Secretary Lacierda with Fil-Am Community leaders, members of the media and consulate staff. Photo by Armando B. Chavez
SAN FRANCISCO – The Philippine Consulate General, in cooperation with the Philippine American Press Club (PAPC), held a lively community and media forum with Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda on July 13 at the Philippine Center Social Hall.
Dubbed “Up Close and Candid with Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda”, the forum was attended by close to 50 Filipino-American community leaders and members of the media under the umbrella of the PAPC. PAPC president Esther “Boots” Chavez of INQUIRER.net introduced the presidential spokesperson.
The Secretary presented “Daylight: Good News about the Philippines and Pinoys”, a summary of the government’s work and achievements in a broad range of sectors including but not limited to the economy, tourism, poverty alleviation, infrastructure, education and health care. But “Daylight” is more than just a laundry list of this administration’s accomplishments and projects. “Daylight’” as Lacierda defined it, “is a strategy and behavior to uphold transparency, enforce discipline, promote and reward honesty, and celebrate what is good about the Philippines.”
He also talked about the government’s Social Contract with the Filipino people, a blueprint for action that addresses such issues as incentivizing those in government service, promoting gender equality, and bringing a broadly supported and ongoing peace and order process to a successful completion.
The Secretary also gave the audience a glimpse of the daily routine of the working President and his cabinet and closest advisers, citing official workdays that start at 5 a.m. in the morning and sometimes ends with text exchanges past midnight and even, at times, continuing until 4 a.m.
At the end of his presentation, a Q&A was held, and Secretary Lacierda answered questions and comments from the community leaders and media members on various issues, such as overseas Filipino remittances, dual citizenship, employment opportunities for Filipino nurses, peace and development in Mindanao, and free trade between the Philippines and the United States.
Lacierda also promised that Filipinos all over the globe will be informed of and kept abreast with current news and developments in the Philippines, committing to furnish the Filipino-American community, especially the media in San Francisco and Bay Area, with firsthand information on events of significance to Filipinos. He also referred the audience to the government website, www.gov.ph, which opens to the Official Gazette, the official Internet news site of the Philippine government.
Everyone who listened to Lacierda that evening—and listened without bias and preconceptions–walked out with renewed optimism about the future of the Philippines. From Lacierda’s words, one could glean that President Benigno Aquino III and his advisers are cognizant of the most pressing issues that beset the country and are taking them on with a vigor and awareness, and a commitment to integrity that has not characterized previous administrations. And if the men and women in leadership positions of his government can face the press and the citizenry with the same candor in speech and clarity of thought as Secretary Lacierda did during this press briefing, perhaps, the Philippines is truly on the threshold of a new era of progress and national pride.
Secretary Lacierda was in the US to attend the International Open Government Data Conference organized by the World Bank in Washington, D.C. on 10-12 July 2012. He made a brief stop in San Francisco, something he usually does when in the US, and took the opportunity to meet the Filipino American community in the San Francisco and Bay Area.
For more detailed information on the Secretary’s visit to Washington, D.C., please see the link https://www.philippinesusa.info/news/2659/300/Presidential-Spokesperson-Attends-World-Bank-Conference-in-Bid-to-Advance-Transparency-and-Accountability-in-Governance/d,phildet/)