Yes, walk the talk by Jimmy Pimentel

Ms Benjie de Ubago would not be the person to take an impartial position on any issue, predictable as her one-eyed views have been against the MPC and, at one time, against Kate Andres over the PCC-NSW constitution when she turned a simple press conference into a raging debate.

Of course Ms de Ubago has had to defend mismanagement of the President Fidel Ramos visit. She was a part of it. And she had complained to me then about money owing to her for a souvenir she had designed and printed for the occasion.

The fact remains that a rescue was required for the committee, or whatever title one may give it, to be saved from the embarrassment of court action to collect a shortfall.

At the time of President Ramos’ visit, it was the late Oscar Landicho who said he tried to persuade the PCC-NSW to have the President visit the MPC at Rooty Hill but was told it would be too embarrassing. Whether that was an official view of the PCC-NSW, I couldn’t say, but Mr Landicho was certainly talking to people with authority within the PCC-NSW, and Ms de Ubago did not rate a place in his (Landicho’s) discussion with the PCC-NSW. So how come she believes she knows so much more?

By the way, one wonders who ended up paying Ms de Ubago for her souvenir program? Let me guess.

The trick of playing with my ”walk the talk” headline won’t erase the fact that the rescue did take place, and now we know Ms de Ubago was one of those rescued with MPC money. And we also know why the person of Mr Villon irritates her: The former President Ramos did not say ‘thank you’ to Ms de Ubago when he returned, but said ‘thank you’ to Mr Villon.

The Consul General Collinson issue was a no brainer as well. The Con-Gen gave the proceeds to the MPC, and we know that this upset Ms Kate Andres because she wasn’t consulted first. Ms Andres told me then she was expecting the Con-Gen to at least hand over some of the funds to the PCC-NSW, which was understandable because she was heading it. But Ms Collinson’s action was an indication of her trust in the MPC. In fact, now Ms de Ubago says that it was Ms Collinson’s intention anyway to raise the money for the MPC.

That the MPC has not delivered a large complex could be a reflection of our own attitudes as a Filipino community. Note how those who continue to complain about and attack the MPC are mostly those have done least to support it. One wonders how much mouthpieces like Ms de Ubago have contributed towards the MPC to expect credibility as champions of righteousness.

One cannot even help establish a press room at the multipurpose centre for the community without the Filipino media’s one-eyed poison pen quickly perceiving it as being an ugly sell-off.

Imagine when Ms de Ubago hears about my plan to hold free journalism classes at the MPC. Image when she hears about my plan to establish a garden club there to spruce up the place with trees, shrubs and a vegetable garden. Image when she hears that I am asking the MPC to let me turn an old garage into a gymnasium. Imagine when she finds out that I am proposing a mother’s club there. That would give her enough fodder to talk trash for the rest of her writing life.

If Ms de Ubago wants the MPC to build that Taj Mahal for the Filipino community at Schofield then she, too, must learn to walk the talk. In the meantime, the MPC site and structure have been sitting there for years. Not according to that scale model Ms de Ubago is looking for, but they’re there, perhaps waiting more proceeds from Ms de Ubago’s souvenir programs to help fill the MPC coffers and complete her Taj Mahal.

Yes, I, too have chided the MPC board for dragging its feet. And no, I haven’t changed my mind. But I have decided to walk the talk and complain less about issues surrounding it. If that makes me a friend of the MPC, then so be it.

But I am also a friend of PCC-NSW president Atoy Sayas and APCO president Jhun Salazar. I really don’t see what evil Ms de Ubago sees in that. I believe it’s a childish ”them or us” mindset.

About asking me to bring swimmers to Schofields, how dumb is that. Even her humour ain’t so smart. Has she really been to Schofields? Or during the last floods that cut off Richmond and Windsor to the rest of Sydney? There was not even a pothole in the MPC grounds.

Or is it that Ms de Ubago and her ilk are really praying for a tsunami to drown the MPC site soon so they could say: ”See? I told you it wouldn’t work.”

Walk the talk, Ms Ubago and your ilk. (end)

Updated: 2012-03-26 — 02:11:44