Pinoys hungry for good news from RP, say
SAN FRANCISCO – Filipino-Americans are hungry for good news about the Philippines, according to a government team that recently visited key cities in the United States as part of an information road show.
Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan, Presidential Adviser on External Affairs, who led a government team that presented positive developments taking place in the country that overseas Filipinos know little about, said ina press statement “It was a pleasant surprise to us to see how enthusiastic Filipinos in the United States were in wanting ot hear the good news about the Philippines rather than the bad.”
Pamintuan, who is concurrently chairman of the Subic-Clark Alliance for Development Council (SCADC), said Filipino-American community leaders in Houston still came to listen to him and his team despite a heavy thunderstorm that triggered flash floods, stalled hundreds of vehicles, and even cut off electricity in the area.
In a statement, Pamintuan said the threat of the swine flu also did not deter Filipino-American leaders from turning up in their briefings in affected states such as New York, Texas, and California. The team met with the Filipino community in San Diego, just a few miles from the US border with Mexico where the outbreak was first reported.
“Many of the Filipinos we talked to who have not been to the Philippines for decades are contemplating of coming home after we corrected the negative impressions they have on the country resulting largely from the tendency of media to give more prominence to bad news,” said Pamintuan.
In their meetings with Filipino-Americans in New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, Texas, and California, the team discussed the efforts of the Philippine government to cushion the impact of the global economic crisis and present the various mega-infrastructure projects that are not only changing the Philippine landscape but are also expected to bring more development to the countryside.
Pamintuan, who is also the development champion of the Luzon Urban Beltway (LUB), presented some P188-billion worth of infrastructure projects that are now being implemented in the LUB ‘special region’ made up of Metro Manila and the provinces of Central and Southern Luzon.
“These projects have not only helped mitigate the impact of the global economic crisis but have also opened up new opportunities for development and investments,” said Pamintuan, who also sits as chair of the North Rail Corporation.
Aside from Pamintuan, the other members of the team were Undersecretary Danilo De Austria Consumido of the Office of External Affairs (OEA); Alexander Cauguiran, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC); Armand Arreza, Administrator of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA); and director Kirk Galanza of OEA.
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