Our briefing yesterday noon held at the Tower Club was very productive.
We were all on time for the 12-2pm meeting.
We went over the schedule one by one and discussed some minor issues.
Dubbed as Philippines Eminent Persons Group, Inaugural visit to Washington, DC, I suggested if we could strike out the word eminent and replace it with something else because it sounded pretentious. However, Tony Boy Cojuangco and Babe Romualdez told me that we were not the one who thought of that name, it was CSIS which is based in the US.
We were also informed that a Philippine ambassador belittled the group going to Washington. Hindi raw eminent. Hayan na nga, medyo controversial yung word.
Anyway, for the benefit of the whole Philippines, a select group, about 12 of us, would be spending our precious time, effort, and own resources to fly to Washington, DC to help promote our country’s trade, investments, national security, and re-kindle friendly relationships with some US government officials, ambassadors and senators. We are not going to benefit on a personal level, we are doing this for the love of country. Appreciation for our efforts would be nice.
Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario together with some dignitaries from the DTI and DFA would be joining us.
It is imperative that we make representations to raise America’s awareness of our country’s potential and needs.
“Raising the Philippines’ profile” is what it’s called.
“This visit is a timely and vital contribution to building the strong ties between our two countries, treaty allies”.- Ernest Bower, CSIS
We had a few minutes to spare so we talked about personal stuff. Babe Romualdez forwarded to me the natural steps to eliminate gall stones.
he and Tony Boy told me never to get liposuction sabi ko kasi gusto kong ipaalis ang tyan ko.
Sarap kasi kumain kaya my tummy keeps getting bigger.
I was wearing this flimsy dress, napansin ko lang Made in USA pala ito, RARE na. I should keep this.
After our briefing, I ran to Rustan’s to buy Philippine-made gifts for our hosts. I bought some nice and expensive shell with silver for Former US Senator Lugar, etc. Hindi pwedeng cheap, nakakahiya.
