President Arroyo Thursday conferred various awards to individuals and public and private institutions, as well as special citations to volunteers who risked their lives during the rescue operations during the onslaught of tropical storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng.”

The Chief Executive conferred the 2009 Volunteers award to three individuals and four organizations for their volunteerism activities as well as posthumous special commendations to volunteers who died while conducting rescue operations during the onslaught of tropical storm “Ondoy” in September as well as the devastation brought by typhoon “Pepeng in October.

These include young hero Muelmar Magallanes and Pvt. 1st Class Venacio Ancheta, Cpl. Adriano Regua, and Sr. Fire Officers II Richard Balusdan Sr. and Siegfred Ngolovan, and Barangay Kagawad Rex Mang-Oy. The awarding ceremony turned emotional as family members of the volunteers went onstage and received the award from the President.

Arroyo conferred a total of 126 awards, including 52 to agencies from the public sector. The first set of awards was given to 35 public and private agencies for the International Organization for Certification (ISO) 9001 Quality Management Systems (QMS) Certification; three awardees for the Philippine Quality Award; 12 awardees for the 2009 Volunteers; 18 awardees for the National Youth Commission and National Service Training Program, particularly for environmental protection; and 58 awardees for the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Awards.