>> i want to introduce to you and adopted filipino woman, the supervisor district 10, maria cohen. when al and kim got married, maliagood evening, and welcome. we have many things to celebrate. first, i wanted to acknowledge all the women who helped make this event happened. thank you so much. [applause] absolutely. we need to continue to strengthen the philippine the women's network, not just here in san francisco, but all across the country. this network is strong and robust. i am honored to be here as a

fellow sister with you in the struggle. i have a very simple story. [inaudible] she is part of the philippine the women's network, and i owe her my life and for the success of my career. she was my consultant last year when i was campaigning. and when no one else would work with me. [applause] [cheers and applause] that is right. this woman is definitely a strong ally, and i over everything could i am so happy that you're honoring and recognizing her for her achievements. trust me, it is difficult being in politics, not only as a woman but as a woman of color. i am so happy to be here today. thank you. [applause] i also want to acknowledge

tita and want to thank her for her hard work and leadership. she has been a shining example and a role model for me as a young women growing up here in san francisco. that is it for my remarks to the i am so happy to see so many of you. there is my brother al. it is true story. a long time ago, back in 2003 -- 2004, it was the assistant for the near gavin newsom, and i volunteered to become deputized to officially over same-sex marriages. it was not only until -- and i presided over al's union and the mayor's office. it was not until 2009 when i was running that i sat down and met with many of the women of the filipino women's network. i was invited to come, and i think we wait -- we went to --

[unintelligible] not in district 10, but i plug it anyway. [laughter] it is in district 6, but it is read on the border. close enough. absolutely. i was able to bless the union, and i am so happy that you guys are still growing together and strong and in love. [applause] it is an incredible honor to be here amongst so many women, so many beautiful leaders. mayormerilee, i just want to say thank you. she has been my sister for years. before we knew each other, she worked on the merits network. we need to get more women on boards and commissions, as well as elected leaders. because when we have zero women at the table, that is one change starts to happen. [cheers and applause] i also want to acknowledge all

the commissioners in the room today. thank you for all of your service. thank you very much, everyone. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, malia. first of all, i want to thank susie and her whole family who are here. you know, she is going to be feeding you later. maybe some of you have already started eating. andron is our brother and will play for us later. ithey have some gorgeous young men over there serving us and drinks with vodka. so if i am is sort of, you know, being happy, it is because of that. most of all, i just want to recognize our volunteers of the fwn to have been working behind the scenes. first of all, our fellow.

many of the awardees have seen her name. leia, come on up here. there she is. as you know, she is with korn ferry international, which is the primo executive search firm kidder she works for them. she's spending monday with us at fwn, because she does not really want to be a consecutive search consultant. i got invited to an event at korn ferry international, at a lot of the ceo's were there. i was very honored. thank you for staying up all night, e-mail and everyone. for those of you who submitted your profiles and photographs, thank you very much. for those of you who were late, thank you very much. [laughter] that you made her life maybe a

little less easier by trying to follow up with all of you. but you're so patient. >> good thing the bios were very inspiring, so it is worth it. >> if you want to know anything about the 100 this year, she's the person to talk to. she is like a walking wikipedia. then i want to introduce al perez. he is a board member. but the magazine would not have happened without al. thank you so much. i stayed at his house for a few days as we were trying to get the magazine out and getting all of the photographs. thank you so much. and you know he is the commissioner with the san francisco entertainment commission. he is living a very busy life.

so i have the philippine consulate staff. where are you? they make our lives easier by helping us out with all the registrations and the packets. the little bags that you got. wasn't it great? filipino women, hey. there is somebody very important to the filipino community who is here tonight. as you know, as many of you know, domestic -- we have the filipina women's network that has a domestic violence campaign. it started in the 1980's when a filipino woman was murdered in front of her two children by her boyfriend. that really galvanized the community, because her alleged murderer at that time escaped to mexico. and we had a quest to make sure

that justice was served. her mother, who was not here tonight, really championed the cause and got the filipina women's network involved. the district attorney's office has held the filipina women's network, and as a community, and i think it is fought -- signed an mou with the philippine consulate. i want to introduce the district attorney of san francisco who has been interest -- instrumental in helping the community reduce crime against women. george, the district attorney, yay. [cheers and applause] >> quickly, it is an honor being here today and sharing this moment. i have seen some many influential members of this community and women of substance in recognized as part of the filipino community but i am honored to be here today. this week, we signed a

historical agreement between my office and the philippine council. and the purpose of the agreement is to get the district attorney's office and are committed to closer to the filipino community to make sure we help vulnerable victims, people who may not be willing to come to the police or may not be willing to report crimes or report when someone else is being victimized, especially victims of domestic violence, the elderly, and immigrants who may not be sure about how to navigate the american system. we're very proud to have a historical agreement, the first one in the country. what an appropriate day to announce it here with you. so congratulations to all of you. thank you so much. [applause] >> so let's recognize all of you who have come a long way. who traveled the farthest to san francisco? guam, there you go. whoo-hoo. the director of the labor

department from guam, all the way. ok, thank you for coming. who is the next? washington. wait a minute -- hawaii. ok, washington state. ok. oh, washington, d.c. wait a minute, is that further than hawaii? ok, washington, d.c., hawaii. how many people from hawaiiy fromay. i think there is somebody from kansas. there she is. where is alaska? catherine, yes, from alaska. where is she? where is catherine? oh, there she is drinking. yeah, all the way from juneau, alaska.

