With Ambassador Thomas in photo are Ted and Josie Laguatan.
SAN FRANCISCO–A jazzy Bay Area welcome is set for US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry K. Thomas at the Intramuros Restaurant in South San Francisco on February 4.
The welcome dinner, set at 6:30 p.m., is being sponsored by the US Pinoys for Good Governance (USP4GG) whose members met Thomas in Manila in 2010 and in 2011.
“Amb. Thomas warmly welcomed our delegation of 200 Filipino Americans when we went to Manila to attend the inauguration of President Benigno S. Aquino III in Manila on June 30, 2010,” said Ted Laguatan, USP4GG spokesman.
“At a reception for us held on the eve of the inaugural, Amb. Thomas said he felt right at home with us because we were fellow Americans and Filipinos at the same time,” said Laguatan, who also writes regular column on INQUIRER.net
Thomas joined the US Foreign Service in 1984 and previously served as US Ambassador to Bangladesh with earlier foreign postings in the US Embassies in India, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Peru. He also served as executive secretary of the US State Department, director of the Department’s Operations Center, and special assistant to then-US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.
When USP4GG members met Thomas again on September 27, 2011 at the First Global Summit of Filipinos in the Diaspora held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Manila, the invitation was extended to him to visit San Francisco to meet the Bay Area Fil-Am community.
Thomas, who speaks Spanish, Hindi, Urdu, Bangla and is fast learning Tagalog, accepted the invitation of USP4GG.
The special banquet dinner for Thomas will feature the performance of the foremost Filipino American jazz band, Little Brown Brother. The band’s organizer, Carlos Zialcita, met Thomas who was a special guest at the Philippine International Jazz and Arts Festival in February of 2011 at the Rockwell Tent in Metro Manila. Zialcita was part of a jazz band that opened for American jazz artist Hubert Laws.
Zialcita recounted his meeting with Thomas at the jazz concert: “In our conversation, I found out that he was from Harlem and is a big fan of jazz and the blues. He is married to Ericka Ovette, a jazz singer. When he found out that I had a long-time friendship and artistic relationship with the late Johnny Otis – he lit up and commented that he knew Johnny’s brother Nicholas Veliotes, former U.S. Ambassador to Jordan and Egypt.”
Also performing at the welcome dinner is Mitch Franco, described by the Sacramento Bee as “an 18 year old singer who is happily stuck in the 1950s.”
Said to be an absolute Sinatra sound alike, Franco is preparing for the 2012 release of his debut CD that is a collection of traditional swing jazz songs featuring full swing band instrumentation.”
In his speech which will be followed by an open forum, Thomas will share his assessment of the current state of Philippine American relations. He may also touch on the problems of human trafficking in the Philippines of which he has been a leading advocate for its elimination.
Thomas may also answer questions about what the US response would be if China were to invade the Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea.
Members of the community interested in attending the Thomas Dinner at the Intramuros Restaurant may call (415) 334-7800 for reservations and information about the limited number of dinner tickets still available.