“Our pride aligns with core Filipino values: having close family ties and celebrating each other’s triumphs”
BEEN an hour after sunrise today stretching our lower limbs on the cobbled driveway prior to our usual cup of black coffee when we got the message our first born, Harmony Francisca, has been promoted as Vice President for Education & Training of the California-based Coalition of Filipino American Chambers of Commerce (COFACC).
That she starts her term on the first day of the Filipino American History Month adds magnitude, in that October honors the history, achievements, and legacy of Filipino Americans, the second-largest Asian American group in the United States.
October celebrates the first Filipinos who arrived in the continental United States on Oct. 18, 1587, and acknowledges their contributions across various sectors, including military service, healthcare, and labor.
It also serves to highlight a rich history that is often under-represented in mainstream American narratives.
Our knee-jerk reaction, given our character, was to remain quiet while counting steps on the driveway, then we read our daughter’s note: “We go through various seasons in our lives and I am ready to embrace this season with gratitude.”
We agreed with the child in us that it is not false modesty for a father to be proud of his daughter’s community-benefiting achievements.
Fact is, it is a hard-wired and biologically-driven and positive emotion to feel proud, stop counting the footsteps and meditate while the sunrise keenly observes the father’s demeanor.
The parental pride is then not misplaced, since that is a genuine emotion a parent feels when the child achieves something positive, especially if it benefits others. A father’s pride in his daughter’s work is a natural and healthy expression of his love and admiration for her, and it does not have to be about his own modesty or lack thereof.
Our pride aligns with core Filipino values: having close family ties and celebrating each other’s triumphs, verily a central aspect of Filipino culture.
It is not lost on Harmony, who is the president of the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of South Colorado, concurrently the president of the Colorado State Philippine American Chamber of Commerce, what the vision and mission of COFACC are.
COFACC has its vision to empower Filipino-American businesses and professionals, promoting diversity and inclusivity, fostering economic growth through strategic partnerships, initiatives, and sharing of best practices in the business community.
Its core values include adherence to personal and organizational guidelines of behavior that, publicly and privately, are morally binding in principle and in practice and should never be compromised at any given time and circumstance.
COFACC forms business and strategic partnerships among the various Chambers of Commerce organizations marked by openness, trust and cooperation, establishing community programs mutually beneficial to all parties.
It impresses us that COFACC values a level playing field, where each organization or individual has an opportunity to succeed while working to create a business climate that attracts new investment and enhances growth and expansion opportunities for existing businesses.
COFACC also provides programs, connect to services and products of highest quality that would support the needs of Filipino American businesses at every stage of development.
It recognizes civic opportunities, formulates solutions and mobilizes resources to bring to reality its vision of a thriving, prosperous Filipino American business community while creating new concepts to reach COFACC’s goals, operating with high degrees of resourcefulness and professionalism in process and performance.
It strikes us, from where we have our seat west of the International Global Date Line, that COFACC embraces the possibilities of the future while preserving its culture’s rich history, respects the variety of people, businesses and ideas in the community and considers this diversity to be a trump card.nsider this diversity to be a trump card.
We are persuaded to quote our daughter to the letter: “May we use every platform given to us to uplift our colleagues, the organizations we represent, and our respective communities — wherever these communities may be in the United States.
“May we always, always represent the best in being Filipino. I look forward to working with the Governing Board and to working on a lasting and impactful legacy.
“I am truly humbled by the opportunity to stand alongside the servant leaders of the Governing Board, the community leaders who have devoted their life to the empowerment and upliftment of the Filipino business community in this country.
“It isn’t lost on me that the effectivity of my term begins on the first day of the Filipino American History Month, a time to honor and celebrate the many contributions of the Filipino to this great country. May I be a worthy vessel who will tirelessly do my best to fill, even partially, the huge shoes left behind by our forebears.
“To the COFACC Governing Board, thank you once again for giving me the opportunity to stand on your shoulders and for the privilege to stand in your light.
“Marami pong salamat sa tiwala. Marami pong salamat sa pagkakataon.”
Her sister and brother, in-laws, nephews and parents take their seats.