we have a special assistant to the ceo and beneficial a city council, a woman of juneau, alaska. who else? where? georgia. who is from georgia? oh, georgia, yes. there is april from georgia. she was our tech person, helping with all the presentations. new york, ok. whoo-hoo-hoo. who else iso elseh, new york, ok, i see you. we have somebody from pittsburg. who else? texas. yay, ok. who else? what other states are represented? oregon.

where is maria? maria is from oregon, right? oh, washington state, sorry. who else? ok, good old california. san francisco, daly city, concord, danville, oakland, vallejo, san diego. oh, we have the honorable arlee from san diego. come on, thank you. who else? hercules, california, yay. you know, this evening is really the mayor's reception,

the san francisco bay area mayor's reception. did you know that there are three women members of fwn and honorees of the 100 most influential filipino women are mayors in the san francisco bay area? yay. i want to call up here -- come on up here, mayor of hercules, california. she was in the summit in 2006. do you want to tell the story ? >> congratulations to the 100 most influential filipino women. i attended first in 2006. and i was a planning commissioner then and i wanted to quit politics. i hated politics. but the summit inspired me.

and merilee kept saying we needed more women in visible and a mainstream positions in government, commissions, and councils. so i was recognized in 2009, a couple of years ago. i was inspired by mayor joanne el rosario and the other women mayors around. so last year, i decided to run. and i won in november, not even a year. and little did i know, i was running into a burning building. hercules was crumbling. in january, the mayor resigned, so i became vice mayor. and then the rico movement happened and i became the mayor in june. [applause]

the fastest rise of anybody i know. we had a lot of problems. we had to lay off people, cut the budget, cut parks and wreck. our meetings were overflowing. we had to rally the community around as peter it is an ongoing thing, but we're turning it around. i am glad that i did not quit, thanks to the filipino womens' network who has inspired me and kept me on track. i never thought i would do this. thank you very much. [applause] >> we love you. in 2006, fwn hosted a victory party. there were about four women that won the elections at that time. one of them was a jill wynns del

rosario. it is interesting -- joanne del rosario. it was interesting at the time because i invited her to the party, and she said, no, i did not want to jinx my election. she said i do not want to go to the victory party because it is only a difference of a few ballads. it was held at the philippine consulate. i walked in and there she was. and i said, you must have won because you're here. so joanne, come on here. yeah. [applause] she was selected one of the 100 most influential filipina women in 2009. [applause] >> good evening, everyone, and congratulations to all of you. it is an honor for me to be here tonight. i have to say, the most gracious complement that anyone

can ever give you is when it they say that i was there inspiration or i was their role model, and i thank you for saying that. because back in 2006 when i ran, in no idea what was going to be like. it was sort of put on me by accident. at the time, my brother was the ambassador to the united states in washington, d.c. and i began to circulate in the community as he came to visit the bay area. and when he did, people were saying, oh, you have a sister that lives in the bay area -- why does she not run? i thought, right? what do i know about running? so i did. i did run in my small town of coma, and i won that year. i was running in a town where

people stay in their seats forever. that was a big plus at the time. [applause] thank you. so when i ran, i did not realize the impact of regaining my position and how that would affect the whole community, especially the filipino american community. a later on found out that i was not only the first mayor of colma, filipina mayor of colma, but also the first filipina mayor in the nine bay area counties. [applause] and now, six years later, on my second term, look at how many other women are in elected positions. so kudos to all of them. [applause] anyway, i would just like to add that i hope you'll enjoy this next few days with the fwn. you have the opportunity here to learn, to network, to make new

friends and acquaintances. and believe me, you will walk out of here with such a great feeling, because you have bonded with your filipina sisters to the i am sure that all of you who have thoughts about perhaps going further or doing something else more important, you'll walk out of here with the confidence to know that you can do it and it can be done. thank you. [applause] >> the third filipina mayor, but she cannot be here, was the mayor for davis, california for at least two terms. has not come back from the philippines yet. she is retired now. she was there for a conference. she is not here. that is ruth. congratulations, and hooray for the three filipina women who have