Cover 2022 The ONE Philippines winner Rogelio Timbal
2022 The ONE Philippines winner Rogelio Timbal
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A mangrove farmer is The ONE Philippines’ unsung hero for 2022, selected from four other humanitarian heroes
In December 2021, super-typhoon Rai (Odette) devastated the western Philippines, including the coastal towns of Bohol province. Rogelio Timbal, president of the Bo-yoan Mangrove Association in the municipality of Candijay, was saddened by reports of lives lost and properties damaged around him but thankful that the 27,000 people of his town were spared. He knew the reason: the mangrove. Those who suffered Odette’s devastation did not have this natural buffer against extreme climate change such as typhoons, tsunamis, storm surges and rising sea levels.
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Timbal, a known community leader, was entrusted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in 2013 with the responsibility of protecting, conserving and reforesting Candijay’s 161-hectare mangrove forest. He accepted the task of serving as president of one of two mangrove associations in his town, even without funding from the government.
Above 2022 The ONE Philippines winner Rogelio Timbal
2022 The ONE Philippines winner Rogelio Timbal
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Every day since then, he would spend four to ten hours a day in this sanctuary, picking up propagules from the forest to plant along the riverbank or in a mangrove-friendly aqua-silviculture fishpond, or to add to an existing nursery. He would regularly supervise the planting of mangroves along the riverbank to prevent erosion, and strictly guard the area against hired cutters who are bent on making charcoal from the carbon-rich mangrove roots, to sell in nearby Ubay, Tagbilaran, or farther out to Cebu. He sees to it that all obstruction and debris found in the river are cleared, an essential task in keeping the river useful for all and the water healthy and sustainable for marine life, since it flows into the bay and out to the sea.
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Above Runner-up Lodema Doroteo
Above Runner-up Dr Jose Ramon Alleje
Runner-up Lodema Doroteo
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For his dedication to this advocacy, Timbal was declared as the unsung hero of The ONE Philippines for 2022, besting 37 candidates and five finalists. During a benefit gala last month at the Marriott Hotel Manila, the mangrove farmer who spoke in broken Tagalog and English received a total prize of PHP1.5 million, earmarked for his proposed projects involving the expansion of the mangrove nursery and the setting up of a seaweed farm both for the ecosystem as well as for livelihood.
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Timbal survived the three sets of judging by three different panels. In the final selection, his other co-finalists were Lodema Doroteo, a teacher from the indigenous Dumagat tribe; Dr Jose Ramon Alleje, dubbed Island Doctor from Coron, Palawan; Sr Sophie Renoux, a French nun of the Missionaries of Mary; and Edilyn Lopez, a Cebuana professor working with the Blaan tribe of Sarangani. This is the second time that TOP was able to perform its mission of recognising an unsung hero.
Because of the pandemic, the biennial awards, scheduled in 2020, were postponed till now.
Above Finalist Sr Sophie Renoux
Above Finalist Edilyn Lopez
Finalist Sr Sophie Renoux
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Originally conceptualised by David Harilela, a Rotary International leader from Hong Kong, the awards project expanded to the Philippines, with Raffy Garcia III, a past RI director, accepting the challenge to make it happen here.
The first winner of TOP, awarded in 2018, was the young teacher of street children, Dara Mae Tuazon.
Timbal’s two runners-up, Doroteo and Alleje, each received a total of PHP500,000, also earmarked for the continuance of their respective chosen projects. Doroteo’s is a safe centre for her tribe while Alleje’s is a complete hospital for maternal and child health as he is an OB-GYNE. TOP’s distinguishing aspect from other awards-giving organisations is the fact that it chooses only those who tirelessly do humanitarian work with hardly any funds. This is the trait shared by all the five finalists whose interviews touched the judges’ hearts. The last panel (Bro Bernard Oca, president of De La Salle University; Chito Sobrepeña, president of Metrobank Foundation; and Charlie Villaseñor, chairman/CEO of Pasia Global Solutions) was one in sharing pride in their discovery that there could be a hero in the everyday Filipino.
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A journalist of more than 30 years, Chit has had varied exposures in this field, both in hard news as well as in soft news, and brings everything she has learnt to the production of the magazine. When not writing or editing, Chit is deeply involved in her chosen service organisation, Rotary International.
