In keeping with Positively Filipino’s goal of celebrating the 13-million-strong (and counting) Filipino diaspora, we are launching a new series titled Overseas Filipino Achievers. The series recognizes outstanding Filipinos making their mark in various countries around the world. It builds on our popular and long-running feature, “FilAms Among the Remarkable and Famous.”

But we need your help. If you know Filipinos outside the Philippines and the United States who are doing exceptional work in their adopted countries, please send their names, supporting documents or links, and photos to pfpublisher@yahoo.com.

FRANCE

Kat Borlongan

Borlongan became the first Filipino to be awarded the French National Order of Merit, one of France’s highest distinctions given to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the country. Onstage, she claimed her Filipino identity and took the opportunity to talk about migration and community. Borlongan left the Philippines at 19 to build a life in France. The adjustment was not easy, and she didn’t speak the language, but she went on to earn her Political Science degree from Sorbonne University and her master’s degree at McGill University. At 23, she was leading Reporters Without Borders Canada. After founding an open-data startup, she was tapped by President Macron to lead La French Tech, where she helped accelerate France’s rise as a leading startup hub, expanded a global network of more than 120 tech communities, and advanced initiatives like the French Tech Visa and programs supporting underrepresented founders. She continues to be an ambassador for the European Innovation Council.

Danielle Gonzales-Pareja, Brand Strategist

Danielle Gonzales-Pareja *(Source: LinkedIn)*

Gonzales-Pareja is a brand and content strategist, photographer, and videographer based in France. She helps beauty, fashion, lifestyle, and hospitality brands tell compelling stories through content, social media, photography, and video. With more than 15 years of experience in brand communications and entrepreneurship, she brings strategic thinking and hands-on content creation to every project. From 2016 to 2024, she was the co-founder and creative director of Tala The Label in Boracay, producing ready-to-wear garments and accessories in Indonesia and the Philippines.

SWITZERLAND

Maria Theresa A. Eviota, Community Leader

Maria Theresa A. Eviota *(Source: Facebook)*

Eviota is a Switzerland-based migrant and community leader recognized for her outstanding service to the Filipino community abroad. She is a recipient of the 2018 Presidential Pamana ng Pilipino Award. She serves as a leader of Samahang Pilipina Bern, where she actively advocates for the rights and empowerment of migrant women.

GERMANY

Jovel Bante Jr., Chef

Chef Jovel Bante, Jr. *(Source: ABS-CBN Facebook)*

Bante originally gained social media fame in 2021 as a struggling hospitality student at Holy Cross of Davao College, where he used a makeshift oven made from a biscuit tin to complete his school projects. His journey from Davao to Europe was recently highlighted in a viral update shared by Jelyssa Marañon Freyman, the stranger who gifted him his first professional oven five years ago. Bante reached out to her in March 2026 to express his gratitude, noting that the opportunity to practice his profession in Europe has been a major turning point in his career.

SINGAPORE

Rafael Manuel

Based between Singapore, London, Amsterdam, and Manila, Manuel’s debut feature film, Filipinana, screened at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Vision. It also won the Silver Bear Jury Prize at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival and was nominated for Best British Short Film at the 2020 British Independent Film Awards. He was chosen by Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke to be his protégé at the Rolex Arts Initiative. Manuel studied at Ateneo de Manila University before taking up his MA in filmmaking at the London Film School.

One critic wrote about the film: “Displaying an extraordinary command of his surreal and unnerving visual language, first-time filmmaker Rafael Manuel adapts his award-winning 2020 short film of the same name to chilling effect. Manuel plumbs the depths of Filipino identity and national consciousness to uncover ominous fragments and cracks that defy picture-perfect unity. Through a stylized, colorful approach lensed with care and precision by cinematographer Xenia Patricia, Manuel takes us into a world where violence and control are exerted with the subtle flick of a wrist or tip of a hat. Painting a scathing portrait of class disparities and post-colonial power structures in ways that are both quiet and unsettling, Filipiñana announces the arrival of an accomplished writer-director who unflinchingly confronts his country’s past, present, and future.”

