The `Historical’ Chicago PH Presidential Roadshow

By: Maria Girlie Pascual

 

It seemed that most of the Chicago’s social set came out in full force to see, hear, greet and meet our 15th Philippine President, “His Excellency Benigno S. Aquino III,” per the huge vinyl banner placed behind the stage where the Windy City guest was slated to speak. Prior to his arrival, email invitations went out to the various Chicago organizations and their officers and/or members, with an attachment for registration if they wanted to be part of the group that would meet “PNoy” in person at the J.W. Marriott Hotel downtown on 151 Adams Street, Chicago.

There was an overwhelming response to the invitation from our Chicago Consul General Generoso Calonge, and soon, a cut-off number had to be implemented to comply with the hotel ballroom’s maximum capacity code. Security measures were put in place for his arrival in conjunction with the Office of the Mayor, and specific instructions came with the personalized invitations, a nice touch I might add, to “a meeting with President Benigno S. Aquino 111”.

The crowd was all giddy with excitement, dressed in the suggested business attire per the consular office’s email, some in native “barong tagalong” or “patadyong,” all following instructions that were announced prior to the President’s entrance.

Philippine folk singer who traveled with the entourage, Noel Cabangon, sang his award-winning folk songs while the person in charge of the group photos went into a rehearsal with all 500 guests for their “photo-op” with PNoy.

Finally, the man of the hour entered and was warmly greeted with enthusiastic applause accompanied by the waving of distributed mini- Philippine flags, and both his Philippine companions, as well as local government representatives were formally introduced to the crowd.

Chicago Consul General Calonge was introduced by the emcee, Attorney Aurora Austriaco of Chicago, and our Con Gen aptly gave recognition to the Philippine delegation, the U.S. officials, and introduced Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Cuisia, Jr. as the next speaker.

When His Excellency, President Aquino finally took the podium, the crowd was more than ready to hear what he had to say. To the surprise of our “kababayans” and non-Filipino speaking guests, he began with recounting a couple of jokes to break the ice, mixing English and Tagalog in his stories, but when he segued to his main speech, he apologized to all and explained that from the time he was sworn in as President back in 2010 (his term ends in 2016), President Aquino has always delivered his speeches in the vernacular, and that tonight was not an exception.

Unfortunately, with the deep use of our native language, Tagalog, but not in the everyday conversational style that the majority knows, and with seeming disregard for the fact that we have over 170 spoken dialects in our Motherland, his message was ultimately lost with both his low tone and quick delivery. With polite silence but wavering attention as we all strained to understand what he was saying, it was only with PNoy’s practiced pauses and a smattering of English words that we came to applaud the highlights of his speech, even if no one would readily admit that they did not understand everything he said.

After he left the hotel’s small grand ballroom, criticisms and personal reviews poured in, the general consensus alluding to his willful use of Tagalog when he could have shared his message to everyone if he had chosen to speak English as was the custom, especially since the Philippines is one of the biggest English speaking countries in Asia…”when in Rome?”

Still, the crowd remained in high spirits, and with the Consul General mingling with both community leaders and “outof- towners” who came just to see the President, it was an experience worth the gas and the time, even if was just to see familiar faces that night.

Yes, the President Aquino roadshow has come and gone, and the Chicago Press was left bewildered and, to a point, frustrated that no interviews, nor an actual press conference was granted in this supposed “working visit” as PNoy, called it in his speech. It would seem logical for a Head of State to answer questions that his constituents here are dying to ask, but then again, some of our press people did die over there when they asked the wrong questions. Was that it? Was he trying to avoid answering “those” questions, a subject he lightly touched on about the Philippine press making up stories when they cannot find the truth. (Yes, I did get that from his speech—I am from Malabon by way of Bulacan, birthplace of Francisco Balagtas, one of our greatest poets or “makata,” known for his use of deep and archaicTagalog). F

ilipino reporter of ABS-CBN Filipino Channel, Ms. Ces Drilon, only stayed long enough to interview a handful of attendees, and did not really look to meet or talk to any of our local press people.

In retrospect, this Presidential “meeting” reminded me of the World Wrestling Federation, a show put on by professional wrestlers who are cheered by the crowd even if they know that the fight is choreographed and staged purely for entertainment, not competition.

The PNoy group had the right production crew, their own Public Relations people, even brought their own sound system, the perfect supporting cast from different departments in the Philippines—Finance, Foreign Affairs, and the Military, with the lead talent reeling the crowd in with a seemingly foreign language, and no legitimate coverage from the local Chicago (American & Filipino) press at all.

Yes, the roadshow was a successful one, (& “historical,“ indeed) but I hope there are no plans for a sequel.##

The welcoming crowd waving the PH flags inside the grand ballroom of JW Marriott Hotel.

The Zamboanga del Norte group with Carmen Estacio and Judge Jessica O;Brien.

The Philippine Engineers (PESO) and Ateneo deManila groups.

The accountants group with Girlie

L-R: Dr. Luz Cuaresma, Carlota and Dr. Manny Sanchez, Nora & Fred Tsai, Veronica & Girlie.