Overseas Filipinos to hold large gathering in Cebu

CHICAGO, Illinois —In the next two weeks, Cebu City will teem with tourists of a Filipino kind — overseas Filipinos gathering for the 3rd Global Filipino Networking Convention.

According to organizer, Greg Macabenta, the three-day event will honor overseas Filipinos as "modern-day heroes" for keeping the Philippine economy afloat.

Dubbed as the "Gathering of Heroes," the convention slated at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino in the Queen City of the South from Jan. 20 to 22 will celebrate the significant role the eight million Global Filipinos (GF’s) play with "a mixture of pain and joy, poverty and good fortune, discrimination and admiration, failures and triumphs" as they try to make a difference in this world.

The second of its magnitude in the Philippines in two years, the networking confab under the convenors – the National Federation of Filipino American Associations and the Cebu Visitors & Convention Bureau – will also try to harness "Pinoy Power Worldwide" so as to surmount "many crises and challenges that continue to confront" them in various parts of the world.

Sending Money is Not Enough

By uniting, Global Filipinos will be able to serve their Motherland better. Sending money to their relatives in the Philippines will not be the ultimate service GF’s can render. They can also share their expertise, work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit that enabled them to survive and prosper abroad.

For its part, the Philippines can return the favor to the GF’s the Filipino heritage and wealth of resources to their children.

Promoted during the highly-successful 6th National Empowerment NaFFAA Conference in Chicago, Illinois, the 3rd Global Filipino Networking Convention will attempt to draw together the GF’s as a baby step towards fellowship and networking so they can draw from each other’s strengths and weaknesses to promote Pinoy Power Worldwide.

Arroyo to Appeal for More Donations?

According to NaFFAA national chair and chief executive officer Loida Nicolas Lewis, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will be on hand to open the convention. The President is also expected to appeal to GF’s to reach deeper into their pockets to give more to the victims of the recent catastrophes - the devastating landslides brought about by killer typhoons in Quezon and neighboring provinces and the apocalyptic tidal waves that killed thousands and destroyed billions of dollars of properties in South Asia.

Heart of GF’s Issues

But at least, the GF’s in the convention will be able to think and perhaps discuss among themselves the topics closest to their hearts. These are the immigration: Risks, problems, opportunities (remember the recent case of a top British law enforcement officer who stepped down for fast-tracking the visa of his lover’s Filipina nanny?); exploitation, loss of lives and social costs vs lucrative employment and money to send home; the Filipino WW II veterans; political and economic empowerment for Global Filipinos; health and medical issues; trade and investments (doing business in the Philippines and overseas); promoting Philippine tourism; environmental issues; absentee and dual citizenship; the state of Filipino Diaspora; overseas Filipino history; Balangiga; Mindanao’s peace and order problems; role of Global Filipino media; and from Brain Drain to Brain Grain.

Parties interested to attend the convention may visit either www.naffaa.org or www.thirdglobalcebu.com/content/. (Joseph G. Lariosa can be emailed at lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)