the office of the mayor to become the preeminent cultural and economic [inaudible] between san francisco and manila, developing a system that promote closer ties between the cities. this year, the san francisco manila sister city committee represents -- celebrates its 50 year, marking five decades of service to our people. the san francisco bay area filipino american community salutes this milestone, a legacy of goodwill and true filipino american pride. >> representing the san francisco manila sister city committee, are defective chairman -- our de facto chairman. [applause] >> if i may, i'd like to call up some very key members of the committee. i cannot call all 100-plus people up here, but some very key members. first filipino elected in san francisco, who has been with the sister city committee from day one, and partners in making sure that the cultural links have to do with education. nancy and dan harrington, please join us here. they have sent 13 million books to impoverished children over the years. we thank you all for this honor. we have enjoyed tremendously the ability to link with the

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

this year, the san francisco manila si