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 become mayors in the san francisco bay area. i want to recognize all those who have achieved and our commissioners. we are about building a pipeline of qualified and talented filipina leaders, because we know we have the experience, the background, and the capabilities to reach the

level of leadership. among to recognize quickly the judge from nevada, a judge cheryl moss. we have judge moran was recently appointed by governor brown. she is administrative director for workers' comp. we have a member of the san francisco redevelopment commission. i told you about al from the entertainment commission. there you go. raise your hand, ladies. [unintelligible] elected to the union city council, the highest number of votes. [applause] and let's see, anybody else that i am missing? do not be shy. you are filipina, and you're the 100 most influential. and i am really proud now to introduce to you somebody that we actually, you know, at a

party with joanne. she is the president of the san francisco school board, education adviser to the mayor of san francisco, and she gets the highest number of votes in the last election in san francisco, over 100,000 votes. come on over here. [applause] >> it is always bittersweet to say that i am the first filipina ever elected in san francisco, because we need so many more. i cannot tell you how happy i am to be standing in front of so many beautiful, powerful, an amazing filipinas. and we want to welcome you to our house. this is city hall. it is funny because we had the latino heritage but happening next door and then the filipina women's network here. you bring them together and you

get my children. [laughter] i have been torn, running back and forth, because it is a wonderful celebration. this afternoon, for those of us who were able to be at the luncheon, justice tawny is so amazing and there wilwonderful. she is one of my favorite filipinas. she really brings pride to all of us. it reminded me who we are in not only our communities but in our families. we're grandmothers, mothers, sisters, and wives. we are nieces and grandchildren. it is just remarkable who we are and of the footprint that we're going to leave. i was an award recipients in 2009. that was probably one of my proudest moments. i am getting cherry i when i think about it. my parents came down from seattle, and my parents have no idea what i do.

all they know is that i show up on christmas and i bring gifts, but they have no idea what i do. so to stand amongst filipina 100 other amongsts and have it -- to stand up amongst one hand -- hundreds of other amazing filipinas with my parents that there was wonderful. the gala will be fabulous. but we are women, and we're women of color. and we are leaders. i do not want any of you to ever forget that. because we're leaders, we always have people behind us that support us to make sure that the doors are open for us, that we're given the supports that we need, and that we're recognized on a regular basis. because we need to be recognized, because we do not get recognized enough, not only as filipinas but as women the biggest a proud to have had the opportunity to work side-by- side with this person is our

city administration and now under him in the lee administration. my boss has been fantastic, a true supporter of women, a true leader around immigrate families and a true leader of around the needs of our committees today as a proud to work for mayor lee. welcome to city hall. he is here to say a few words and to welcome all of you here, because you are here from all over the country. but you not see another major as wonderful as mayor lee and how supportive he has been to be filipino community. so please join me in welcoming our mayor, mayor edwin lee. [applause] >> thank you. well, welcome, everyone. tonight, a very special. you know, some of you know that i used to work at the asian law caucus, and we had a really tight relationship with the

filipino community. at that time, my counterpart and i were in together. we always worked on h1 issues and immigration issues. he always told me about hanoi power, but he never explained to me panai power. what is that all about -- he never explained to me pinay power. i want to welcome everybody from all across the country who is here. i also want to make sure recognize -- because we had the mayor of hercules, right? myrna, my counterpart, thank you very much. we have the former mayor of the sleepy town of colma. thank you for being here. and also the former mayor of davis. thank you. [applause] i wanted to recognize my immediate counterparts and welcome all of you here to san francisco.

you know, talking about pinay power -- [pronunciation corrected. ok, i will get that all day tomorrow. i have been very fortunate. i have been very lucky to work with hydra. not only does she know everything that is going on, she knows everything that i am not supposed to know. she was telling me about all these nice relationships that occurred that i do not even know about. also, i wanted to recognize the president of the filipina women's network. mayor lee has been a great leader, too. but when i have a chance to promote and appoint people into powerful positions, i chose her for the redistricting committee for san francisco. [cheers and applause] she is going to do a great job,

you know that? that is a powerful committee, because they are going to redistrict san francisco to determine where the equity is for people, where the immigrants are, where the needs are, and to reshape our political boundaries. with her and with hydra working in the school district, i got pinay power all over the place. [cheers and applause] but i think there will be a lot more opportunities as well. i will be looking for those opportunities, because i want you to succeed. i need everybody to work at their best, to be in the leadership positions. a lot more women are going to be appointed in my administration. it just happens to be, they seem to always be the smarter one. [laughter] we have three women on the board

of supervisors, and there were the first three people that told me i should reconsider and run for mayor of san francisco. so i consider them as being the people that forecast was should happen. but i also want to let you know that i support your goal. i know the filipina women's network wants to make sure that we doubled the number of filipina leaders for 2012. that is a great goal. we will do that. we will help you do that. we will make sure that not only do you get the support of this great city, but we are an international city. we can promote even more here on a national scale. just because you're from washington, d.c., or las vegas, you can also look to san francisco for support and leadership as well. because we are a national and international city. we want to support all the filipina women across the country to succeed. that is a great gold, and i want to be part of that. [applause] thank you. i know my wife anita is very

excited peter she participated in the luncheon today. i hear she is starting her own group, wow. so it was not just her love for the food. [laughter] i know the building strong committees that begins with people sacrificing as individuals. i'm not to let you know that not only with hydra and marily, with so many leaders, we have a chance to promote people. we have a chance to support you. it is exciting to see business changing, the glass ceiling breaking, and you're going to help us break the bias'. i learned about the bias' at the asian law caucus. we wanted equity and family reunification in our immigration policy.

