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67 FILIPINO COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS IN U.S. NORTHEAST SET STAGE FOR STRONGER COMMUNITY AT 2^nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY

26 February 2016 – Over 100 delegates of 67 community organizations in the U.S. Northeast took the first step in building a stronger community at the 2^nd Annual Filipino-American Community General Assembly held on February 13 at the Philippine Center New York.

Guided by the theme "Building relationships for a stronger community," the delegates shared information about their groups that will be published in a Directory of Community Organizations, and exchanged ideas on how they could strengthen cooperation with each other.

After his keynote address, Consul General de Leon gave the floor to Mrs. Nina Fernandez, mother of missing Seton Hall University Filipino student John Paul Fernandez, who called upon the community to assist in efforts to find her son. Consul General de Leon challenged the community to come together in the spirit of bayanihan to help a kababayan in need.

Noted motivational speaker, life coach, author and edu-trainer Ferlie Almonte facilitated a fun and energy-filled breakout session, where the delegates introduced their organizations and discussed ways to make the Filipino-American community stronger and relevant. The outputs of the breakout session affirmed the importance of inter-organizational cooperation to elevate the political clout of the community in mainstream U.S. society, identified charitable activities through which organizations can effectively collaborate, and proposed the Community Organizations Directory and common Facebook page as some of the tools to facilitate partnerships.

During a special segment to discuss the preparations to conduct overseas voting for the 2016 Philippine national elections, Consul Kerwin Tate conveyed the Consulate General's search for volunteers to serve in the various Special Boards of Election Inspectors (SBEIs) and to help in the voter education campaign. He also shared initial information on the availability of the voters IDs to those who registered in 2015.

The Assembly’s participants were also informed by Tourism Officer Zen Pallugna of the projects of the Office of the Tourism Representative in New York; and by Pag-IBIG Fund Desk Information Officer Michael Azucena of the new Pag-IBIG Fund office in the Consulate General. The activity's sponsors, GMA-7 International, Philippine National Bank and Philippine Airlines, represented by Ms. Grace Labaguis, Head of Operations, Raquel Rabang and Mr. Erwin del Rosario, respectively, also updated the delegates of their services and products.

The raffle draw of a Philippine Airlines round-trip air ticket to Manila was one of the highlights of the event. The winner of the raffle draw was Mr. Joe Battad of the Philippine American Association of Connecticut, Inc.

The main outputs for this year's Assembly are the publication of a Directory of Filipino-American community associations and organizations in all of the 10 states under the jurisdiction of the Consulate General, and the setting up of a common Facebook page of the Assembly participants. These outputs are aimed to facilitate information sharing and collaboration between the organizations and with the Consulate General.