Model OFW families: Pinoys who invest remittances wisely

For promoting cooperativism and entrepreneurship, two families – one each from Batangas and Masbate provinces - were named model overseas Filipino worker (OFW) families for 2009.

Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said Saturday the winners of this year’s Model OFW Family of the Year Awards (MOFYA) are the Lubis family from Lipa; and Bello family from Baleno, Masbate.

Engineer Rodolfo Pita Lubis of Lipa, Batangas represents land-based OFWs, while Capt. Emilio Bajar Bello of Baleno, Masbate represents sea-based OFWs.

Roque, who conceived the MOFYA when he was still the head of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), said the Lubis and Bello families exemplify OFWs model families in the country who have demonstrated the best practices of OFWs and their families in overcoming the challenges of migration.

Lubis worked in Saudi Arabia for more than 30 years, while his family invested his overseas earnings in various agri-business enterprises that employ more than 200 workers.

The Lubises have also developed their first Gawad Kalinga Reunion Village where residents are given employment, livelihood capital, and scholarship for their children.

Also, the family planted more than 45,000 narra and mahogany trees as their contribution to the “Greening of the Environment."

Bello, on the other hand, worked as a seaman for almost 29 years starting only as ordinary seaman in 1971.

His family invested his overseas earnings in various agri and retail business ventures as well.

Upon his retirement in 2000, Capt. Bello started to engage in community projects particularly in sharing his expertise on food sanitation and entrepreneurship through the OFW chapter of the Baleno Fishermen and Farmers Cooperative.

The MOFYA is a search for families who have maintained strong family relations, properly managed the financial benefits from the OFWs’ overseas employment, have educational achievements and exemplary performance in their respective professions, and at the same time have a positive impact in the community where they reside. - JHU, GMANews.TV, November 28, 2009