CITY OF SAN FERNANDO —- Recognizing the vital roles played by overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in nation-building, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) awarded the winners in 2006’s Model (OFW) Family of the Year Award (Mofya) at a mall event center here over the weekend.
Antonio Bautista and Celso Del Rosario bagged the Mofya for the land and sea-base categories, respectively. The awarding was led by Mamerto Mercado, Owwa regional director.
“While migration brings about the solutions to a lot of financial constraints, migration also tells on the family unit’s day-to-day existence given the lack of proper guidance afforded to the children. Children normally are subjected to the abnormal situation of coping up with one or both of their parents sadly absent to attend to their daily needs,” Mercado said.
The annual award aims to recognize the OFWs and their families who have used the gains of working abroad to their best advantage. Mofya recognizes the successes of the OFWs’ families in terms of enterprise development and generation of employment opportunities as they optimize the gains of migration.
Bautista worked as assistant planner and later as management secretary in Aluminum Products Co. Ltd in Saudi Arabia. During his free time he was actively involved in various activities for fellow OFWs. He founded the All Filipino Tennis Player’s Association, the biggest sports association in Saudi. This paved the way to forge partnership and friendship between Filipinos and Saudi officials and entrepreneurs who co-sponsored events of the organization.
He also served executive council chairmen of the Kapulungan ng mga Samahang Pilipino (Kasapi), the biggest federation of Filipino Associations in Saudi. Bautista now lives a well-off life in Baliuag, Bulacan with his own fleet of businesses.
Meanwhile del Rosario literally rose from rags to riches. He become a seafarer in 1972 and upon his return in 1990 has not forgotten to share to the community what he had earned through hard work.
He and his wife established the Kabayan Marriage Encounter, which provides various assistance programs to would be couples who want to start new lives. There are at least 500 couples in their community in Hagonoy, Bulacan.
Since its inception, the Mofya was conceptualized to highlight the importance of the solidarity of family vis-à-vis the multitude of problems brought about by the migration process.
With Mofya, Owwa hopes that OFWs and their dependents can identify and acquire inspiration from the experiences of other senior OFWs, especially in the apparent success many OFWs have in handling their finances or earnings from migration to establish alternative income-generating activities. (IOF)
