Pinay DH leader among 2021 ‘Bagong Bayani’ awardees

Rodelia Pedro Villar is the recipient of the 2021 Bagong Bayani awards.

A Filipina community organiser and household service worker in Hong Kong is among the awardees of a foundation in search of the Philippines’ most exemplary migrant workers.

Rodelia Pedro Villar, an Antique native, was given the 2021 Bagong Bayani Award for Community and Social Service at the Bagong Bayani Awards on Monday.

Villar, founder of the online migrant support group Domestic Workers Corner (DWC), is among the seven recipients of the award.

The Filipina worker told Hong Kong News she cried tears of joy when she heard she won and immediately told fellow organisation members who nominated her.

“I am happy at proud sa narating ng DWC kasi hindi ko ito naabot kung wala sa support ng mga nagtitiwala sa DWC,” she said.

[Translation: I am happy and proud at what DWC has achieved because I wouldn’t get here if not for the support of those who believed in DWC.]

She started the DWC online community in 2017 to help fellow domestic workers face labour, immigration, and Covid-19 issues in Hong Kong.

In 2022, she eyes working with non-governmental organisations in Hong Kong to reach out to communities far from popular migrant worker haunts, particularly the New Territories. She also plans to organise seminars on domestic workers’ anxiety and depression amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rodney Queman, another native from Antique, also received the same award. He has worked in Incheon, South Korea for over a decade and is part of several organisations in the Filipino community there.

The awards are given by the Bagong Bayani Foundation, a non-stock and non-profit organisation based in the Philippines. It works with the Department of Labor and Employment and other attached agencies and private entities to pay tribute to land-based and sea-based overseas Filipino workers.