Happy New Year! For my first posting of the year, I am featuring some of my beloved
Filipina friends from the Filipina Women’s Network’s 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the US. The honor of being selected as an influential Filipina also connotes a lot of responsibility, including mentoring another Filipina woman. A large-scale reunion, PINAY POWER 2012, is scheduled for October 2012.

Since this is a year-long project that involves a lot of logistics, we hope to finish the videos by October 2009, just in time for the next FWN Summit.

Let’s start with this video.

THELMA BOAC
Principal
Silver Creek High School, San Jose, California

When Thelma Boac started her new job as Principal of Silver Creek’s High School, I had the privilege of writing her profile for Manila Bulletin-USA. Click here to read the article.

Continue reading at my RadiantView.com.

This morning, barely a week before American citizens exercise their right to vote, I read the freshly-crafted e-mails that came from Pro-Obama and Pro-McCain supporters — especially the ones written by my Filipina friends, such as Teresa Dosdos Ruelas, a Founder and Visionary Editor of Offerings Publications, Inc., based in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. Teresa and I have been trying to reconnect face-to-face since we rediscovered each other’s presence a few years ago but it seems it is our online communications that keep allowing us to strengthen our relationship.

Today, with our permission, Teresa and I are reprinting our e-mail responses to each other at the Filipina Images advocacy blog and news portal and her Offerings Publications website to introduce our readers to each other, especially the worldwide Filipina women networks within our midst.

Welcome to Filipina Images, Teresa! We look forward to your contributions in helping us live our lives with purpose and passion.

THE E-MAIL THAT STARTED IT ALL

On 10/27/08 7:40 PM, Teresa Dosdos Ruelas’s friend wrote:

Dear friends,

Election in the USA is very crucial let us pray that McCain will win who is a pro-life advocator. My husband (name deleted), yesterday attended an archdiocesan meeting at the archbishop (residence) requesting for us all who have friends and relatives in the states not to vote for Obama who approves abortion and encourages gay relationship to be taught in schools. A bishop from the States have asked Cardinal (name deleted) to inform us all of the threat to our Catholic faith after the US election wherein our own families may be future victims of the downgrade of moral values. Take care and God bless!

(name of Teresa Dosdos Ruelas’s friend deleted)

REPLY FROM TERESA DOSDOS RUELAS

From: Teresa Ruelas
Date: Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 7:50 AM
Subject: Re: election in the US

Dear (names deleted),

I have been wondering about the sentiments of the Filipinos in the US and at home during these elections. So, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. I can see how you would ‘vote’ and pray the way you would. And I hope you have it in your hearts to listen to a different point of view; that this is a forum for diversity of perspective and for stretching what we know and believe to be true.

I want to say here – with heartfelt respect to you and to the Catholic Church in the Philippines (I say “in the Philippines” as this is not necessarily the exact stand in other countries including the US) – that, whether you believe in pro-choice or pro-life, electing McCain is not your answer. There are people who hold both beliefs in both parties. It is more complex than that…and throwing “moral values” as the difference to vote for McCain is false….pro-choicers are not against the value of life no matter how others like to think it…. I know it makes the argument clean and easy to look to others who do not think like us and assume we know their values. The difference in this longtime and very touchy argument is in the understanding and belief of when life starts, and what we believe about death, and whether the quality of life of a being is put into consideration. It is not a difference of values.

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On October 2, 2008, Natalie Coughlin (pronounced “cog-lin”), a Filipina American Olympic swimmer who had won six medals in the Beijing Olympics, including a gold and two silvers (yes, being a quarter-Filipina makes one an American of Filipina ancestry!) was honored with the Achievement Award for Sports and Entertainment during the prestigious 11th Filipinas Magazine Achievement Awards at the South San Francisco Conference Center, South San Francisco, California. The award was sponsored by Anheuser-Busch Companies and presented by Jim Cho, Senior Manager, Community Relations.

Although I regret not being able to join my sister, Noemi Dado, in her Missouri countryside adventures since, as a member of the Filipinas Magazine family, I had to be present at this awards event, meeting Natalie Coughlin for the first time made up for the loss of cherished family time.

My assignment was simple: pin a corsage on every awardee. However, when Natalie arrived from the ABS-CBNi studios where she had done a TV interview, if you look at the pretty silk blouse she was wearing, there was no way I could pin a corsage without destroying the fabric. If you haven’t met her yet, let me assure you that Natalie Coughlin is VERY tall! Just like any celebrity, Natalie had her fair share of fans during that night. I gave up trying to have a souvenir photo with her although she posed with us for the Filipinas Magazine staffers’ annual group picture.

There were some friends who told me that they had never heard Natalie Coughlin talk about her Filipina heritage during her interviews. What I replied was, “Whether Natalie felt that mentioning her Filipina heritage was appropriate or not, that is her call. We need to respect her decision. After all, if you listen closely to her, Natalie chooses to talk about her passion: swimming. What is important is that she acknowledged her Filipino heritage by showing up at the awards event. Her presence indicates that she does accept the Filipina in her. Maybe this is the right time for Natalie to rediscover some of her ancestral roots, where her grandmother came from.”

Here is the Balitang America segment Natalie Coughlin appeared in that afternoon on October 2, 2008.

I found another video of Natalie Coughlin being interviewed by late night talk show host, Jay Leno.

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I’ve been waiting for the appropriate time to share these creative works with Filipinas worldwide. Preparing for FilipinaImages.com’s first anniversary on August 5, 2008 felt right. Our contributors — brave and inspiring human beings that they are — have indeed showcased a kaleidoscopic diversity of Filipina Images through its simple SEO campaign. Once in a great while, award-winning creatives such as Roger Pe unleash provocative, compelling messages through their advertising creations. Roger, who I had met when he was the Executive Creative Director of DDB Philippines, working with the organizers of the Third Global Filipino Networking Convention (he developed the Public Service Announcements for print and TV which resulted in a phenomenal increase of local convention attendees’ registrations), is the 2007 winner of the London International Advertising Award Silver Trophy.

Roger wrote me and explained, “Thousands of Filipinas are sold overseas through/by Mail-Order-Bride syndicates. We helped curb this activity through an awareness campaign – for victims to speak up so that activities of people operating to traffic Filipinas can be checked and minimized.”

Let’s take a look at Roger Pe’s award-winning ad:

“Stamp” ad by Roger Pe (Campaign against Filipina Mail-Order-Brides,Teodora) DDB Philippines
2002 Bronze World Medal Winner, New York Festivals

Check out this year’s winner:

“Duct Tape” by DM9 JS Manila (Gabriela)
2008 Cannes Media Bronze winner

Let’s take a closer look at Roger’s ad:

And let’s see what the “call to action” is:

A picture indeed says a million words.

I’m enclosing snippets from the article about the “Duct Tape” ad wherein I highlighted certain portions.

Gabriela ad campaign wins bronze at Cannes
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:34:00 06/20/2008

CANNES, FRANCE—DM9 JaymeSyfu, a Manila ad agency affiliated with the DDB network of communications companies, was awarded on Tuesday the Bronze Media Lion at the Cannes International Advertising Festival.

The first Cannes Media Lion won by a Philippine ad agency at the weeklong festival was for DM9 JaymeSyfu’s “Duct Tape” campaign for Gabriela Philippines, a women’s group opposing women abuse.

To dramatize the maltreatment of women, the campaign used duct tape to hold up posters of women which made it appear that the women in the posters were either gagged or blindfolded. The ad calls on abused women to speak up.

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