Bandar Seri Begawan - Antonio 'Tony' Q Alabastro, a sub-editor with Borneo Bulletin, has been chosen to receive the 2009 Bagong Bayani (New Hero) Award, which honours Philippines' outstanding and exemplary Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW)s, the Philippine Embassy announced yesterday.

Labour Attache Dr Elizabeth 0 Recio said the Bagong Bayani Foundation has chosen Alabastro to receive the award for `Most Outstanding Employee' from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Dec 3 at Malacanang Palace in Manila.

"Alabastro was nominated by (former Philippine Ambassador to Brunei) Ambassador Virginia H Benavidez, according to Capt Gregorio S Oca, president of Bagong Bayani Foundation," Dr Recio said.

"I owe this award to Borneo Bulletin, where I am one of the first Filipino journalists working for Brunei's first English daily newspaper in August 1990," said Alabastro.

He won the Bagong Bayani Award for Outstanding Employee for "proving his competence by being promoted in status or in rank, or awarded citation or recognition for distinguished and outstanding performance of his work duties and responsibilities, which in turn contributed to the growth or well-being of the company he works or have worked for", according to the awarding body.

Alabastro has received the Brunei Shell Journalism Award, the Philippine Embassy's Outstanding Performance in Labor and Employment (OPLE) Award from Labour Secretary Blas F Ople in the Philippine Embassy in Brunei; and was twice the Brunei nominee for the Philippine Presidential Awards.

The Bagong Bayani (New Heroes) Awards seek to recognise and pay tribute to OFWs for their significant efforts in fostering goodwill among people of the world, enhancing and promoting the image of the Filipino as a competent, responsible and dignified worker, and for greatly contributing to the socio-economic development of their communities and the country as a whole, the Bagong Bayani Foundations Inc, the awards body said.

Alabastro worked as a Manila police reporter before, joining the Bulletin. He is contemporary chronicler of Philippine-Brunei relations for its print and online readers in the last 19 years.

His stories about the excellence of Filipinos in a foreign land helped raise all over the world the profile of the Filipino overseas workers (OFWs) in the host country.

Philippine Ambassador to Brunei Virginia H Benavidez, the dean of the Brunei diplomatic corps has often cited Alabastro in her speeches as the Philippine Embassy's media partner and her "secret weapon".-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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