111th Philippine Independence Day Ball
Held at the Royal Theatre in Canberra was again a Hit!!!
A day after the 13 June Philippine Independence Day Ball at the flag raising ceremony at the Philippine Embassy, the FCCACT Board of Directors received a lot of thank you's and praises for the success of the event. No less than the Member of the Legislative Assembly Alistair Coe wrote to the FCCACT President Perlita Swinbank and said 'My advisor, Sandy Tanner and I very much enjoyed the evening. Filipinos have made and continue to make a tremendous contribution to the life of Canberra, the region and the country. I commend you and your Directors on the Board for the great work that you do. I look forward to next year's event. If I can be of any assistance to you or to the Council, feel free to contact me.' We will definitely take up that offer Alistair - we need your assistance to ensure the success of the 11Th FILCCA National Convention which will be held in Canberra in October next year where we expect around 200 delegates from all over Australia. The function last Saturday is a forerunner of what FCCACT Board of Directors can do to prepare ourselves for the big work ahead in the organisation of the national convention.
Induction of FCCACT officers: HE Ambassador Ernesto de Leon, Volet Carolan, Norman Kalagayan, Perlita Swinbank, Liz Garrett and Cecilia Flores. Not in the picture: Jing Stanton, Toti Umali and Ariel Pattugalan.
The Filipino Community Council of the ACT Inc (FCCACT) elected its new set of officers who were inducted by His Excellency Ernesto H De Leon on 17 December 2008 at the Philippine Embassy.
The new officers are:
President - Perlita Swinbank
Vice President Internal - Jing Stanton
Vice-President External - Liz Garrett
Secretary - Toti Umali
Asst Secretary - Cecilia Flores
Treasurer - Norman Kalagayan
Immediate Past President - Ariel Pattugalan
Internal Auditor - Volet Carolan
FCCACT is now very busy preparing for the 2009 Philippine Independence Day Ball to be held on 13 June 2009. They are also busy getting ready for the 2010 FILCCA National Convention which will be held in Canberra in October 2010.
Thanksgiving Mass
The Rosary Groups and Filcare officers in Canberra celebrated a Thanksgiving Mass on 20 December 2008 at the St Brigid's Parish in Dickson. Sister Angelita of the Missionaries of Christ in the Eucharist (MACE), members of the Rosary Group and family hosts enjoyed sumptuous Filipino merienda after the mass.
The Family Block Rosary is very popular in Canberra. Families usually host the Family Rosary during special occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries. We will start on 7 February 2009 at the home of Marie Lazaro to coincide with the 40th day after the passing away of her mum Fausta.
Carols of Nations
On 21 December 2008 the El Shaddai Group of Canberra represented the Philippines in the Carols of Nations wherein choirs from several community groups including Vietnam, Germany and Italy.
It was held during the open house at the Archbishop's House. The choir members were elegantly dressed in 'barongs'. Their song 'Ang Pasko ay Sumapit' was well applauded - even the kids were clapping and swaying to the song even though they did not understand the words.
That is the magic of music - being a universal language. Archbishop Mark Coleridge said that his house is the house for the people - so next time you are in Canberra - pay the Archbishop a visit.
Watch out for the updates coming from different Filipino community organisations in the ACT in this column! We are inviting and encouraging you to send us your organisation's events or activities to be published and email them to webadmin@fccact.org.au. We would like to make FCCACT website to be the Pinoy internet portal (one stop viewing) in the ACT. Publishing your events or articles will take 3 to 5 working days since this is a volunteer work.
