LONDON – A Filipino has received an award for his outstanding contributions to the Filipino community in the United Kingdom.

Gene Alcantara received a British Community Honours Award (BCHA) during an event held in the House of Lords on October 20.

Watched on by family and friends, the 57-year-old was presented a plaque from guest of honor, the Very Reverend David Ison, Vicar of St Paul’s Cathedral.

The award acknowledges his service to the Filipino community, which has helped integrate Pinoys into mainstream British society through the numerous projects and initiatives he has been involved with over the years.

“I was really very happy to receive this award because I’ve been doing community work right from the time I arrived in the UK, and that was almost 35 years ago,” said Alcantara, originally from San Pablo, Laguna.

These include being founding chair of the Philippine Centre – organizers of the popular London Barrio Fiesta – founding editor of newspaper Philippine Express International and Euro Filipino Journal, and founding chair of the European Network of Filipino Diaspora (ENFiD), where he remains a Member of the Board.

Alcantara is also a pioneer of the ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau and had his own segment providing immigration documentaries and advice on The Filipino Channel’s award-winning television show Juan EU Konek.

“I feel honored by it and it confirmed what I have done for others is along the right lines. Although I never expected such an honor, it is a wonderful feeling actually to be recognized for my contribution to integrating the Filipino community in Britain. Suddenly, you get recognition like this and realize, wow, it’s all worth it pala,” Alcantara said.

“I believe in the saying that ‘it is in giving that we receive’ (St Francis of Assisi). Once you have helped somebody, you move on to the next, really,” he added.

Alcantara believes he inherited his nature to serve others from his mother, an overseas worker, who used to support him and the rest of the family in the Philippines.

“She was the first one who came to the UK as an OFW at the time. She was the only one earning foreign currency and she helped a lot of relatives – helping them with their studies, maintenance and support, so I guess it rubbed off on me,” he said.

“You could see how selfless she was, how hard she worked. She proved to everybody that even if she was far away she could actually do the job of a mother,” he added.

Aside from his involvement in community groups, Alcantara continues to help Filipinos in the UK, as well as across Europe, through his immigration law practice based in northwest London.

Alcantara was nominated for the BCHA by his sister, Cynthia Barker, a Conservative Party councilor for Potters Bar Borough and Borehamwood Town, the first Filipina in the UK to be elected to two positions simultaneously.

Last year, Barker herself became the first person of Filipino descent to receive the award due to her volunteer work with various charities and organizations.

The community figurehead feels encouraged and hopes his recent awarding inspires other Filipinos in the UK.

“I think it is important that we have received this kind of recognition, not me personally, but as a Filipino, because now they can see, ‘Meron din mga Pinoy na kumikilos sa bansang ito,” Alcantara said.

He explained that during the awards night the person that deals with the Queen’s Honours Awards said they would like more ethnic minorities to be represented.

“I think they only have 5% ethnic minority awardees so far and they want to do reach a target of 20%, so I said this is a great opportunity for our community to show that we are doing it, we’ve done it, we would like to continue doing it and it’s time that people recognized us,” Alcantara said.

The British Community Honour Awards are given to those who have been recognized for their contribution to community welfare and minority group social integration in the fields of education, politics, business, law, arts and culture, and social and humanitarian issues.

Previous recipients of the award are actress and activist Joanna Lumley, and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.