After listening to APORAA officers and members who extolled the work he had done as the Philippine ambassador, Villamor said that the good words about him “made me think I were already dead.”

“But I have done nothing extraordinary as your ambassador here. What I have done during my three years, eight months and 19 days here were the things expected of me after I was recalled from retirement on Dec. 28, 2006. I had earlier retired in 1999,” Villamor said to the crowd, who hung on to every word he said.

Maky Badillo and Frocelyn Jamad served as emcees on the occasion.

He added that if the group thought that “I have fared well as the Philippine envoy here, it was because of your help.”

“When I came here, I thought that the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), now 1.4-million-strong, more or less, should show their gratitude to the host country,” he said, adding that Saudi Arabia is rich, and it can buy what its citizens need.

“But one thing that it could not have even if it has the money, and that's human blood. So, we launched a blood donation drive for Saudi nationals who might need it and that could not have been possible without your help. We were able to donate 80,000 units of blood,” he said, adding that one member of the group, Danny Naval, even collapsed after donating blood at the embassy.

He said that many OFWs were visiting Batha, especially on weekends, so he thought a campaign could be launched to clean it up. “It would be a first for us. Through the Western Union and the Pinoy Supermarket, we went to the Islamic Center in Batha and the officials were surprised that the Philippine ambassador was there to ask for a permit,” Villamor said.

He also said that he was not only the Philippine ambassador to the Kingdom but also of Saudi Arabia to the Philippines.

“Why? Saudi Arabia is not well known in the Philippines. What Filipinos think is that it is here that oil comes. Yes, it's a rich country. It has more than enough. So I felt that I should improve bilateral relations. I should relate Filipinos with Saudis in the Kingdom. I felt that we should also explain Saudi culture to Filipinos and that's what we did,” he said.