Presentation of First Golden Balangay Awards held in Toronto

Prof. Patrick Alceda of York University received the Pinoy of the Year Award while Tatay Tom Avendano, Founder of the Filipino Canadian Support Services Society/Multicultural Helping House Society, won the Golden Balangay Lifetime Achievement Award.

14 September 2017 TORONTO – The presentation of the first Golden Balangay Awards was held on September 09 at the Bank of Montreal Institute for Learning in Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario.

The Awards takes its name from the “balangay”, an Austronesian word for an ancient wood plank boat that was used by the first migrants who travelled to the Philippines from 4000 to 2000 BCE. It symbolizes the search for a better life for these people and their families. For the Filipino-Canadian community, it symbolizes their journey and experience as immigrants in Canada.

The Golden Balangay Awards aims to celebrate and recognize the achievements and significant contributions of Filipinos to mainstream Canadian society.  It is also one of the contributions of the Filipino Canadian community to commemorate Canada’s 150th birthday.  It is a collaboration between iKubo Media and Awards Online Canada.  Specifically, the Balangay Awards aim “to promote excellence, hard work, higher education, entrepreneurship, public service and community involvement.”

The winners of the 16 categories of the Balangay Awards are: Educational Excellence in Secondary Education-Sandra Sabongui;  Educational Excellence in Post-Secondary Education-Adrian De Leon; Educator of the Year Award- Robert Diaz; WFG Young Entrepreneur of the Year-Christopher Paul David; Entrepreneur of the Year-Julian Baricuatro; PCCT Business Excellence Award- Agnes Miranda; Excellence in Arts & Culture-Prof. Romi Mananguil, Sports & Fitness-Marc Pagkalinawan, Media-Krystle Alarcon, Music & Entertainment-Raffy Ramiro; Manggagawang Pilipino of the Year-Annie Chua; Senior Achiever of the Year-Norma Carpio; Young Leader of the Year-Zenee May Maceda ; Community Service Award-Tony San Juan; LBC Most Influential Community Organization-Ancop International Canada; Pinoy of the Year Award-Prof. Patrick Alceda; and Golden Balangay Lifetime Achievement Award-Tatay Tom Avendano from British Columbia.

The Guests of Honor included Senator Tobias ‘Jun’ Enverga and Member of Parliament for the Federal Riding of Scarborough Centre Salma Zahid and Philippine Consul General Rosalita S. Prospero.

In her speech, Consul General Prospero mentioned that based on the latest census, there are now about 800,000 Filipinos in Canada and the Filipino community is deemed to be the fastest growing communities across the country. She congratulated the winners for being the source of pride, hope and inspiration to the larger Filipino-Canadian community and encouraged them to continue shining in whatever field or calling they may be. END

For a more detailed description of the categories, please visit: http://goldenbalangayawards.com/categories/

For more information, visit www.torontopcg.dfa.gov.ph/ www.philcongen-toronto.com or https://www.facebook.com/PHinToronto

The members of the Luzviminda Project of York University wowed the audience with a stunning rendition of a traditional dance from the Cordillera Region of the Philippines.