{"id":1817,"date":"2012-03-21T17:55:30","date_gmt":"2012-03-21T07:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/?p=1817"},"modified":"2012-03-21T17:55:30","modified_gmt":"2012-03-21T07:55:30","slug":"opinion-one-must-walk-the-talk-first-by-jaime-k-pimentel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/?p=1817","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: One must walk the talk first by Jaime K Pimentel"},"content":{"rendered":"

A little bird told me that some people within the Philippine Community Council of NSW (PCC-NSW) board want this organisation to take over management of the Philippine Australian Cultural Foundation (PACF) and its centre at Schofields.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whaaaaat!?<\/p>\n

Well, you know: ”More than 25 years in existence.”<\/p>\n

With apologies to PCC-NSW president Arturo ‘Atoy’ Sayas, vice president Emma de Vera, and press relations officer Miko Selorio, whom I acknowledge are putting a breath of fresh air to this umbrella organisation, I think the idea is almost laughable.<\/p>\n

Compare the two: the PCC-NSW and the PACF, both of whom have been around for almost the same number of years.<\/p>\n

Take experience: The PCC-NSW has never purchased a site. It has never built a structure for accommodation. It has never leased a room for a secretariat of its own. How about a corner of a rented room to keep files? No. A telephone line? No.<\/p>\n

The PACF has purchased a million-dollar site with a three-room dwelling.<\/p>\n

On management: At one instance, the PCC-NSW had to beg the then Filipino Multipurpose Centre (now the PACF) to rescue it from litigation and embarrassment. It happened when incumbent Philippine President Fidel Ramos visited Sydney. The PCC-NSW, suggesting that the Centre would be an embarrassment for the president to visit, hired the expensive Sydney Harbour Convention Centre and adjacent Tumbalong Park at Darling Harbour for the occasion. It turned out to be an extravagant show of grandeur the PCC-NSW could ill afford to pay in full. And who did the PCC-NSW run to just days before court action would be taken against it? The PACF, earlier referred to as ”an embarrassment”.<\/p>\n

When Mr Ramos returned to visit Sydney again as the former president, he sought out PACF chairman Manny Villon and personally thanked him for providing the money to help cover the costs of his reception at Darling Harbour. Although there was never a news report about the near-embarrassment, Mr Ramos had found the true story.<\/p>\n

On trust: When Philippine Consul-General Collinson joined with the PCC-NSW to organise a fund-raising concert during her term, it raised about $30,000. And when the time arrived for the Consul General to decide to which organisation the funds would go ~ to the PCC-NSW or to the and much-maligned MPC ~ she chose the latter, the MPC. Why she believed the money would better put to use by the MPC, no one would really say.<\/p>\n

Mr Sayas informed me shortly after his election as PCC-NSW president that he would mark his term in office with an open and conciliator approach to whole of the Filipino community in NSW. He appeared to be turning a new leaf to the organisation’s dealings with affiliates and the rest of the Filipino community.<\/p>\n

It might be a good time for the PCC-NSW to examine its own affairs and its purpose. Mr Sayas, Mrs de Vera and Miko Selorio can make a great difference in the new board. They could call on it to use the next Ugnayan to see if the PCC-NSW has the courage to accept its limitations and to strengthen ties between affiliates before moving out of its sphere of influence. (end)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A little bird told me that some people within the Philippine Community Council of NSW (PCC-NSW) board want this organisation to take over management of the Philippine Australian Cultural Foundation (PACF) and its centre at Schofields. Whaaaaat!? Well, you know: ”More than 25 years in existence.” With apologies to PCC-NSW president Arturo ‘Atoy’ Sayas, vice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1817"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1817\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}