>> hello, thank you again. before we send you a laugh, we would like to invite our special guest to come up and say a few words. thank you. >> thank you all. i want to thank the city of san francisco, but the mayor, the board of supervisors, and the committee that organized this event. [applause] and we cannot have survived the

last 12 years -- next january, it can be 12 years since we've founded this. it would not have survived without your support. for those of you who come for the first time, please go to our website and keep following our various performances. we have a big performance, a two-hour concert on november 20 in oakland. it is a fund-raising event. i hope to see many of you there. i could not have done it without my family here. [applause] this has truly become my family in the last 12 years, and in the last year, they have been all my children. i do not know how to thank them. they have done wonderful work. it is really their work. i just do work behind the

scenes. but it is their work, their effort, and their love for arabic music and our heritage. i cannot have done it without the board, and i want to single out the person who established this group with me. [applause] in 2000, and then we established the nonprofit to promote various aspects of the arab part -- art. and we have been under the leadership, and they always say that behind a great man, there is a woman with a greater behind. [laughs] [laughter] thank you. [applause] >> i would like to thank you all for coming and enjoying the performances and the musical ensemble. now if you would like to join us in the north white hall, just

through the stores writer there, and we will continue the celebration. thank you. [applause]

♪ oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming? whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight, o'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming? and the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there. o say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and

the home of the brave? ♪ ♪

>> [speaking foreign language] ♪ [singing in foreign language] ♪

>> please welcome the general of the republic of the philippines. >> honored guests, friends, ladies and gentlemen, it is an honor for us to be here to celebrate the philippine- american history month. we're honored to have the honorable city mayor of san francisco, the president of the board of supervisors, former

mayor brown, and other city officials, friends. in celebrating -- this is the second year that we celebrate the filipino-american history month. it is also quite appropriate to announce perhaps that the u.s. senate has passed a senator solution proclaiming october 2011 as philippine-american history month as well. i think it is also appropriate to announce that govern merck -- governor edwin brown announced that he had signed ab 199, school curriculum, social sciences, filipinos in world war ii. i think that all of these events show that the filipino-

americans are really coming out of the woodwork and showing themselves as a group that needs to be recognized. as we, this evening, a well recognized quite a number of them. we welcome you tonight. may i also ask you to welcome the honorable mayor edwin lee. [applause] >> well, welcome. welcome to city hall, everyone. it is my pleasure to welcome all of you here to the seventh annual philippine-american celebration heritage month.

counsel general, thank you. mayer brown, thank you very much. i know you are out there somewhere. board president, thank you for being here as well. i am is so happy, because we have a lot of things to celebrate. and i want to first and foremost thank one of the people that i have had a chance to work with, and i think she is a proud member of the filipino-american community here in san francisco, and that has been my chief adviser on families, children, education, and of course she is the president of our school board. hydra mendoza, thank you. thank you for being here. [applause] you know, as we celebrate filipino history month, we recognize the filipino history that is inextricably a part of our city's history. and during the historic struggle that we kept seniors -- remember

those years where we stood on an alliance to protect our senior residence of the international hotel. we still had that legacy here, as we still a contract with residents of that hotel south of market. even today, i am proud, having stood on that that line and still fighting for justice and social causes to help with our filipino-american community, their quality of life, and making sure that our city responds and continues building a strong community that involves our seniors and all of our members of our filipino community. i also want to acknowledge the veterans and the filipino community for their dedication to the lives of protecting our country and for that -- for them -- for how they had bought and continue to fight to protect our come community -- our country. thank you to those of you- americans. as i said earlier, the filipino

community south of market has been industrious. in fact, they have been such a vibrant part of our communities that it. down there, you'll see many of our streets are named for filipino national heroes. people like the names that continued to ring as to go through and recognize some of those streets. i also want to thank the san francisco filipino culture center and all of the filipino community organizations that have worked with our city around the years protecting in supporting filipino families, the arts and education, and also our valued neighborhoods across our city. there are so many neighborhood organizations that have sprouted up, but there are many, too, that have been there for long, long time.

i want to thank the philippine news, the filipino whelm -- filipino womens' network. by the way, the network has been instructing me about -- to make sure that i know what pinay power is in san francisco. thank you. i said it wrong. you see, they're still teaching me. because as i grew up, all i knew was pinoi. the bay area fashion week, the filipino nurses association of northern california. of course the filipino international book festival. the filipino-american art's exposition, which of course hosts the parade and festival. and then, of course, there is the fantastic san francisco manila sister city. i want to give a special thank you to dennis normandy. thank you for your wonderful

leadership on the sister city and for your great work on our commission as well. thank you very much. [applause] we want to recognize the incredible diverse accomplishments of all of our filipino-american contributors to our city and to make sure we look forward to continuing that strong relationship as we go forward in our city. so it is my honor to present today, on behalf of our city and county, the filipino american history month proclamation. you may join the council general, and please, the honorable hydra mendoza, president of our board of education, and of course, kyra rodriguez from our filipino channel. please take this problematic -- proclamation declaring this is a filipino-american history month in san francisco. [applause]

>> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the highest ranking and only filipino-american elected official in the city and county of san francisco, president of the board of education and education adviser to mayor edwin lee, honorable hydra mendoza. [applause] thank you. it still saddens me when you saw the only in the first filipino ever elected in san francisco, but it is always such an honor to be here with my community, and i want to thank you all for this celebration. we really have so much to celebrate, and i wanted to make sure we acknowledge this month alone and some of the things we have been able to accomplish. as the council general

mentioned, ab 199 finally acknowledges the work and the tremendous bravery of our soldiers in world war ii, who will be written into our history books. we're going to make sure that happens. the dream act that was signed by governor brown, which will enable our immigrant students to go on to college and applied for the funding they need to move forward. we had a wonderful celebration with the filipino women's network, he brought forward 100 of our most influential phillipines from all over the country. it was great for them to be about to celebrate here in our beautiful city of san francisco. saturday night, we had a celebration with the filipinos eddy pinay educational partnership, who are our teachers and being trained to come in and remind our students of our heritage and our culture and the beauty of the work in the belief we have in our filipino community. last month, we were able to

secure the funding to start our -- to restart our program at balboa high school, with the wonderful support of the united way of the bay area. these are all wonderful things for us to celebrate, and it is such an honor to work under our first asian-american mayor here in san francisco. and these are too many firsts that have taken way too long for our community. but it is one that we should always celebrate and embrace, because we have so much to be proud of, so much culture to share, and so much of our heritage to remember. on this month, we celebrate. but it is not just this month that we celebrate. this is something that we embrace 355 days a year. because we, as a people, are proud, and it is so wonderful to be a filipina and to be a filipina here in san francisco. we welcome you this evening to celebrate with us. thank you.

[applause] >> please welcome chief financial officer here. >> hello, good evening, honorable mayor lee, honorable commissioners hydra mendoza, and the council general. everybody has talked about that it was only in september 2009 that california state legislature approved the resolution that officially declared october as a filipino american history month. the city and county of san francisco has been celebrating this for seven years. we're fortunate to have partnered with the office of the mayor for the last five years to honor the contributions of

filipino-americans to the united states through all of these decades. when we started, we thought we were just broadcasting television content to global filipinos. but who are these filipinos? we have had the privilege an opportunity to know these filipinos all over the world. north america, the middle east, europe, asia, even africa. the 9 million overseas filipinos are a diverse bunch. migrant workers, young and old, first generation adventuress or their children and grandchildren. despite many differences in their work and their educational background or lifestyles or in their country of residence, the global filipino is much the same. he is taken each -- conscientious worker, an opportunity-seeker, a courageous risk-taker willing to sacrifice for better future for their family. she is resilient and assimilates to the foreign land immediately.

but in her heart, she cherishes the aspiration of one the recent -- returning him to the philippines. we are overseas filipinos ourselves. we live among the global filipinos to make our mission real and our dreams a reality. these global filipinos share their stories with us, the highs and lows, the joys and pains, the sacrifices they have made in the content -- continue to make for their families. and the hopes and dreams that keep them going every day. we're fortunate to be able to retell these stories and are honored to be welcomed into the homes of these global filipinos every night. every day we bring doc, we bring the largest community of filipinos. they laughed together. they cried together. they celebrate the proudest moments of our country together. and/oregon when tragedy strikes, they come together to help those

that are back home. we have witnessed the greatness of the global filipino every day. together with you, our community leaders, we play a very critical role in helping build a strong global filipino community. together, we create the image of the filipino in places where we live. the world's image of the filipino is really in our hands. here in the united states, we have made our mark, whether through our work at the community center, the fight for rights for our veterans of world war ii, or our friends south of market. or, you know, just inserting filipinos in the san francisco lantern parade every christmas. the towards of filipino-american legacy continues to burn brightly as our community renews evarts every year to impact history, society, and culture in san francisco.

this year is no exception, and we feel very privileged to be part of distributing to seven organizations that have made key milestones. the filipino nurses association of california, northern california chapter. the filipino womens' network. the literacy initiatives international foundation. the filipino-american art's exposition. philippine news. the san francisco manila sister city committee. last but not least, the bay area fashion week. we congratulate all the awardees that the certificates of recognition from the office of the mayor, and where most honored to be part of these excellent milestones through our partnership with these organizations. thank you for bringing fame and glory for the filipinos to our community through your work in through your contributions. like modern heroes, you have become the torchbearers for all filipinos. shining your light in who we

are, what we're here for, and who we can become. may you all continue to highlight our values, the richness of our culture, and the honor of our people. we only have one wish for all of us global filipinos -- [ speaking foreign language] wherever we are and wherever we go, let's always remember that we are filipino. [speaking foreign language] [applause] >> and now, please welcome your host for tonight, senate candidate -- san upset -- please welcome your host for tonight. >> good evening, everyone, and welcome to this beautiful e