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| The ULPA officers take their oath of office before Provincial legal counsel Geraldine Baniqued. |
They may have been crushed by the failure of their special guests from Manila to attend their much-anticipated event, but members of United Lakas Pangasinan Alliance Hong Kong (ULPA-HK) did not let it spoil their fun.
More than 100 people gathered to eat, sing, dance and be merry as ULPA celebrated its second founding anniversary at Edinburgh Place in Central on Jan. 13. The gathering was also held to mark the birthday of the group’s chairman, Raymund Perez, and two other officers.
Sorely missed were special guests, Rep. Amado T. Espino, Jr (5th district, Pangasinan) and his son, Pangasinan Governor Amado Espino III, but as their representatives explained, the two officials had to join a Unity Walk by all elected leaders of the province.
Provincial legal counsel Geraldine Baniqued announced that the provincial government was donating Php40,000 to ULPA, but quickly added that it was not meant to make up for the failure of the two officials to attend the event. She promised that the two officials would visit the group sometime in the near future.
Baniqued also disclosed several projects of the provincial government, like the “zero balance” policy at public hospitals, which refers to writing off the unpaid bills of indigent patients.
The governor’s chief of staff, Mike Morden, also spoke of the free dialysis offered by the provincial government to its ailing constituents, plus a scholarship project for poor but deserving students which he encouraged ULPA members to look into.
The provincial officers later administered the oath of office to ULPA’s newly appointed officers led by Perez, president Juanito Dingle and vice president Romeo Espiritu.
In his speech, Perez emphasized the group’s main function, which is to extend help to needy members and fellow migrant workers.
Dingle spoke of the need to keep unity within the group, and with fellow Pangasinenses.
Another special guest, lawyer Daisy CL Mandap, editor of The SUN, lauded the group’s effort to form the biggest group of Pangasinenses in Hong Kong, and its success in holding a well-attended and well-organized event.
But she called on group members to keep themselves always informed, especially about events and issues that affect foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong.
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