NSW—The Philippine Austrralian Society for Seniors Citizens, Inc (PAASCI), the first Filipino seniors group to be incorporated in Australia, held its Annual General Meeting on 17 November 2018 at Our Lady of the Rosary Parish Hall, Fairfield.
The following officers were proclaimed as duly elected by Virginia Pineda, the Comelec Chair – President – Jun Relunia, Vice President – Linda Alvarez Barnes, Secretary – Anita Albao Connel, Treasurer – Mimi Wilson, Internal Auditor – Lita Castor, Directors – Recy Ago, Rolly Atienza, Ben Bongat, Lydia Cosio, Caridad Grapillon, Agnes Nethercott, Cres Olechnik and Dina Watts.
Portions of President Relunia’s report read: “One year has passed without noticing it. The Philippine Australian Society for Senior Citizens, Inc (PASSCI), the first Filipino seniors group to be incorporated in Australia, has completed 33 years of service to our beloved Filipino Australian seniors.
Now what have we done for the year just passed?
We continue our tradition of holding monthly themed activities. In February, we had our popular and well-attended Mutya Ng PASSCI and Ginoong PASSCI Coronation with our special guest Philippine Consul for Sydney Manny Guzman crowning Jesusa Agacoili as the 2018 Mutya ng PASSCI and Ben Bongat as 2018 Ginoong PASSCI. In May, we had Minister for Ageing Tanya Davies, Philippine Ambassador Minda Calaguian Cruz and Philippine Consul for Sydney Melanie Diano as special guests for our Mother of the Year celebration. Marita Agudo who celebrated her 100th birthday, and Cres Olechnik and Agnes Nethercott were chosen as 2018 PASSCI Mothers of the Year. We also held our SantaCruzan in May where most of us participated in different roles.
The main event of the year was the 33rd anniversary of PASSCI held at Merrylands RSL Club on 18 August. We had the new Philippine Consul General Marita Teresa Taguiang and Fairfield City Councillor Dai Le. I presented the Presidential Awards to deserving PASSCI groups who have continuously entertained you for the past ten years – The PASSCI Choir under Linda Alvarez Barnes, Seniors Modern Dancers led by Lydia Cosio, PASSCI Cultural Dancers under Zeny Evangelista as cheorographer and the PASSCI Hawaian Dancers led by Perla Pimentel.
The Presidential Award for Outstanding Service was presented by PASSCI Past Presidents to Linda Alvarez Barnes who for the past 33 years has made outstanding contributon to make the members happy in our monthly meetings.
PASSCI has been fortunate in receiving two grants this year from NSW government – a grant provided by the Ministry for Health for the holding of interactive forum on dementia in September (awareness month on dementia) and grant from the NSW Family and Community Services to celebrate Grandparents Day in October. The interactive forum on dementia was coordinated by Norminda Forteza, Managing Director of Australian Filipino Community Services and supported by Sydney Australian Filipino Seniors Inc SAFSI), Dementia Society of the Philippines, Dementia Australia and Carers Australia.
PASSCI has also been proactive in Filipino community events like Fiesta Kultura, Philippine Pasko Festival, Randwick Filipino Fiesta and also in multicultural events and networking like Fairfield Seniors Network and Senior Rights NSW.”
Members of the Filipino Australian community aged 18 years and above to become members of PASSCI. If interested, send a text message to Jun Relunia on 0419 233 643 or call Linda Alvarez Barnes on (02) 8807 9222.
