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CABINET SECRETARY RICARDO SALUDO AT THE SAN FRANCISCO CONSULATE TOWN
HALL MEETING
By CESAR TORRES
December
26, 2005
Filam Community Leader in San Francisco, Jacquie Lingad
Ricci, a Commissioner of Aging in the City and County of San
Francisco (standing), sharing with Cabinet Secretary Ricardo
Saludo, seen vaguely at left, her unpleasant experience at the
Ninoy Aquino International Airport when she accompanied former
San Francisco Mayor Brown who was given an award by President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for his constant help to the Filipinos
in California and in San Francisco. |
In my entire life
in America, I have never spent so many number of hours in one
public place not connected with my work, except last December 2,
2005, at the San Francisco Consulate.
It was
a sacrifice, but nothing compared to what other millions of
Filipinos are going through in these difficult and terrible times.
I attended that
event, again not because of Cabinet Secretary Saludo. I thought he
was in San Francisco on a junket, spending the Filipino people's
money which otherwise could be channeled to help the many people and
groups back in the Philippines. I was there because I promised the
San Francisco Consulate I will add my presence to the statistics of
the Consulate, i.e., how many people were they able to invite to
provide importance to the presentation of Cabinet Secretary Saludo.
My
two friends, Counselor Dennis Mesina and Benny Cojuangco did not
come despite their promise. Only Richie Dira, who is also an
enthusiastic volunteer in the San Francisco Consulate’s Dual
Citizenship and Overseas Absentee Voting drive, joined me.
Anyway, I stayed there for a long time. I even witnessed an oath
taking of some 60 or so Filipinos who have become dual citizens. It
seems in the entire world where the Philippines has consular
offices, the San Francisco Consulate is second to Hongkong in the
number of Filipinos who have registered to vote. And the number in
Los Angeles which has the largest concentration of Filipinos, is
almost negligible.
Anyway, when Secretary Saludo's presentation started, I
half-heartedly stayed. I wanted to be courteous to the Consulate so
I did not want to leave right away. I was half-way interested also
in the Power Point presentation that the Secretary was making.
There was a lot of data in bar charts, in line charts, in pie
charts, and in different colors. Of course, we know that statistics
can be manipulated and concocted out of thin air. But in the case
of the statistics presented by Secretary Saludo, I don't think they
were figments of his imagination or the result of the erroneous
compilation of his staff in Manila.
One
thing certain: I think that Secretary Saludo and the others
associated with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo are trying their
best. Secretary Saludo was impressive. He has the credentials
after all: Ateneo and Hongkong University and the Asian Institute of
Management.
Nini
Alvero, the PTIC Director for the Western United Sates, and Consul
General Sanchez, wanted me to ask questions. I told them I will
just direct my questions about Samar and the Philippines to them. I
would not compete with many other Filipinos who wanted attention
from Secretary Saludo during that town hall meeting. That was not
the time.
I
was thinking that it would have been too much if I tried to pin the
Cabinet Secretary with respect to a lot of issues — the homeless and
the garbage subsisting-Filipinos, the families sleeping in
graveyards, the vigilantes, the summary killings, the corruption
that seems unabated in some places, the lack of books and school
materials in a school in Samar, asking him if he reads newspapers
and wondering if he was aware what we in Villareal, Samar were doing
— repairing and cementing an 8-kilometer provincial road through
Bayanihan and the Internet without the help of an incompetent
provincial government and the officials of the national government —
a hospital in Samar that is so dirty and without medicines and
anesthesia, the outright "extortion" of some people right in NAIA
which Jacquie Lingad-Ricci and one other gentleman unabashedly
communicated to Secretary Saludo, the struggle of our Moro brothers
and sisters for dignity and self-determination, etc.
I
know that Secretary Saludo and his fellow workers are trying very
hard. It was fortuitous that Gen. Carlos Garcia had just been
sentenced for a more grievous and “critical error of judgment”.
