JEDDAH 05 October 2018 – In recognition of their positive impact to the community despite the challenges of living and working overseas, the Philippine Consulate General and the Office of the Social Welfare Attaché in Jeddah feted three outstanding Filipino families in Saudi Arabia’s western region.
This was held in a grand awarding ceremony for the 2018 Search for the Huwarang Overseas Pamilyang Pilipino Award (HOPPA) held at the Movenpick Hotel in Jeddah on 28 September 2018.
Out of the 19 OFW Family nominees, the family of Teodoro Delos Santos was chosen as the 2018 Huwarang Overseas Pamilyang Pilipino. First runner-up was the family of Fortunato Esguerra and the second runner-up was the family of Salvador Culajara. They received plaques and cash prizes.
The patriarch of the Delos Santos family is an ex-seminarian who worked with task force detainees before he came to work in Saudi Arabia in 1993. Mrs. Delos Santos was a music teacher at the St. Scholastica College before joining her husband in Jeddah.
In 2005, the couple founded Serenata, a non-profit performing group composed of a children’s choir, string orchestra and male choir. Serenata has received remarkable multi-media reviews for its world-class performances and philanthropic missions.
During the 2014 Presidential Awards for Filipino Individuals and Organizations Overseas, the Lingkod sa Kapwa Pilipino Award was conferred to Serenata. As part of its advocacy, Serenata sends poor but deserving Filipino youth to college in partnership with ABS-CBN’s Bantay Bata 163’s Bantay Edukasyon Program.
As the winner of the search, the Delos Santos family will be automatically nominated to the Model OFW Family of the Year Awards, an annual, nationwide search conducted by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to recognize outstanding families of Filipino migrant workers who have shown family solidarity, financial stewardship, civic/community involvement, and entrepreneurship.
The 2018 HOPPA is the first of its kind to be launched in the entire Western Region, if not, in the whole Saudi Arabia. It aims to recognize and pay tribute to an OFW family in the western region of Saudi Arabia that has maintained strong family ties, demonstrated traditional Filipino values, and created a positive impact in the community where they live, local or overseas, in spite of the many challenges of living abroad.
The 2018 HOPPA Board of Judges was composed of Durat Al Sharq International School in Jeddah Academic Director Professor Mohammed Isa Carlos L. De Leon, Middle East Operation of Skyfreight Forwarders Inc. Vice President and 1990 Presidential (Banaag) Awardee for Most Outstanding Expatriate Remigio L. De Guzman, and Al Jazira Bank Vice President, OFW Council of Leaders Director General, ACTS OFW Middle East Affairs Chairman and ACTS OFW Partylist Vice Chairman Venecio V. Legaspi.
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For more information, visit www.jeddahpcg.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/philippine.consulate.jeddah.
