanan, a Filipino chaplaincy, undertaking support projects for
OFWs.
For sea-based workers, the Filipino crew of M/V Asia Bridge, M/T Chemway
Lara, M/T Lotus Gas, M/V JP Gunjo, Filipino Crew of M/V Agility, and M/V Ioannis
K were given recognition.
The crew of MV Asia Bridge participated in the search of survivors of LCT Marc
Jason 1 and in the successful rescue of Quarter Master Larry Sacedon on Nov.
26 2008 while the crew of M/V Lotus Gas rescued three Filipino seamen during
the same operation despite inclement weather, the crew of M/T Chemway Lara
rescued three Taiwanese fishermen whose boat caught fire in the vicinity of
Taiwan strait on Oct. 3, 2008.
The crew of JP Gunjo rescued the troubled M/V Asian Mars while enroute to
Newcastle, Australia last March 11, 2009. The Filipino captain gave warm food
and clothing to the 22 Chinese survivors before transferring them to a
Japanese patrol boat while the crew of MV Agility rescued six fishermen whose
fishing vessel F/V Teresita capsized near Borongan, Eastern Samar due to a
typhoon on June 2008.
The crew members of the bulk carrier Ioannis K, composed of 15 Filipinos and
five Greeks, gallantly rescued 14 Filipino survivors of three capsized boats off
Sulu archipelago on Feb. 11, 2008.
Ioannis K was enroute to Villanueva in Cagayan de Oro from Jorong, Indonesia.
MANILA
A woman chief executive of a multinational company, a construction manager
and a comics creator were among outstanding overseas Filipino workers who
were honored by the government in this year;s Bagong Bayani awards.
President Arroyo presided over the ceremonies in Malacanang.
Leading the awardees was Mary Jane Al Mahdi’, who bagged the Blas Ople
para sa Natatanging Bagong Bayani Award and Most Outstanding Employee
Award.
Al-Mahdi is chief executive officer (CEO) of Geoscience Testing Laboratory ),
one of the biggest independent laboratories in the Middle East.
She is the first Filipino recipient of the Emirates Businesswomen Award 2008
and Woman of Substance 2009 Award. She was also nominated as board
member of the 2009 Dubai Quality Group, an organization under the auspices
of Dubai Sheik Saeed Ahmed Maktoum.
The other Most Outstanding Employee awardees were Manuel Perito, Jr., Murry
Demdam, Robert Ramos, and Antonio Alabastro.
Perito, is the brains behind the Super Oman and Risk Man info comic series of
Oman Insurance Co. in Dubai. The series was published in the British
Automatic Fire Sprinklers Association website, Risk Consultants/Loss
Prevention Consultancy Ltd. website, and the Institute of Risk Management
InfoRM Magazine, thus making OIC a byword in the global insurance industry.
Demdam is general manager of M.A. Al-Kawani Establishment, which he
steered from a small startup company to the position of one of the recognized
construction contractors in Saudi Arabia. He is also instrumental in the holding
of licensure examinations for engineers, architects, and accountants in Saudi
Arabia.
Ramos started out as an ordinary employee in Al Babtain Contracting Co. and
he rose to project manager and field operations manager. He pioneered the
OFW congress in Riyadh and co-founded and continued to lead the SAMAFIL-
ABG, a Philippine Overseas Labor Office-accredited community partner.
Alabastro helped put up the first English daily newspaper in Brunei 19 years
ago.
Also recognized were Dioscoro Uy-Ayag, Jr. for culture and arts and Rebenson
Recaña, Domingo Borja, Jr. and Maria Josela Zamora for community and
social service.
Uy-Ayag has choreographed dances and held fashion shows at Philippine
Embassy grounds. He also directed plays and conducted acting workshops for
Filipino theater enthusiasts.
Recana founded the Filipino EPS Workers Association in 2006. Through this
association, aggressive labor education activities, training and symposia in
various workers’ communities were conducted all over South Korea.
His initiative in publishing SULYAPINOY, the first and only newsletter managed
by factory workers, which later established its website, became an effective
venue for promoting the exchange of issues as well as Filipino arts and culture.
Borja is the founder and first President of SODALIS, a Filipino-Italian
association that provides socio-cultural assistance to OFWs in Milan with the
aim of easing OFWs’ integration into Italian society.
Zamora is the president of the Asociacion de Mujeres Filipina (AMFIL) based in
Madrid, which advocates the interest and causes of women. She is also a
coordinator of Tahanan, a Filipino chaplaincy, undertaking support projects for
OFWs.
For sea-based workers, the Filipino crew of M/V Asia Bridge, M/T Chemway
Lara, M/T Lotus Gas, M/V JP Gunjo, Filipino Crew of M/V Agility, and M/V Ioannis
K were given recognition.
The crew of MV Asia Bridge participated in the search of survivors of LCT Marc
Jason 1 and in the successful rescue of Quarter Master Larry Sacedon on Nov.
26 2008 while the crew of M/V Lotus Gas rescued three Filipino seamen during
the same operation despite inclement weather, the crew of M/T Chemway Lara
rescued three Taiwanese fishermen whose boat caught fire in the vicinity of
Taiwan strait on Oct. 3, 2008.
The crew of JP Gunjo rescued the troubled M/V Asian Mars while enroute to
Newcastle, Australia last March 11, 2009. The Filipino captain gave warm food
and clothing to the 22 Chinese survivors before transferring them to a
Japanese patrol boat while the crew of MV Agility rescued six fishermen whose
fishing vessel F/V Teresita capsized near Borongan, Eastern Samar due to a
typhoon on June 2008.
The crew members of the bulk carrier Ioannis K, composed of 15 Filipinos and
five Greeks, gallantly rescued 14 Filipino survivors of three capsized boats off
Sulu archipelago on Feb. 11, 2008.
Ioannis K was enroute to Villanueva in Cagayan de Oro from Jorong, Indonesia.