Roberto “Ka Dodoy” Ballon, a fisherman from Concepcion, Zamboanga Sibugay, and one of the five recipients of the 2021 Ramon Magsaysay Awards, is not new to challenges. Through his leadership, the fishermen in his municipality were able to stop the rampant conversion and destruction of nearby mangrove forests perpetrated in many instances by people in high places or those in government.

"Ang challenge sa amin kung sino pa noon ang aming malalapitan, di natin sinisiraan ang gobyerno, pero yung mga ito pa mismo sa ahensiya ng gobyerno sila pa dapat yang lapitan natin tumulong pero minsan sila pa yung kalaban natin (The challenge for us before, and this is not to criticize the government, were those in government agencies whom we thought would help us but had turned out to be our enemies),” Ballon said during a virtual press conference for this year’s awardees hosted by the Ramon Magsaysay Awards Foundation (RMAF) Thursday.

Ballon said these were the people who used to own illegal fishponds, or people behind illegal fishing activities using big fishing boats.

“Saan kami lalapit, so, yan ang challenge namin noon (Where should we go, so that was our challenge before), he said.

Ballon and other fishermen formed an organization named Kapunungan sa Gamay nga Mangingisda sa Concepcion (Association of Small Fishermen of Concepcion) in 1986 to call for a halt in rampant fishpond conversion and destruction of mangrove forests.

The petition of Concepcion fisherfolk led by Ballon was heard as they were granted tenurial rights to a land where they can implement a reforestation program and plant mangrove trees. The program of the fishermen expanded to nearly 500 hectares of mangrove forests as of 2015.

Ka Dodoy recalled the initial stage of their organization when some of their members left for fear of going against the “powerful people” behind illegal fishing. It reached a point when there were only five of them left in the organization.

“Kaya ang ginawa namin, pinalakas namin ang aming organisasyon (We were compelled to strengthen our organization),” he said.

Ballon said they persevered to reach out to the illegal fishpond owners and the various government agencies to explain their intentions and the role that everyone should play to improve the livelihood of small fishermen in the community.

“Sa awa ng Diyos naman, dahil may maganda kaming dapat makita nila, so ayun, sumoporta at kasama na rin yung ibang ahensiya ng gobyerno na na-enganyo na suportahan kami (With God’s grace, they all supported the cause, including some government agencies who were encouraged to back us,” he said.

It came to a point that Bullon, through his organization, filed a case against a local government unit (LGU) before the Office of the Ombudsman for not implementing the law pertaining to illegal fishing activities.

“Ayun naayos kaya umabot kami sa ganito, sa tingin namin yung empowerment, nasakatuparan ang people empowerment sa tingin namin, dahil napakikinggan na nila yung mga hinaing namin (It ended well and that's the reason why we are here today. In our view, we were able to realized the true meaning of people empowerment because they finally heard all our pleas), he stressed.

Despite winning the highly prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Awards, Ballon said their advocacy to eliminate all challenges against small fishermen will continue as he called on the government to strictly implement the laws, specifically those that set limitations on types of fishing boats or vessels that can enter designated fishing areas, communities or even municipalities, and the continuous dumping of garbage into the waters.

At present, the biggest challenge for the 53-year-old founder of KGMC is to ask the government to create and implement laws that would really uplift the lives of small fishermen and expand livelihood programs, building proper facilities, and promote capacity building for all the fisherfolk.