Although the business delegation’s presence was not necessary at the Filipino community dinner at the ballroom of Grand Hyatt in Beijing on the night of October 19, we decided to attend but we didn’t eat there.
We’ve been pigging out for a few hours at the lobby prior so we were all full actually.
Photo bomber #1
Photo bomber #2
We thought we were early but when we got down to the lower ground, the OFWs and Filipino residents in Beijing were already eating and have saved the front seats.
Marie Charlotte G. Tan, Consul General in Guangdong and Lilybeth Deapera, Consul General in Macau
Dick, George Barcelon, Sergio Ortiz-Luis, Bernard Benedicto, OMB
No more seats even for the tycoons. Some of them were seated at the back, a lot of them stood-up on the sides.
Jun Ortiz-Luis (president of Philexport), Tony Tan Caktiong (owner of Jollibee), Annie Tan-Yee (regular eater of chicken joy)
I could feel the excitement of the crowd. It’s always like that naman, every time a Philippine president visits, our kababayans living abroad are happy. During the time of FVR, minsan nakaka-touch pa. One example is when we were in Australia, the whole arena was full of Filipinos, clapping, screaming, cheering, waving, maraming napapaluha sa tuwa. Meron pang nagpapa-picture sa amin, akala congresswoman ako. Maraming naglulundagan at inaakap si FVR. Naiyak nga kami, most especially when all of us sang our national anthem. Scenes like that make us love our country more. Lahat kami na-touch. Wag lang tayong magmumura at hindi nakaka-touch yan, nakaka-panliit at nakakatunaw-hiya. Bigyan na lang natin ng inspirasyon ang mga kababayan natin na lalong pagsipagan ang mga trabaho nila at para tuluyang umunlad ang kanilang buhay. Huwag na natin silang turuan na magmura at hikayatin na sampalin ang kapwa tao.