we finally got back here with the california dream act that the governor just signed. that was wonderful. [applause] that is going to help so many of our kids get equity and education. that is one of the pillars. but you will work on the pillars. the colors and there's this still exist. barriers in government as well as in business. barriers in education. all of that, i think is going to be so open for you to work on. i want to be there with you. i want to congratulate the 100 most influential filipina women and congratulate you for your skills and your contributions. thank you for being here. to my pleasure to welcome the most powerful pinay power leaders. pinay. [applause] thank you very much for being here in san francisco. i wish you great success with this conference and getting

together. thank you very much. [applause]

>> did you know, and some of you do, i know. do you know that the first known philippine note to come to america were actually ship workers who jumped ship in st. malo, louisiana? and what they did was, true to form, they created a shrimp industry in louisiana. they tried the shrimp harvest in louisiana, which is equivalent to the good old filipino hippie, right? because there's no

refrigeration in the philippines, we would try everything. we dried the fish and shrimp. this is through history. st. malo, louisiana, the first known filipino immigration. thank you. number two, i think that we honor those women who have been very influential in their own ways, and it is always part of our tradition that we honor those who have led us to where we are. but they are here today, and i just want to a knowledge once again, author, writer, singer, and guitar player, evangeline buell, former president of the filipino american history

society in the san francisco- berkeley area. she was the national president, i am sorry. also, isabel. this is the face of women who have it in their blood to pursue the strength of the filipina women. and to them, we offer the leadership of tomorrow. all of us to dedicate the future for both of you. thank you for being here tonight. and so here we are in the seat of power in the city of san francisco, and only in a filipino tradition can you combine power, leadership, and lupia.

so i would like to call on our newest board member, a lovely -- i am proud of her. i knew her as a young girl, and she is really our host for tonight. so if you just keep quiet, you're going to get your food. ladies and intimate, board member of the filipina women's network, the one that can put power and lupia together, susie cansada. >> thank you, tita elena. i know everyone is hungry, because i can see the line for me already. i wanted to say, i look forward to this every year, and what we think mary -- thank marily. today was amazing, and i am looking forward to what is to come. here we are. we are a manufacturer.

but every year for marily, we become a catering company. we have three plants. we manufacture here and pittsburg, california. for fwn, i brought my favorite chef, who is ready to serve the fantastic meal that he is prepared for you today using are frozen filipino products. all of our different brands. and in the spirit of october and filipino american heritage month, i am asking if everyone here can share our food and our culture with a non-filipino friend. bring them to the filipino eateries in your area, because we really need to support them. also, we have another filipino food company here, pearl with mamasitas. [applause]

we had the same mission. we want to bring filipino food to everyone. if you can help us by bringing your non-filipino friends to filipino restaurants, that would greatly help. while we enjoy our fabulous friend, my brother, iran, is going to be -- ron, is going to be playing frosome music for usa contemporary mix of guitar riffs and electronic music. please enjoy the food and drink and in the honor of my grandmot >> in closing, i just want to make a few remarks to you know, it was dr. martin luther king that said "i have a dream that one day we will be judged on the contents of our character and not the color of our skin."

and when i think about the leadership of fwn, marily, president, elena, our chair, these of the two women that stand tall in my eyes. and i can also say that for a lot -- for all of the members here from fwn, that these of the two leaders that make it happen. and i want to thank these two individuals, because whenever i would talk or interview, serving as your co-chair in the selection committee for the nationwide 100 most influential filipinas, everyone of you, when i asked the question -- how did you get to become so influential? everyone said, everyone said -- i was just doing my job.

and there are outstanding leaders in every field. science, technology, mathematics, medicine, politics, social work, teachers, authors, the list goes on and on. and you are all amazing. we would not all be here today if it here todayfor marily and elena. but give them a big round of applause. [applause] i just want to make a few announcements for tonight. for all the fwn honorees, 100 most influential, there is a practice session. that it's at 9:00 to 11:00. do not go too sleepy to go to the same ballroom where we have always met in the lower lobby, the stanford ballroom. then tomorrow at 5:30 p.m., show up early so that we can be prepared for the actual gala

event. i want everybody to enjoy your time here together. this is a great big celebration. have a great evening. thank you. [applause] >> ok, i promise, this is the last thing. i have to finish my drink. there is one special person want to acknowledge that was not here earlier. she has been behind the scenes, helping all of our banquets and our audiovisual needs, really reminded me what we need to be doing. the event coordinator mariluz. thank you for keeping us honest and on time. i want to thank our photographers and our videographers, because they really make us look good. they made you look good today, right? your video sessions in your photograph sessions. remember, those photographs will go to the time capsule. so thank you, john, thank you, emil.

thank you so much. enjoy the food. as i said, drink up. the biggest issue

in america today? segregation still exists... racism... the repression and oppression of women the educational system stem cell research homeless people cloning government health care taxation announcer: so, is there anything you're doing to help make a change? i'm not really doin' anything.

ummmm [sighs] got me on that one...