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Organised by Sennie Masian and Linda Swords some 24 years ago, the Philippine Community Council – NSW (PCC) may have outlived its “use by” date. <\/span><\/p>\n Year after year, it boasts of what appears to be its only major activity \u2014 The Philippine National Day Ball (PND). To many, the event, the highlight of which is the traditional ‘Rigodon de Honor’<\/em>, has become boring. <\/span><\/p>\n Not entirely Filipino, the Rigodon<\/em> was brought back from Spain by some ‘I<\/em><\/strong>llustrados’<\/em> who visited Europe. Lately, this traditional dance has become merely an occasion for PCC members to wear the Filipina dress. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Of course, there are other activities like the Philippine Australian Disaster Emergency Response (PADER) Humanitarian Program and the Bukas Palad<\/em> Appeal. Both seek to raise funds for calamities that regularly happen in our home country. But most other Filipino organisations in Australia and all over the world do the same. <\/span><\/p>\n In its early years, PCC was regarded as the peak body of Filipino associations in New South Wales. Maybe it is for that reason that many politicians welcome being invited to the PND Ball. But lately, some of these politicians regard Filipino functions as an opportunity to win votes. For PCC officers, it has become an excellent photo opportunity. <\/span><\/p>\n For several months now, some sectors have been pushing for a bilateral agreement concerning the portability of pension. I still have to hear what PCC has done to bring that effort to fruition. <\/span><\/p>\n La Salle Alumni Association, through its president Edu Davila has officially notified PCC that it would not renew its membership. Ateneo Alumni Association during its last <\/span>Annual General Meeting (AGM) decided to withdraw its affiliation from PCC. <\/span><\/p>\n For some unknown reason, PCC has moved its AGM and election to March 15 instead of what used to be during this month of February.<\/span><\/p>\n Of late, there has been too much politics and divisiveness among the members of the PCC board. Camaraderie is obviously a thing of the past. Today, it is more of factionalism and fraternization, perhaps because of weak leadership. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n My colleague, Ms. Benjie de Ubago, a former director and the moving spirit behind PCC disagrees that the umbrella organisation has outlived its ‘use by’ date. <\/span><\/p>\n Maybe she is right but I strongly believe that PCC needs a complete overhaul \u2014 a much stronger leadership that will truly unite the Filipinos not just in Sydney but in the entire Australian continent. \u2014 Dino Crescini<\/strong> <\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Organised by Sennie Masian and Linda Swords some 24 years ago, the Philippine Community Council – NSW (PCC) may have outlived its “use by” date. Year after year, it boasts of what appears to be its only major activity \u2014 The Philippine National Day Ball (PND). To many, the event, the highlight of which is […]<\/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":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3048"}],"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=3048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3048\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}