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Attorney Arnedo S. Valera, our guest speaker, Distinguished Guests, Calambeños and Calambeñas, Ladies and Gentlemen:
GOOD EVENING!
As I stand here before all of you, I could not feel anything but PRIDE AND JOY being a Calambeño.
PRIDE in how all of us could get together and welcome each other tonight.
JOY in the LOVE I see all of us share with each other.
Indeed, we have created a "SMALL HOMETOWN" here in the northeast usa and
indeed, by the LOVE we all have in WELCOMING everyone, we could say:
"OPO, TAYO AY TUNAY NA CALAMBEÑO!"
I am certain, that by the number of people we have here tonight, it is undeniably TRUE that:
"You can take a person OUT of CALAMBA, but NOT CALAMBA out of the person."
We may be the smallest among the Calamba Association in America, but we take pride of having the best Calambeños and the most BEAUTIFUL Calambeñas in our midst!
LET US GIVE OURSELVES A WARM ROUND OF APPLAUSE ! ! !
And may I add, the BEST DANCERS ? !
As I just took the oath of being the
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president of our beloved association, I was thinking to myself the many challenges I am faced and how we could accomplish these. Much as I worry, these concerns are erased by tremendous commitments I see in all of your faces. And I said to myself, ….WE WILL DO WELL.
As a father of two beautiful children, Gerry and Grace (Gerry, Grace, please stand up and be recognized), one must understand the concern I have to ensure that these children, that our children inherit the Filipino values we hold dear, the values that make a proud Filipino that he or she is! And towards that end, we have decided to have the FILIPINO PRIDE AND VALUES as our theme for the night. As Dr. Rizal has said, "Nasa Kabataan ang Pag-asa ng Bayan".
We are not trying to make our children "Filipinos" nor are we saying that the "American" values are wrong. We recognize that they are Filipino-Americans. We only wish to make them better Filipino-Americans, proud of their heritage, proud of their values, customs and traditions. The values that SETS THEM APART, UNIQUE AND SPECIAL. Proud like all of us, PROUD FILIPINOS AND NEVER WANTING TO BE ANYBODY ELSE!
I would like to encourage our youth to play an active role in the association and to the parents to please show your support. How many Calambeños in the northeast USA who can actively participate in our projects? Can you imagine how much power we can have if we will unite and promote our association and our Filipino pride and values. These are the challenges I face as president of our association. With your help, we will accomplish these.
Salamat po, Magandang gabi po sa inyong lahat, Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong taon.
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