Roberto Ballon

Roberto “Ka Dodoy” Ballon was proclaimed as one of the recipients of the 2021 Ramon Magsaysay Award, and generally dubbed as the ‘Nobel Prize of Asia in August  2021. The Ramon Magsaysay Award (RMA) is a premier prize and highest honor that recognizes the greatness of spirit demonstrated in selfless service to the peoples of Asia irrespective of race, religion, ethnicity, or gender. Since 1958, the RMA has recognized the transformative leadership qualities of selected Asians in many areas: government service; public service; community leadership; journalism, literature, and creative communication arts; peace and international understanding; and emergent leadership. The RMA was established by the Rockefellers Brothers Fund based in the USA in concurrence with the Philippine government in 1957, the year when Philippines lost its great leader President Ramon Magsaysay due to a tragic plane crash incident.

The other awardees deserving of salutation for year 2021 were:

• Muhammad Amjad Saqib (Pakistan), a visionary who founded one of the largest microfinance institutions in Pakistan, servicing millions of families;
• Firdausi Qadri (Bangladesh), a Bangladeshi scientist who has been instrumental in discovering vaccines that have saved millions of lives;
• Steven Muncy (Southeast Asia), a humanitarian who has been helping the displaced refugees of Southeast Asia rebuild their lives; and
• WatchDoc (Indonesia), a production house that ingeniously combines documentary filmmaking and alternative platforms to highlight underreported issues in Indonesia.

Roberto Ballon, an ordinary small-scale fisherman but with an immense societal role, left a trailblazing legacy of restoring the coastal environment of his municipality through mangrove reforestation and fishery development. He was instrumental in the initiation of community organizing that culminated in the formation of the Association of Small-scale Fisherfolk in Concepcion (Kapunungan sa Gagmay’ng Mangingisda) to mainstream mangrove reforestation.

Since fishing is the lifeblood of the people’s survival in his hometown, Roberto Ballon’s environmental advocacy of rehabilitating mangrove forests resulted in the dramatic improvement of fish catch from 1.5 kilograms per fishing trip of eight hours to as much 7.0 kilograms in three-to-five hours of fishing. This significant increase in fish catch was felt after twenty years of hard work which paved the way for the enhancement of people’s economic capability manifested in terms of greater purchasing power to acquire fishing boats, household food, children’s education, domestic amenities (i.e., home appliances), and other family needs.

As a result of persistent dedication and passionate hard work, Ka Dodoy' s leading pursuit for mangrove rehabilitation engendered productive results that was felt after two decades of conscientious toil and struggle. His local nickname "Ka Dodoy" is a popular Filipino expression suggestive of the cohesive power of comradeship, companionship, and brotherhood in the Filipino culture. Thus, his local nickname captures his popular role as community organizer and fellow advocate of environmental causes. At present, more than 300 family beneficiaries are reaping the gains of productive fisheries attributable to the ecological stability and rich biodiversity of the restored mangrove forest and rehabilitated marine ecosystem.

Historically, Ka Dodoy ’ s leadership prowess was challenged when  his community organizational strength plunged to only three members.  Despite such a remarkable decline of public support, he persevered and continued his advocacy by setting a leadership example and remaining consistent to his espoused environmental principles. Later, he was able to forge institutional linkages with various academic and funding organizations, which further empowered his community organization to become technologically innovative and economically sufficient in order to seize opportunities and reach milestones of accomplishments. 

As an environmental leader, Roberto Ballon exudes some personal characteristics worthy of emulation: vision, information, inclusion, decision, dispatch, standard-setting, and humanity. Ballon cherishes the vision of having a brighter food-secure future for every Filipino fisher through the conservation of the mangrove forest as a haven of marine life and a buffer against climate change, natural disaster, and pandemic crisis. He believes in the power of information that can be converted to knowledge and can be applied as wisdom to capacitate the fisherfolk communities to explore available livelihood opportunities for self-sufficiency. In fact, he was able to develop a pragmatic technology of growing shellfish with promising economic potentials. He promotes inclusion by listening to conflicting perspectives among diverse parties to resolve community conflicts and maximize available productive strategies and ideas to foster collaboration. He executes decision-making by defining and pursuing action agendas of proselytizing fellow fisherfolk to revive the dying fishing industry through the creation of a sustainable marine environment for incoming generations. He exercises dispatch by doing things now rather than later especially on the area of fisheries law enforcement and painstaking negotiations with perpetrators of illegal activities. He prioritizes standard setting by formulating the definition of success in forging sustainable partnership for change and effective marine resource management. He embraces humanity by having experienced the spell of poverty and lack of opportunity for education and in effect demonstrates empathy to economic depression and deprivation from one’s maximum potential.

At the height of the pandemic crisis, Ballon’s fishing community stood firm to be resilient against food insecurity due to stable fish catch. While the rest of the world was struggling with the food crisis, his homeplace took the benefit of sufficiency and abundance because he championed the basic tenets of environmental leadership which opened the door for a myriad economic possibilities. Indeed, his influential leadership laid the foundation for food security by highlighting the interconnectivity of mangrove forest and marine ecosystem. As an illustrative exemplification of his outstanding environmental leadership, Ka Dodoy garnered various local awards including the:

• Gawad Saka Award in Zamboanga Sibugay in 2003 and 2004;
• Department of Agriculture ’ s National Gawad Saka Award in 2005;
• Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corporation Award for the self-resilient team program in the fish culture category;
• Most outstanding fisherfolk in Zamboanga Sibugay in 2006;
• Ateneo de Zamboanga School of Medicine Award as the most outstanding fisherfolk organization leader in 2011;
• National Gawad Natatanging Parangal (Distinguished Award) under fish conservation in 2019 by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources

At present, Ka Dodoy’s success story is being replicated in the different parts of his province Zamboanga Sibugay in Mindanao Island as well as some parts of the Philippines. Lessons that can be learned from Ka Dodoy’s environmental leadership experience can be summarized into three important points:

Ecological restoration is the fundamental key to ensure long-term food security and livelihood resilience amidst socio-ecological stressors such as climate change, natural disasters, and pandemic threat.

Transformative environmental leadership is consistent with the innate Filipino inclination for participatory democracy and indigenous governance anchored on the value of bayanihan (community cooperation and participation) which is tested during crisis situations;

Poverty, which is common among small-scale fishermen in developing countries, is not a hindrance to community success; in fact, it can be an impetus for community mobilization through meaningful institutional linkages with relevant organizations which can lead to technological innovation and resource sustainability.

Roberto Ballon led his fellow fisherfolks to restore denuded mangrove forest 

Roberto Ballon emphasizes the role of local communities in sustaining forest management