Businessman and former Deputy Speaker Michael “Mikee” Romero, was honored with the 2025 Philippine Choice Award for outstanding humanitarian and community service, recognizing nearly 10 years of nationwide outreach that brought health, education, and aid to vulnerable communities.
Romero, who served nine years in Congress until June 2025, has extended his humanitarian initiatives across the nation, from Basco, Batanes in the north to the Tawi-Tawi islands in the south, impacting thousands of families through medical missions, educational support and disaster response.
“Service to the poor and forgotten is the highest honor anyone can have,” Romero said after accepting the award.
His extensive healthcare programs included leading and funding medical and dental missions that provided free consultations, medicines and surgeries.
These missions reached geographically isolated areas like Taganak and Mapun islands in Tawi-Tawi, and cities across Mindanao, including Zamboanga City, General Santos, Ozamiz, Iligan, Surigao City, Butuan, and Agusan del Sur, along with Sarangani Province and Dinagat Island.
Romero also donated medical equipment to bolster local health services in these frontier communities. His outreach extended to the Visayas region, benefiting residents in Tacloban, Mandaue, Cebu, Tagbilaran, Negros, Iloilo and Sorsogon with free medical care and supplies.
A firm believer in the power of education, Romero has invested in rebuilding fire-damaged elementary schools in Basco, Batanes and rehabilitating classrooms in the mountainous region of Carmen, North Cotabato. His foundation continues to provide scholarships and distribute school supplies to students in need.
In the West Philippine Sea, he delivered food packs, toys, and learning kits to families of troops and fisherfolk on Pag-asa Island and the Kalayaan Group of Islands.
Romero has also been active in social aid and disaster response. He organized relief efforts for families displaced by major fires in Cavite and Laguna. During the severe twin typhoons that struck Central Luzon, he dispatched operations providing food, water, and emergency supplies to flood-stricken residents in Bulacan and Pampanga.
Even after his congressional tenure concluded, Romero continues his commitment to service, working with hospitals, schools and local governments to sustain programs dedicated to empowering communities and uplifting the poor. His award acknowledges this enduring, compassionate leadership.
