Fisherman Ka Dodoy Ballon receives Ramon Magsaysay Award: ‘No matter how simple we are, we are capable of making new start’

Fisherman Roberto “Ka Dodoy” Ballon received his Ramon Magsaysay Award during a virtual ceremony on Tuesday.

During the 63rd Ramon Magsaysay Awards presentation ceremonies, the foundation recognized 53-year-old Ballon for his “inspiring determination in leading his fellow fisherfolk to revive a dying fishing industry by creating a sustainable marine environment for this generation and generations to come, and his shining example of how everyday acts of heroism can truly be extraordinary and transformative.”

Ballon, along with 30 other fishermen, started the Kapunungan sa Gamay ng Mangingisda sa Concepcion (KGMC) in 1986 to focus on mangrove reforestation.

Vice President Leni Robredo also applauded Ballon during the ceremony for pulling “his community together to plant mangroves, achieving a delicate and compassionate balance in an ecosystem that has been a life source for generations of fisherfolk” and expanding “his efforts to neighboring municipalities in planting hundreds of hectares of mangrove forests and improving the quality of life for many in the entire province.”

Now KGMC chairman, Ballon received the award personally and gave his speech to a virtual audience.

Addressing the organization’s board of trustees, government officials, partners, his company, and his fellow fisherfolk in the Philippines and in Asia, he offered his gratitude for receiving such a prestigious award.

“I am profoundly honored and pleased to be chosen as one of the awardees of the most prestigious award in Asia in honor of the legacy of the late President Ramon Magsaysay,” he said.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I will be counted among the array of great community leaders to be recognized by the Foundation,” he added.

“As a simple fisherman, I only have one desire for the community that makes me do what I have been doing: to offer myself to help provide better environment, sustainable livelihood and an empowered community to realize our vision and mission in life, that is to have ‘3, 8’—agahan, hapunan, tanghalian. In English, breakfast, lunch, and dinner so ‘3, eat.’”

Ballon said if people would have three meals a day, he believed that they would be contented. But more than that, he saw a hunger that not even three full meals could satisfy, and that was to live a harmonious life. 

“What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us? To the children who are now growing up?” he said.

“Today and in the years to come, we respond to the daunting task in making the earth a home ... we don’t just exist and be lavished with what the world can be rendered as but take the proactive step instead and see for ourselves what we can render to show who need us most,” he added.

“While others just stand at the stretches of the coast, we find ourselves delving into deep because we are confronted with such deeper and greater responsibilities. This is where we earn a living but beyond quenching this human need is the vocation to give life to our natural resources, to see life form ridges to reefs and bring life to our common home.”

Ballon further thanked the foundation for making him realize that even the smallest efforts were not futile.

Thanking his family, wife and eleven children, Ballon added: “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.”

Aside from Ballon, four other changemakers in Asia were honored with this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Award:

• Poverty alleviation visionary Muhammad Amjad Saqib, “who founded one of the largest microfinance institutions in Pakistan, servicing millions of families”
• Bangladesh’s scientist Dr. Firdausi Qadri, “who has been instrumental in discovering vaccines that have saved millions of lives”
• Humanitarian Steven Muncy who established Community and Family Services International in 1981 and “has been helping the displaced refugees of Southeast Asia rebuild their lives”
• and Indonesian production house WatchDoc, which “ingeniously combines documentary filmmaking and alternative platforms to highlight underreported issues in Indonesia.” 

During the ceremony, Robredo said: “When poverty strips people of their own ability to take hold of their own destiny, when disease threatens those who have lost so much to prejudice and inequality, when conflict tears people form their homes, their culture, hope and memory, when silence and lies shrink the space of important stories to be told, when even the seas cry out for reprieve from the insatiable drive to extract and consume, we look to people such as the 2021 Ramon Magsaysay awardees and their fellows across the decades as examples of how humanities ought to respond.” – RC, GMA News