| 08.24.2015 - Western Union has started this campaign in honouring the Overseas Filipino Workers, who not only bring dollars to the Philippine economy they also make the extra effort in helping the less fortunate people in this country.
The campaign is dubbed “Heroes for Better” advocacy that honors 25 Filipino migrant workers from all over the world. But since not all of them came for this event they are still represented by three people who are a part of this illustrious group. |
“Heroes for Better campaign celebrate lives of migrant Filipinos, their work and their personal advocacies because they were the ones who were courageous enough to run after their dreams and in fact, they even took it further by fulfilling other people’s dreams,” shares Patricia Riingen, Senior Vice President, South East Asia & Oceania, Western Union. “The campaign does not just recognize and tell their stories; it also provides them a platform to inspire others to pay it forward.”
This was a culmination after months of searching Filipino migrants who had made an outstanding difference that change the lives of a community. The Western Union Company, a leader in global payment services, announced the top 25 Filipino migrants who are a living proof that there are modern heroes among us.
Present during the Heroes for Better presser were three heroes in Nilo Beltran, founder of the Skills Caravan – a non-profit organization which provides free technical skills workshops to jail inmates, out of school youth and unemployed members of underprivileged communities in the Philippines; Edmond Corpuz, founder of the “Black Pencil” advocacy project which helped bring school supplies to 1,200 school children in rural areas; and Nestor Puno, a missionary who teaches a small school in Japan for Filipino and Filipino-Japanese children who cannot enter regular schools due to their residency status.
Three of them spoke on stage together with host Gabe Mercado, stand-up comedian and entertainer during the program. They shared their individual stories how they started and what made them showed their motivation and passion in becoming one of the 25 Filipinos selected by Western Union as part of the “Heroes for Better” advocacy campaign.
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Nilo Beltran
When Nilo started this campaign reflects his personal goals and what he’ll do in the future. This inspired him to start his advocacy when he saw a few people he helped them in the Philippines. He was an OFW in Saipan who decided to go home to help the out of school youth then expands to also helping hail inmates and the unemployed.
Edmond Corpuz
He never started his advocacy it just started as a habit when he was travelling to remote areas in the Philippines. A photography hobbyist and traveller had the chance to see small towns with school that are deprived with school supplies that inspired him to donate “Black Pencils” and gathered volunteers to collate school supplies.
Nestor Puno
He was working in Japan and saw his fellow countrymen started helping mostly women married to Japanese citizens. Most of them who are now based there were never educated about welfare benefits and how to deal with living in a foreign land.
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Better Heroes in Everyone
Not all of them sees themselves as modern heroes for the reason as Nestor would say “there won’t be heroes if there are no problems or issues”, which this inspires him to help because the government wasn’t able to help in the sector he’s helping.
For Edmond he saw how deprived some of the schools in the provinces that he saw three children shared one pencil which put this in his perspective. Nilo answered questions about leaving a legacy that people won’t forget you in changing their lives, which was inspiring that Edmund and Nestor shared the sentiments too.
Last year one of the chosen 25, which also includes Armand together with his wife Bing Serrano was in the country in bringing his advocacy to help to those in need also brought in his fellow animators from Disney to see his mission through his ICON Manila 2014 event.
In closing the three men shared their thoughts about the future regarding the OFW continue their individual advocacy to help fellow Filipinos to have better life.
To learn more about inspiring stories of the top 25 Filipino migrants by visiting at: wuheroesforbetter.org
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