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THE PHILIPPINE CENTER – A BRIEF HISTORY AND UP-DATE
Prepared by Ely Suson, Chairperson
of the Board of Trustee
(With
Suggestions by Volette Singson, Eddie
Escall and Jojo Ramos)
January 12, 2001
The year 2000 was characterized by
concerted activity, not only to consolidate the organizational structure of the
Philippine Center, but also to clarify its objectives, especially as it relates
to the other Filipino and Asian organizations, and to raise funds to help attain
its objectives. Let us compare this
year to the previous five, beginning with the inception of what now is the
Philippine Cultural and Civic Center Foundation, Inc. The first recorded meeting
to organize the Philippine Center was in February 18, 1995.
There were three more meetings after that until the first town hall
meeting in November 3, 1995 was held. Many
people were involved and it would not serve any useful purpose to try to name
them all at this point – certainly, for the sake of our records this will be
addressed in the future. Suffice it
to say that Roger Austria, conducting all of these meetings, and Kris Vasquez,
recording the proceedings, were very much in the thick of all the activities.
Manny Galang provided legal advice. Attention focused on designing an
effectively functioning organization with tax-exempt status.
For one reason or another, but mainly
because the active participants were also busy working people, the objectives of
the organization were not realized. It
became clear that we needed people who were not only willing to work and had the
passion for it, but also had the time to devote to the immense task that lay
ahead. There were five such people
at this time: Joe Yamat, Jr.,
Emraida Kiram, Jojo Ramos, Gerry Ramos and Ely Suson.
Also, Manny Galang continued to be the legal adviser.
They were in constant communication with each other starting in early
1999. The papers to obtain tax-exempt status were re-filed in June 1999.
Approval under IRS Tax-exempt Code 501 (c) 3 was obtained on January 1,
2000.
The composition of the Board of
Trustees (to replace the previous Steering Committee) and the officers was
decided upon by the five incorporators (Joe Yamat, Jr., Emraida Kiram, Jojo
Ramos, Gerry Ramos and Ely Suson). The
first meeting was held on April 30, 2000. Since then, significant events have occurred at a much faster
pace:
I.
Free medical clinic:
This is still the hottest item in our agenda.
Its existence
and
continued operation is largely due to the commitment of Volette and Johnny
Singson and a retinue of loyal doctors and assistants.
Also, there are many people involved. (Which reminds me of what John
Cherba once said: “the difference
between commitment and involvement is like ham and egg – the chicken is
involved but the poor pig is committed.”).The clinic opened at Oak Creek
Community Center on October 28, 2000 and continued for five more Saturdays until
December 16, when we had our last clinic there. With the help of Alex Vinluan, Dr. Waleed Najeeb, a very
generous and helpful guy, gave the go ahead signal for us to use his beautiful
office on 2501 West Silver Spring Road. Unfortunately,
however, the city of Glendale rejected our request for a permit to use the place
– the reason being that we are a non-profit organization. An odd reason, I think, because despite its affluence, the
city of Glendale has its own share of indigent and uninsured. Never
willing to give up and again through the efforts of Alex Vinluan,
the clinic obtained the permission of Dr. Waleed Najeeb to use his office
on 5542 West Fond du Lac Avenue (across from Capitol Court Shopping Center).
The
dates scheduled are January 27, February 10 and 24, March 10 and 31, and April 7
and 28. The time: from 9:00 AM to
1:00 PM. A flyer has been posted at
our website:
www.philippinecenter.com.
In addition to the above mentioned doctors, the following people have
actively participated in the operation of
the clinic: Ramon and Puring Agor, Buddy and
Rica del Rosario, Ed and Nieva Escall, Rene and Cora Felizmena,
Pining Gardinier, Bee and Nemia Gimenez, P. Emraida Kiram, Rei and Edna Lesada, Romy and Tessie Lo, Babs Mabini,
Dar and Nellie Muceno, Flor Ortiguera, Jazmin Parcon, Von and Ennie
Perez, Fe Quevedo, Gerry and B.J.
Agoncillo-Ramos, Linda Ramos, Angel Robles, Ruben
and Jessie Romero, Adela Smith, Carmelita Stehr, Ely Suson,
Alex Vinluan and Walter Wong.
II.
Fund-raising: With Jimmy
Yamat and Gerry Ramos as co-chairpersons of the committee, and Volette Singson,
Johnny Singson and their office help participating, close to 700 donation
solicitations were mailed between December 15 and 22, 2000 – as most of you
may have noticed by now. As of this
date (January 12, 2001) we have received $30,000.00 in checks and $9,000.00 in
new pledges (there are still a little over $150,000.00 of the old pledges).
We expect more to come. This
initial mailing was largely confined to the Filipinos and their close friends.
Our community has been very generous.
An outstanding example is Mameng Montoro (I have permission to reveal her
name), who advanced payment of $100.00 for a pledge of $6,000.00 to be paid
every month for a period of 5 years. There
were many other generous donors but I do not have the liberty to give their
names.
The reality is, however, that we do not expect everybody to give large
sums. Due to economic circumstances
some may not be able to give at all. If
nothing else, we ask for everybody’s participation in the activities at the
Philippine Center.
III.
Non-monetary donations:
Donations
have not always come in the form of money.
Volette and Johnny Singson donated the Philippine Center website
(www.philippinecenter.com).
They are paying the yearly fee. Their son, Joey, set up the website and
is the webmaster. In addition, they
donated a computer, a scanner and a printer.
Suson Eye Specialists, M.D., S.C. is donating some 20 waiting room
chairs. We need help to transport these
chairs to the Philippine Center.
The karaoke donated by Tom Chua has given our singers many great moments
of enjoyment.
IV.
On-going and planned activities:
Eddie
and Nieva Escall became the co-chair persons of this committee and have
initiated the on-going chess match. Other
activities on the pipeline include volley ball, ping-pong, jam sessions
ball-room dancing and lessons on self-defense.
These, however, need the participation of many people. We invite everybody to come join us at the Philippine Center.
Under the
auspices of Dain Rauscher (Investment Company), a
string recital by young Filipino
professionals is tentatively planned for June 23, 2001 as a fund-raising
event. The perfomers include Joanna
Mendoza (viola), Joseph Ortiguera(violin), Jason Vinluan(violin) and Marvin
Suson(violin). An accompanying
pianist will be chosen by the performers. Pending
the final decision of the performers, the format will be:
(1) The first part will consist of classical western music.
(2) The second part will show-case Filipino compositions in various forms
and jazz. There will be a fifteen-minute intermission.
Dain Rauscher
will provide $2,000.00 to help finance the event.
More funds will be obtained by selling tickets and spots for
advertisements in the souvenir program.
Eddy and Nieva
Escall, with Jojo Ramos assisting, are coordinating this event which will be
co-sponsored by FAAWIS, PMAW (with the Auxiliary), USTAAW, UPAAW and other
Filipino organizations.
This
is all for now. I hope that your
stamina carried you through the entire up-date inspite of
your tired and weepy eyes, Subsequent
updates (every two to four weeks) will be much shorter.
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