Cynthia Villar, 6 others to receive Pusong OFW Awards

Five government officials, a private lawyer and a foreign embassy are set to receive this year’s Pusong OFW Awards given by the  Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training Institute, a non-profit organization that assists overseas Filipino workers and their families.

The awardees are:

-- Sen. Cynthia Villar
-- Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac;
-- Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis;
-- Justice Undersecretary in charge of the Interagency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) Jose Vicente Salazar;
-- Department of Social Welfare and Development's former Social Welfare Attaché to Malaysia Bernard Bonina;
-- Lawyer Reynaldo Robles of the Chan Robles and Associates Law Firm; and
-- The Embassy of The Kingdom of the Netherlands

Susan Ople, head of the center, said the awardees were chosen for showing dedicated service in protecting and promoting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers, especially those in distress or emergency situations.

“On behalf of our OFWs and their families, we are once again giving out these modest awards as our way of letting them know that their efforts have not gone unnoticed but instead are fondly appreciated,” she said in a statement.

The awarding ceremony will be held during the Happy OFW Christmas Party event on December 16, from 2 to 6 p.m., at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan.

Around 300 to 500 OFWs and their families are expected to  attend the gathering, Ople said.

Previous recipients of the Pusong OFW Awards included Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is also the presidential adviser on OFW affairs; Pag-IBIG Fund, through Alex Aguilar, vice-president; I-Remit's chief executive Bansan Choa; hotelier James Concepcion; and Saudi-based OFWs Joseph Espiritu, founder of Patnubay; and Jebee “Kenji” Solis, as founder and leader of PEBA.

Ople Center is a non-governmental organization that assists distressed OFWs with repatriation, counseling and legal aid and offers livelihood, leadership and personality development, and other training programs.

It also represents the OFW sector in the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking and in the Presidential Taskforce Against Illegal Recruitment while advocating the passage of meaningful legislation on migration and other labor issues. —KBK, GMA News

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