Zamboanga Sibugay fisherman, 4 others formally receive Ramon Magsaysay Award

MANILA, Philippines — A fisherman from Zamboanga Sibugay, three other individuals and an organization have formally received the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for their “undaunted and untiring labor to overcome formidable challenges and release their fellowmen from the sufferings that they endure.”

The 2021 awardees are community environmentalist Roberto “Ka Dodoy” Ballon from Zamboanga Sibugay; Steven Muncy, a humanitarian and peace builder working all over Southeast Asia; Muhammad Amjad Saqib, a poverty alleviation visionary from Pakistan; Firdausi Qadri, an affordable vaccine champion from Bangladesh; and WatchDoc, media truth crusaders from Indonesia.

Ballon received his medallion from the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) Trustees Randolf David, Cielito Habito, and Ernesto Garilao at the Ramon Magsaysay Center.

The rest of the awardees received their medallions in their home countries.

“Let me say it again. No matter how simple we are, we are capable of rising above our weaknesses, capable of choosing what is good, and ever capable of making a new start. May this crusade continue until we can achieve our goal of becoming successful and progressive Filipinos in the entire nation and to the whole of Asias and the world,” Ballon said in his acceptance response.

Meanwhile, RMAF Chairman Aurelio Montinola, in his welcome remarks during the online ceremony on Tuesday, said the 63rd Ramon Magsaysay Awards is even more relevant today because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We continue to give the Magsaysay Award because greatness of spirit is timeless. It is the virtue that is shared by all the Laureates. And it is even more relevant today with a global health crisis, social and political conflicts, and widespread negativism overwhelming people everywhere.

“By celebrating the awardees’ lifework, we hold them up for their undaunted and untiring labor to overcome formidable challenges, and release their fellowmen from their sufferings that they endure. By their example, we can kindle our hope, and believe that we too can do something,” said Montinola.

Vice President Leni Robredo also graced the ceremony and delivered her congratulatory remarks.

“Inclusiveness should not be a matter of charity. It is the very rationale of governance. And this revelation can only be put into practice if those who govern truly understand the meaning of solidarity—walking in the slippers of the people not for show but for real, feeling their despair, carrying their burdens as their own,” she said.

“Only then can the structures blurred by patronage be seen with moral clarity—and be reformed, reoriented, or even dismantled to give way to a society animated by radical solidarity.

“Such change will not happen overnight, or in three to six months, or even the span of a single presidency. It might take lifetimes. But much like Ka Dodoy’s mangrove forests, we need to start walking into the brackish waters, bending our backs, and planting, seedling by seedling, until the sea itself notices. This is what it takes to build a future,” Robredo said in her speech.

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