Vice President Leni Robredo congratulated Filipino fisherman Roberto “Ka Dodoy” Ballon, who was named as one of the recipients of the prestigious 2021 Ramon Magsaysay Awards.
The Vice President revealed having invited Ballon to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and in her hometown in Camarines Sur in 2019. A short film about Ballon won the top prize in Robredo’s Istorya ng Pag-asa Film Festival held in 2019. She also visited him in Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay.
“Isang ordinaryong mangingisda na binago ang buhay ng mga kapwa niya mangingisda sa Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay dahil sa sakripisyo, pagod, at determinasyon (An ordinary fisherman who changed the lives of his fellow fishermen in Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay through sacrifices, hard work, and determination),” she said in a Facebook post Tuesday night, Aug. 31.
Robredo noted Ballon and his group revived the waters that have provided them livelihood by planting 500 hectares of mangrove.
READ: ‘Ka Dodoy’ wins top prize in Istorya ng Pag-asa Film Festival
“Ngayon, buhay na buhay muli ang fisherfolk community nila at, selflessly, binabahagi nila ang kaalaman at aral sa iba pang mga communities (Today, their fisherfolk community is thriving, and, selflessly, they share their knowledge and lessons to other communities),” she added.
She revealed that Ballon mentored the fisherfolk in Camarines Sur who the OVP is helping.
Robredo said she is “ecstatic” to hear that Ballon won the award, the same one that was awarded to her late husband, former interior secretary Jesse Robredo when he was still Naga City mayor.
“This is soo (sic) well deserved,” she wrote.
READ: Filipino fisherman from Zamboanga Sibugay leads RM Awardees
Ballon is the chairman of Kapunungan sa Gagmay ng Mangingisda sa Concepcion based in Kabalasan, Zamboanga Sibugay in Mindanao. Through his leadership, the community conserved the natural resources in their area and thereby, improved the community’s income through livelihood programs.
The awards--established in honor of the late former Philippine president Ramon Magsaysay--is Asia’s highest honor given to groups and individuals that impacted the region and the world. It is Asia's equivalent to the Nobel Prize.
Aside from Ballon, this year’s awardees are Muhammad Amjad Saqib (Pakistan), Firdausi Qadri (Bangladesh), Steven Muncy (Southeast Asia), and Watchdoc Indonesia (Indonesia).
The awards presentation will be held on Nov. 28. The announcement of awardees is done every Aug. 31 to commemorate Magsaysay’s birth anniversary.