1, 000 proud Filipinos at global convention

THE 3RD Global Filipino Networking Convention held at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu City from Jan. 20-22 was the biggest event in Cebu since the Sinulog festival. The Cebu Daily News, for example, devoted the entire front page of its Saturday edition to coverage of the opening of the convention.

"I'm a Filipino and I'm proud!" ran its banner headlines as Cebu's largest daily reported that the words reverberated in the Grand Ballroom of the Waterfront Hotel recited with great passion by more than 1,000 delegates, accomplished professionals, and entrepreneurs from all over the world who had come to Cebu City for the "Gathering of Heroes."

Convention keynote speaker Loida Nicolas Lewis, chairperson of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (Naffaa), exhorted the delegates to scream out their pride in being Filipinos by working to improve the conditions of their motherland.

Later in the evening gala held at the Ayala Center lagoon park, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appealed to the global Filipino delegates to help in the country's development by depositing at least $1,000 in a savings account in a Philippine bank, which would earn interest and help the Philippine economy.

(Bank of the Philippine Islands immediately announced that for every $1,000 deposited into its account by an overseas Filipino, it will lend 50,000 pesos to a microfinance project of the poor.)

The Philippines, assured President Arroyo, is moving in the right direction with "exports growing, the peso strengthening and the stock market becoming vibrant."

While most of the participants were Naffaa members from the United States, the convention also drew delegates from Canada, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Dubai, the United Kingdom and Germany.

The convention activities commenced on Thursday afternoon, Jan. 20, with the formal launch of the "Entreprenoy Expo" and the 3rd Global "Real Estate Fair" held at the SM City Cebu Trade Hall featuring businesses that sell real estate to overseas Filipinos.

This was followed in the evening by a festive "Garbo sa Sugbu" (Cebuano Pride) banquet reception for the delegates hosted at the provincial Capitol by Cebu's first woman governor, Gwen Garcia, with Philippine Vice President Noli "Kabayan" de Castro as inspirational speaker.

Friday, Jan. 21, began with the opening ceremonies for the "Gallery of Heroes," an exhibit featuring the photos and biographies of more than 300 overseas Filipinos who have made a "significant contribution to make the world better for mankind." The Gallery was conceived and organized by Greg Macabenta, the chairperson of the organizing committee of the 3rd Global.

At the opening plenary session, Cebu City Mayor Tommy Osmeña, who spent 15 years in the US during the martial law era, welcomed his fellow global Filipinos to Cebu. Included in his welcome address was the Mayor's request that overseas Filipinos work to get hospital beds "which are often discarded after only three years by hospitals in the US" donated to Philippine hospitals which badly need them.

"Cebu City will pay all of the freight expenses for shipping the hospital beds to the Philippines to any city or provincial hospital of your choice," he said.

In my speech, I asked that we discard the notion that Filipinos who have become citizens of other countries are "former Filipinos" as one can never change one's racial identity, culture or heritage. "Whether we are Filipinos from Cebu City or Winnipeg, Canada, we are all global Filipinos."

The afternoon plenary session featured power-point presentations by Jaime Zobel de Ayala, president and CEO of Ayala Corp., a 186-year-old Philippine business conglomerate; Dado Banatao, chairperson and CEO of Silicon Valley-based Tallwood Ventures; and David Della, Seattle City councilman.

The afternoon breakout sessions included workshops on "the Saga of the Global Filipino" led by Belinda Aquino from Honolulu, Hawaii and Rozita Lee from Las Vegas, Nevada; "Filipino WW II Veterans: the Second Death March" managed by Naffaa chief of staff Armando "Doy" Heredia from Rhode Island and Alma Kern from Seattle, Washington;

"Improving Philippine Education" featured Nancy Harrington, executive director of the Concord-based Books for the Barrios (which has sent nine million books to Philippine public schools) and Dr. Edward Valeau, chancellor of Hartnell College from Salinas, California and chairperson of the Global Education Committee of the American Association of Community Colleges.

Other workshops in the opening day session included a forum on "From Brain Drain to Brain Gain" featuring Philippine Sen. Dick Gordon, former Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Poch Macaranas and Ayala Foundation president Vicky Garchitorena; "Globalization of Philippine Real Estate" with convenor Susan Barlin of the Barlin International Group from Los Angeles, California; and a tourism conference sponsored by the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies.

There was also an environment forum led by Elisa Estenzo Torres from Bangkok, Thailand; a forum on immigration issues led by lawyers Reuben Seguritan from New York City and Arlene Machetta from Houston, Texas; a conference on Filipino entrepreneurship managed by Jose Pecho of the Fil-Am Chamber of Commerce of the East Bay; and another on the global Filipino media network facilitated by Bing Branigan from Washington, DC.

Officers of the San Francisco Police Department led by Lt. Eric Quema and Sgt. Randy Caturay provided a Philippine Exchange Training orientation to 300 officers of the Philippine National Police.

And last but not least was a medical missions and health care conference led by Marivic Bamba of San Francisco and Dr. Carmelo Roco, president of the Filipino Medical Society of Northern California.

The evening gala, "Pasundayag sa Sugbu" (Festival in Cebu), complete with fireworks, entertainment and sumptuous food provided by six of Cebu's finest restaurants, was the occasion for the formal launching of the GILAS project. GILAS, which is the acronym for Gearing-up Internet Literacy and Access for Students, is a consortium of 28 private corporations and foundations who have organized to provide internet connection to Philippine public schools and computer training to their faculty.

Also present at the evening Gala were US Ambassador to the Philippines Francis Ricciardone, Senator Mar Roxas, Secretary of Education Butch Abad and Secretary of Health Manuel Dayrit.

The luncheon speaker the following day after the second breakout session was Senate President Franklin Drilon who spoke about the issues of dual citizenship and overseas voting.

The final plenary session, jointly presided by Naffaa chair emeritus Alex Esclamado and Ben Menor from San Jose, California, featured the reading of the resolutions from the different workshops/forums and their adoption by the delegates.

Following the adoption of the resolutions was an inspirational speech by Manuel Pangilinan, Hong Kong-based president of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Smart Communications.

Though Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide was unable to speak at the final session because of a freak accident, his son delivered his prepared address.

The delegates were treated to a dazzling final evening of entertainment provided by GMA Network starring music legend Pilita Corrales and rising star Jaya. It concluded with a Hawaiian dance spectacular with Hawaii State Sen. Ron Menor and Philippine Elias Beniga inviting delegates to go to Honolulu, Hawaii to attend the 4th Global Filipino Networking Convention set for the third week of September, 2006 commemorating the centennial of the Filipino diaspora which began with the first Filipinos sent to Hawaii on Dec. 5, 1906 (more than 125,000 Filipinos would be transported to Hawaii from 1906 to 1925).

In my brief remarks at the final session, I reminded the delegates that the fates of all overseas Filipinos are inexorably linked to the fate of the Philippines. The improvement of the Philippine economy will lead to the improvement of the image and the political empowerment of Filipinos overseas.

Make plans now to go to Hawaii in 2006.

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