The SUN HK : CG bids UPAA HK goodbye as tour of duty set to end this month

UPAA-HK members in a farewell toast to Congen Raly Tejada

Consul General Raly Tejada gave what was probably his first farewell speech to a Filipino community group last Saturday night, during the annual general meeting and Christmas party of the University of the Philippines Alumni Association in Hong Kong.

CG Tejada said he will end his six-year overseas tour of duty at the end of this month, the last four years of which he spent in Hong Kong. For the first two years, 2017 to 2019, he served as the Philippine consul general in Malaysia.

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He will move back to the Department of Foreign Affairs office in Manila, where he will serve as assistant secretary in charge of the legal division. His Hong Kong post, meanwhile, will be taken over by his current deputy and fellow lawyer Germinia Usudan.

Tejada served during what was easily one of the most turbulent periods in Hong Kong’s history. He arrived in December 2019, just as the massive anti-government protests were peaking, then spent the next three years leading the community through the Covid-19 pandemic.

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“Three years ng pandemic, napakahirap talaga,” (Three years of the pandemic, that was really tough) he told his fellow UP alumni during the gathering.

But nevertheless, he said he was happy that he received a lot of support from various groups and individuals during those difficult years, including members of the UPAA-HK.

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“I always look to UP for inspiration and guidance,” he added.

Tejada recalls the difficulty of leading the community through the pandemic

Tejada went to UP for his undergraduate course and also part of his law studies, before eventually moving to San Sebastian College where he obtained his Juris Doctor degree in 1998. He is currently working on his master of public management degree at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

During his term, Tejada graced several events hosted by UPAA HK, with the last being the Christmas party they had two years ago at a venue tucked away in a rundown building in Causeway Bay, amid some of the most severe pandemic restrictions imposed by HK.

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But in the same year, UPAA-HK turned over more than Php200,000 to the Philippine General Hospital in the Philippine to help protect medical frontliners there, and to honor the late Ambassador Bernardita Catalla, a former congen in HK who died of Covid-19 while serving in Lebanon.

During last year’s overseas voting in the country’s presidential election, UPAA HK officers were among those who signed up to help control the huge crowds that poured into the polling centre at Bayanihan Centre in Kennedy Town.

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Through the years, and even during the pandemic, the group has donated money it raised from various events to several charities, in particular the Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge which is run by one of its members, Edwina Antonio.

The outgoing CG administering the oath to the incoming officers led by Turingan (leftmost)

This year, Tejada again administered the oath of office to the newly elected officers of the UPAA-HK: Maritess Turingan, president; Rey Oliver Fabros, vice-president; Jennifer Madarang, secretary; Marie Abigail Perez, treasurer; Jad de Guzman, auditor; and Elaine Grace Bauto, PRO.

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Immediately after the event, Turingan asked members to fill out a survey form to help the new officers decide on the activities and projects they will undertake in 2024, the 20^th year since the organization was founded.

A quiz show on entertainment, general trivia and anything related to UP livened up the party, along with an exchange of gifts and a sumptuous dinner.