111th Philippine Independence Day
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.
Gauging by the very positive responses we received from our guests, such as the elegance of the Royal Theatre - they asked with wonder 'how can you afford a party here at the Royal Theatre? It was decorated with hundreds of red, white and blue balloons which rivaled those of the Democratic and Republican conventions in America - thanks to our decorator Mr. Dennis Lagera and generosity of our friends Tess Trudinger and Lydia Nichols for paying for the balloons - even the staff at the Royal Theatre were amazed by how the place was turned into a real party scene that night. The four hundred guests arrived on time and the show went like clockwork - looks like the Filipinos in Canberra no longer operate on Filipino time. Toti Umali was busy all night making sure every thing was in order - ensuring everybody was seated before the program started. The emcees Paul Ashcroft and Hannah Albarece with the supervision of our stage manager Cecilia Flores ensured the smooth flow of the program. Jing Stanton and Norman Kalagayan helped me with the raffles and silent auction - a novelty this year - thanks to our enterprising President Perlita Swinbank.
The program was of course commenced with the singing of the National Anthems led by Canberra's superstar singers Rina Policarpio and Neil Monreal. Dance and song performances of the 'Artistas' led by Gemma McKeown gave a Broadway touch to the evening; the ACTFA dancers gave the Filipino touch with their production of 'Doon Po sa Nayon' reminiscent of the fiestas back home. The audience was awed with the beautiful voice of Ms Julie Ann Manlulu followed by the Hip Hop performance of the Fil Oz youth group led by Dina Ivankovic - our Director for Youth and former ACT Miss Philippines Australia. The surprise finale number of the night was again a hit - performed by the FCCACT Board of Directors - their own version of 'I Will Follow Him' dressed as nuns (costumes made by Liz Garrett). The Salsarico Latin Dance Team opened the dance floor. The band 'Mystical Groove' (Dinna Aunzo and Elia Mansur) who were discovered by Jean and Ariel Pattugalan kept the dancing floor crowded all night with their music. Gerald Edwards was another surprise number with his break dancing. To top it all - the food was delicious and there were lots of it!
Mr Ariel Pattugalan received this year's FCCACT President's award for his untiring dedication to the activities and promoting camaraderie among the Filipino community in Canberra.
The FCCACT Board of Directors would like to thank our special guests of honour - His Excellency Ernesto H de Leon, Philippine Ambassador to Australia, Mrs Emilie de Leon, Senator Gary Humphries and Member of the Legislative Assembly Mr. Alistair Coe. A big thank you to several friends who helped us make the evening a success, those who sold tickets, our stage assistants (Liz Salcedo, Jojo Damiao and Matt Buchecker), donors of raffle prizes and advertisers, Evelyn Greaves for helping produce our souvenir program for the third year in a row and specially the several guests who support us and give us positive comments and encouragement to continue the tradition of this annual event.