AUSTRALIA

Emily Wurramara

An Aboriginal-Filipino woman, Wurramara won the 2024 ARIA Music Awards for Best Adult Contemporary Album, making her the first Indigenous woman ever to win in that category. Her father is of Filipino, Chinese, and Spanish descent and grew up in Negros, Philippines, while her mother is a Warnindilyakwa-Greek-Italian-Turkish woman who grew up on the islands of Groote Eylandt and Bickerton Island.

Bishop Nelson Po

Po was recently ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Perth at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Western Australia. Born in the village of Cantuhaon in Palompon, Leyte, Bishop Po is the third of six children born to the late Lope Po and Norma Abordo. Before entering the priesthood, he worked as an industrial and management engineer—a background he credits with helping him navigate the complex organizational needs of parish life with a practical perspective. He moved to Australia in 2003 and was ordained a priest in 2005.

Bishop Rene Ramirez

Ramirez is the first Filipino priest ever ordained a bishop in Australia and was recently appointed by Pope Leo XIV as the ninth Bishop of Sandhurst.

Alizza Reyes, Chef

Reyes is an executive chef based in Melbourne, Australia, known for her work with the Filipino Chefs Association of Victoria (FCAV). She serves as the head chef at Anaïa and has been featured for showcasing Filipino cuisine, including a six-course degustation menu. She has been working in Australia for the past seven years after spending two years in the United States.

NETHERLANDS

Lana Jelenjev, Columnist

Lana Jelenjev (Source: lanajelenjev.com)

Jelenjev is a Filipina who has lived in the Netherlands for 13 years and has a Substack column where she integrates Kapwa, Loob, Kamalayan, and other Filipino values as she tackles broad subjects such as colonial trauma, intergenerational healing, and moral injury. She calls herself “a community alchemist, a weaver of healing-centered ecosystems, a remembering body, and a gentle guide across thresholds.” She says that “healing doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens in relation. In witnessing. In pakikipagkapwa and pakikiramdam.” After surviving cancer at the age of 37, her message to the world is: “Go in the direction that fills your hearts and yourselves to the brim so that you can support and help others around you.”

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Dr. Mary Jane Alvero, Engineer

Dr. Mary Jane Alvero *(Source: Asian Leaders Award)*

Alvero is a distinguished Filipino engineer and business leader currently serving as Chief Executive Officer of Prime Group and Geoscience Testing Laboratory in the United Arab Emirates. With extensive expertise in quality assurance and materials testing, she has led critical safety and compliance assessments across construction materials, food, water, and air systems throughout the UAE. Her professional journey began at Al Futtaim Wimpey Laboratories, where she spent six years honing her technical and leadership skills. She later joined Geoscience Testing Laboratory as a Quality Assurance Officer and steadily rose through the ranks, demonstrating exceptional leadership and technical excellence and culminating in her appointment as CEO in 2003. Under her leadership, the organization has become a trusted name in testing and certification services in the region. (Submitted by Philippine Ambassador to the UAE Doy Ver)

Marlyn Castro, Entrepreneur

Castro is a Filipino entrepreneur and philanthropist widely recognized as the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pinas Express Cargo, a leading logistics company operating between the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines. What began as a single logistics venture has grown into the Pinas Group of Companies, a dynamic and expanding conglomerate.

Starting her career in Dubai with modest beginnings, she gained hands-on experience in logistics and business operations before establishing her own company in 2014. Through discipline, perseverance, and strategic vision, she successfully grew her business into the Pinas Group of Companies, a multi-industry enterprise with ventures spanning logistics, wellness, travel, retail, and service industries. Castro continues to empower the Filipino community abroad.

Maria Paz Banaag-Marquez, Baker

Maria Paz Banaag-Marquez *(Source: PEP.PH/Facebook)*

Banaag-Marquez, also known as “Nanay Paz,” is a Filipino entrepreneur and the founder of Maria Paz Pastry & Café, a UAE-based bakery business known for its cheesecakes and Filipino pastries. She started the business after years of working in Dubai, gradually developing her baking skills and establishing a small food venture that has since expanded into multiple branches across the Emirates, serving customers in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and other locations.

The Magazine

Overseas Filipino Achievers, Part 6