No One Looks Back On Their Life And Remembers The Nights They Got Plenty Of Sleep. – Anonymous
By Fred Yuson, Vice-President, PPCO
Philippine Press Club Ontario plays host to an Autumn Dinner Dance Gala at JC’s Banquet Hall located at 1686 Ellesmere Road, Scarborough, Ontario on October 19, 2019.
In attendance were friends and families, and various community media practitioners – editors/publishers, writers, radio/tv broadcasters, bloggers, and photographers. Those who were not free-lancers, media affiliations included Filipino Bulletin, Taliba, Atin Ito, Philippine Reporter, Kubo Magazine Canada, Talakayan Radio, TV Migrante, Radyo Migrante, and Pinoy Radio/Pinoy Dreams Media.
According to Noel Perada, PPCO Treasurer, and Ms. Rose Tijam, PPCO President, also in attendance, were leaders/members from various associations and community organizations like the Philippine Chamber of Commerce Toronto, Philippine Artists Group Canada, UP Alumni Association Toronto, Order of the Knights Rizal, Phoenix Friendship Society, Megaworld, Mariposa, Ontario Filipino Women’s Club, Philippine Canadian Charity Foundation, Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada, Filipino-Canadian Real Estate Association, Philippine Canadian Community House, Toastmasters Canada, Filipino Centre Toronto, and Filipino Canadian Dental Asssociation (in no particular order).
Pastor John Echavez of the First Filipino-Canadian Seventh-Day Adventist Church delivered the solemn invocation and the young man, Nicholas Manlapaz, sang the national anthems.
Ms. Rose Tijam, PPCO President, in her welcome address stated that we Canadians of Filipino descent, were the top three immigrant Canadians (true, next only to India and China) and “we, too, want to have Filipino Canadians as Members of Parliament…” However, as members of the press, she said, “ we wish to be unbiased and balanced even as we have our private preferences and political leanings.”
It should be noted that on September 30, 2018 , PPCO invited Filipino-Canadian candidates from different political parties running for city councillors and school board trustees in our Political Forum.
After the welcome address, there was a moment of silence in memory of our deceased members, Ruben Cusipag, Armand Rustia, Tenny Soriano, Pet Cleto and Jojo Taduran.
Afterwards, dinner was ready “buffet” style and hungry guests lined up according to the table number – food was great. There was coffee and softdrinks but no cash bar service in the room.
The main entertainment of the night was the mini-concert by DK Tijam, an RnB/Balladeer from Manila. Putting soul and emotion to every word of the song, you could feel the power of his voice as he sang the songs Ngayon at Kailanman, Hangang sa Dulo ng Walang Hanggan, Kahit Maputi na ang Buhok Ko, and Pangako Sayo. Other songs sang Ewan, Sana ay Ikaw Na Nga, Batang Bata Ka Pa, and Minsan Lang Kitang Ibigin, brought back good old memories.
The talented DK Tijam was a finalist of ABS-CBN’s hit reality singing TV show Star in a Million, along with Erik Santos and Christian Bautista. He has hundreds of thousands of plays on Spotify.
Out of the corner of my eye, nice to see an old friend, Ricky Caluen at the party – a former President of PPCO.
In between breaks, PPCO Secretary Marissa Corpus – the Emcee of the party, would happily announce the excited raffle winners. In our table, we were all quiet- Steve Pagao, Dan de la Cruz, my son Willy, Tony San Juan and his wife, Carlos Unas, Nelson Galvez, and Marita Lee – none of us won anything, but we joked at our “misfortunes.”
Up next, was Lui Queano with a guitar, our very own, a PPCO member, singing three songs. My favourite was Bayan Ko –beautifully rendered, it certainly evoked our feelings of patriotism.
The much-awaited part was “Dance, Dance, Dance” and the dance floor was all theirs.
Welcome to PPCO party!