Great events happening at the CICC

For tonight’s special presentation on Straight from the Sky we revisited what I call the country’s best hope for getting Filipinos out of the vicious cycle of poverty. I’m referring to the Gawad Kalinga (GK) program. This is the third time that I had GK on my show simply because I love great stories that need to be told to our televiewers; that’s the GK story. Who else could tell the story of GK, but the man who conceptualized GK and made it not only renowned in the Philippines, but internationally known as well. I’m talking about Mr. Tony Meloto, whom I consider as a great Filipino hero.

In my book, heroes are people who do great things for their country. While we create a lot of heroes during a war, we do have greater heroes in peacetime. Most people misunderstand the noble goals of GK, thinking that they are an organization that build homes for the poor. Far from it. GK builds communities and a home is the center point of a family and the community. If you’ve gone to a GK Village, you will notice that the children there greet you with their warms smiles and kiss your hand in the traditional Filipino greeting as a sign of respect. It happens only in a GK Village.

Last Friday evening, I attended the GK Builder’s night at the Grand Convention Center dubbed “The Gathering of Patriots.” This was GK’s way of inviting people to “invest.” By this, they mean by volunteering to help GK make a better nation out of this country. If there is anything I truly admire in Tony Meloto, he is oozing with hope and confidence that the Philippines can rid itself of our decades-old bondage of poverty.

That evening, their guest speaker was a man I’ve always wanted to meet, Governor LRay Villafuerte of Camarines Sur (CamSur). Hearing from the Governor how he transformed CamSur from the bottom amongst the poorest provinces of the country into the top ten was a huge hope booster. Why? Because unlike its neighboring provinces, Legaspi has the legendary Mayon Volcano, while Donsol, Sorsogon has their “Butanding” or whale shark that gave them their tourism industry. Camsur had nothing but an idea, which they turned into the CamSur Watersports Complex (CWC) and viola, it has turned into a tourist destination. Gov. Villafuerte told us that GK was a huge part of its success. If CamSur can do it, so can the rest of the Philippines!

So watch this very interesting story of GK as a fresh hope for the Philippines with Tony Meloto and Ms. Aileen Ong, GK Hope from Singapore who will also give us her story of who Singaporeans are helping create GK communities for Asia. Watch it in SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00pm.

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It was a great weekend celebrating the 441st Founding Anniversary of the Province of Cebu, which began with a big bang launching of the One Cebu Expo at the Cebu International Convention Center, which starts from Aug.7 to 16th. I suggest you find time to visit the One Cebu Expo at the CICC which showcases all the products and services that you can find in the island of Cebu, from gifts and toys, houseware, fashion accessories and furniture including products from the various towns of Cebu Province.

For me, the One Cebu Expo is akin to the Suroy-Suroy sa Sugbo, except that this time, all the towns are in the CICC where you can get information from their representatives and even buy their products. This year, it has a group of international participants with delegates from Nanning City in the Guangxi Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China, which has a sisterhood relations with the Province of Cebu.

The foreign participation for this year comes from member provinces of the East Asia Inter-Regional Tourism Forum (EATOF) that would set up stalls at the CICC. The Province of Cebu is one of the founding members of the EATOF, which comprises most of the local government units in many East Asian nations that are in the world map of the tourism industry.

Today is also the launching of the One Cebu Business and Sustainability Summit 2010, also at the CICC. Tony Meloto and Montxu Aboitiz are all lined up to speak in today’s forum. A lot of people are expected to be there because things are moving fast for Cebu and it seems that Mandaue is taking the lead with the One Cebu Business Summit.

Last weekend, we saw Vice-President Jejomar Binay, Sen. Loren Legarda, Sen. Bong Revilla, Rep. Imelda Marcos and many more personalities at the CICC, which gives you an idea that the CICC is not the white elephant that many of the critics of Gov. Gwen F. Garcia are saying. If you attend just a few of the activities that’s going on at the CICC since its opening during the ASEAN Summit, like the World Food Expo (WOFEX), various medical conferences, graduation ceremonies, including our Big Bike Convention, the CICC is the best thing that ever happened to Cebu Province!