But
for a moment, I was tempted to share with him and the more than 100
people in attendance who may not be connected to the Internet, that
I discern a new focus in the mindset of some Filipinos outside of
the Philippines. Many of us are focusing our attention more keenly
on what we can do to help our country, without any fanfare, without
going through the incompetent and corrupt bureaucrats and the “Trapos”,
aka “dishrags” or traditional politicians in the Philippines.
Shown (l-r) are: Consul Fred Santos, and Vice Consuls Anthony
Achilles Mandap, and Rafael Hermoso. Vice Consul Ariv Arevalo,
who arrived just two weeks ago, are the key people supporting
San Francisco Consul General Maria Rowena Mendoza Sanchez. They
are the “vanguard and the efficient representatives of about
600,000 Filipinos in Northern California.” |
During the lunch
break, I took a picture of three handsome young consuls, Consul Fred
Santos, Anthony Achilles Mandap, and Raffy Hermoso. They were
preparing the hall for the resumption of Secretary Saludo’s
presentation. They and the other staff members of the San Francisco
Consulate are the willing co-workers of Consul General Sanchez which
makes this San Francisco Consulate very impressive. They work
nights, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays without overtime pay and
without compensating time off.
Observing the
three consuls, I thought that they are the vanguard and the
representatives of the 87 million Filipinos in the world.
Considering these perilous times, they could be assigned to hotspots
in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in other places, and could be kidnapped,
tortured or beheaded while on duty. The three consuls did not look
bloodthirsty or looking like Superman or Batman. But I remembered
our shoeless Katipuneros of days of yore when the Filipinos
were the first ones in Asia to fight against foreign oppressors. I
remembered that it was on December 2, 1899, fortuitously the same
day of Secretary Saludo’s presentation, when the Boy General,
General Gregorio del Pilar died fighting the Americans at Tirad
Pass. He knew he was going to die, but he still “felt that it was
the most glorious moment of his life”, offering his life for his
beloved country and that “no sacrifice can be too great.”
A portion of the audience during the recently held town hall
forum featuring Secretary of the Cabinet Ricardo Saludo in the
San Francisco Consulate. The town hall forum has become a
popular feature of the San Francisco Consulate’s outreach to the
Filipino community. In picture, seated, left, is Carminia “Gigi”
Rodriguez, Vice President of Citibank NRP (West), FSB. |
I remembered the
"Gift of God to the Malay Race", Jose Rizal, whose brilliance has
been regarded as a tribute to the Spanish Siglo de Oro. I could
imagine those bullets ripping into his breast, stilling his beating
heart, all for the love of his country and his people. He did not
flinch nor did he cry out. I remembered my father who was listed as
missing in action in Bataan and must have died a horrible death. I
remembered the heroism of the 10th Battalion Combat Team in Korea.
I think they were as slender as the three Filipino consuls whose
picture I took. And they are in the annals of the history of the
Philippines. All these images were flashing through my mind when I
took the picture of Consuls Fred Santos, Anthony Achilles Mandap,
and Raffy Hermoso.
After his San
Francisco town hall meeting, Secretary Saludo seems to have gone to
New York. Apparently there were fireworks and insults during the
open forum there, unlike in San Francisco. And from New York, he
went to Los Angeles. But I believe it was in San Francisco where the
potential for a more effective collaboration between the Philippine
Government and the Filipino community was exemplified.
[[*This
is reprinted from the
Southern California
based “Manila
US Times”
issue of December 19 – December 25, 2005. The author is also a regular columnist of “The
Filipino Insider”, a monthly supplement of the “San Francisco
Chronicle”, one of the major newspapers in America
with a circulation of 500,000. He is one of the founders and
moderators of the “Gugma han
Samar
Cyberspace Movement”.
A former Assistant Professor of Political Science in the University
of the Philippines in Diliman, the author has not lost touch with
his native land despite the pressures of community involvement in California,
in Samar, the Philippines and his employment in the State of California.
He can be reached at
Cesar1185@aol.com.]
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