The late 70s were unforgettable years for me being a party lover. There was never a weekend void of Filipino parties in the Greater Toronto area. In homes, recreation rooms, banquet halls, church halls and expensive hotels, we were full of fun. Now, we still keep going. Will we ever stop?
Most of these parties were held by Filipino community associations. I can’t give an exact count but I can guess how many there are.
Too many, before, now and probably forever.
During those parties, I sometimes sat with the presidentes. “Ray Sabatin”, I introduced myself. “So and so, the president of so and so association”, proudly introduced themselves. As proud as I have-to-notice, they are someone special in the Filipino community. As the night went on, they made me feel like I didn’t belong in the table because I am just Ray, the nobody. This is just copasetic by me. I didn’t find it annoying more than I was entertained by such treatment. After all, who cared?
I occasionally heard these guys said “It’s very rewarding being a president of an association because you get recognition. You are introduced as the president of this and that association”. Some of them say “my association raised funds, donated it to my hometown, after which I was treated like a Messiah who came to town.
Those quotes were spoken in Tagalog or in their native dialects.
That’s awesome. Barring that bragging part of the efforts, there was a venture gain. The bragging was justified. The funds raised went to the hands of the hometown friends, presumably, the hometown bureaucrats. Lovely. How noble? How can a suspicious friend spread gossips of mishandling funds raised, when they were counted and donated for a good cause? One can make a movie out of it.
Then there is that corny, fishy, stinky and unbelievable fundraising cry coming from fundraisers across the globe “We work so hard, was successful; but we raised zero funds.”
I heard this story when I first learned what a fundraising meant. These are the cries that are suspicious, hence controversial. Very controversial.
It’is like performing a simple elementary arithmetic. You multiply S by zero, where S stands for success. How could it be a success? Everything you multiply with zero equals zero. (It doesn’t compute or make sense, for lack of a better sentence.)
Apparently, some Filipinos are being asked to clear and provide financial statements for funds raised. Being a Filipino myself, my heart was broken. I hope that they clear them. It is so disgraceful to be accused and suspected of wrongdoings. It is classless and degrading. It takes a lot of guts and strength in character to perform good, act well and do right at whatever you are assigned or appointed to do with that unclear suspicion.. Never mind, doing your best.
So much so for that. I got sidetracked by that money making invention called fundraising. This is not really the agenda of this article. It is the chiefs and the Indians. Delete the Indians and replace it with Pinoys while you are at it.
Greater Toronto Area is dotted with so many Filipino associations. In staggering numbers. There are around 1,500 towns and cities, 81 provinces and 3 big islands in the Philippines. I have asked Filipinos I met if they have an association that represent their town, their province and/or Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. It was YES all the time.
Forget the cultural, the non-profits and the “for-recognition-only associations” and try to do the simple arithmetic. 1500 +81+3 = 1,584 Filipino associations.
Why so many, Ray? You ask. Because lot of Pinoys are recognition seekers. Honestly, I maybe one of them. That introduction “president of so and so association” turns us right on. It boosts our egos. Connect this dot to the numbers above. You’ll find it apparent that the staggering outcome of my guessed number is almost true.
Thing is, there are more disadvantages than advantages of having too many Chiefs and not enough Pinoys I can think of. I’ll reserve the explanation for future articles. An important aspect as one blogger on the Internet said “ When there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians, I worry about how decisions were made and wonder if egos and titles are more important versus getting products out and customers on board.
Until then, have a Happy Holidays and a Prosperous 2013.
Thanks for reading this article. I write for you, my fellow countrymen, not for myself or the Balita newspaper. I wish I can convey more words of wisdom to your senses to be more compassionate and caring to all members of the human race. ****
For comment: email raysabatin@rogers.com.
By Ray Sabatin