Six individual achievers and four non-government organizations were on Sunday conferred the 2nd Dragon Star Awards by the Quezon City Association of Filipino-Chinese Businessmen Inc. for “going beyond the call of duty to serve their communities at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
These awardees were cited as “real-life heroes” of the pandemic for helping save many lives and inspiring countless others to follow in their footsteps.
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte graced the awarding ceremony held at the Novotel Hotel in Cubao, Quezon City.
The individual awardees were Ana Patricia Non; Lou Sabrina Ongkiko; Kathrina Bianca Macababad; Dr. Glenn Angeles; Dr. Hilda Co-Ong; Dr. Maria Asuncion Silvestre, and Roy Maceda.
The awards were also given to the Tzu Chi Foundation, Salamat PH Healthcare Heroes, and the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc.
Ex-mayors Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Brigido Simon Jr. also received a special award from the organizers.
Non, the first Filipino to lead the establishment of a community pantry on Maginhawa Street, Quezon City, and Ongkiko, who formulated and developed a critical learning continuity plan in the field of STEM at the Culiat Elementary School were earlier honored during the 19th Manuel Luis Quezon Gawad Parangal Awards in 2021.
Angeles put up temporary quarantine facilities for frontliners by co-organizing the Emergency Quarantine Facilities in March 2020, with the help of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and volunteers from the private sector.
Co-Ong helped organize several national blood donation programs that saved countless lives during the pandemic, while Macababad was one of the nurses who saved 35 babies at the neonatal intensive care unit when the Philippine General Hospital caught fire last 2021.
Silvestre worked behind the scenes with the World Health Organization in Geneva and with the Kalusugan ng Mag-Ina Inc.
Maceda co-organized “BeSekLeta for Every Juan” that provided free bicycles to citizens, particularly medical frontliners in need of transportation.