The Philippine Community Council of NSW (PCC-NSW) celebrated its 25th anniversary as peak organisation of community clubs in NSW with a gala night last Saturday 13 November at the Grand Ballroom of the Bankstown Sports Club in Bankstown, NSW.
PCC-NSW is presently headed by Ms Evelyn Beed, herself long serving president of the Philippine Cordillerans Association of Australia, one of the 50 affiliates of NSW.
A fortnight before, PCC-NSW kicked off activities for the celebration with tree planting at the Rizal Park in Campbelltown, a growing hub of Filipino-Australian residents in NSW next only to Blacktown district as to number of population of Filipino descent.
A public symposium was held week thereafter at Mt. Druitt Hub function centre with speakers from the larger Ethnic Community Council of NSW, the NSW parliament and local government units.
At the gala night, old time convenors of PCC-NSW were honoured including publicist Ms Senie Masian who is considered to be the initiator of the group that founded PCC-NSW. Recognised together with Ms Masian were community newspaper publisher Evelyn Zaragoaza, and retired community leaders Linda Swords, Dux Maniquiz, and Lucy Jumawan. Cited were the clubs that have maintained their affiliations with PCC-NSW for more than 20 years, namely the Ilocano Association of Australia, Philippine Australian Medical Asociation or PAMA, and the Illawara Filipino and Multicultural Women’s Group, Inc.
Also acknowledged were long time friends and supporters of council namely President and CEO of Anti Discrimination Board Mr Stepan Kerkyasharian and Vanguard Funeral CEO Mr Barry Steward.
Previous year’s PCC-NSW presidents and their advocacies who attended the event included Blacktown Councillor Jess Diaz who was one of the original founders , accountant Manny Diel (defunct Filipino Business Council), solicitor Kate Andres (Ilocano Association), solicitor Lolita Farmer OAM (Philippine Australian Sports and Culture), accountant Jimmy Lopez (Ilocano Association), chef and food writer Neria Soliman (Bicol Inc), travel agency operator Atoy Sayas (Australia Philippines Chamber of Commerce and Industry), dentist Elsa Collado (Ilocano Association) and accountant Jun Relunia (Philippine Australian Society of Senior Citizens, Inc), among others.
Previous PCC-NSW presidents absent during the celebration were Ruben Amores,(Ilocano Association), and Ric de Vera (Ilocano Association) and Rey Manoto (Campbelltown and Area Filipino Community Council), with the latter represented by wife Marissa Manoto.
In summary, the peak body PCC-NSW had been at the crossroad of generations of not only affiliate organisations, but practically every nucleus, advocacies, assistance, benefactors and initiatives of community based activities in NSW..
Many had believed and stood by PCC NSW whilst some had gone to other measures of community endeavours, to make a difference for multicultural Australia.
Many had contributed in their respective individual roles in homes , schools , workplaces, and even in government positions for the common calling of serving the community.
Thanks of course to the freedom and progress of Australia as a democratic country, migrants us all can claim the benefits afforded to citizens of this country to peaceably assemble and pursue common destiny. E. Rudd & Bayanihan News