An Independence Grand Ball is like none other: nobody is there to have a good time. Everyone is there to do the room and get around.
Image thinkers and label makers, who infest contemporary social life in the Fil-Am community here in Southern California, are quick to say that we have yet to see the perfect Independence Day Grand Ball. We are looking at beyond its choreography and are seeking out reason to hope and expect merriment with an assurance of a meaningful, well-orchestrated program in the Grand Ball.
The overriding strategic goal beyond the 116th Philippine Independence Day festivities is that there is little to compare with the yearly excitement of the celebrations—even for those who feigned promises of support with fabricated connection to powers that be.
As ever, the chairman is the engine of the whole festivities, driving the train sometimes in a perilous journey, but the Board can direct the process towards a decision by providing the facts and analysis on their parallel efforts and common goals. Prompted by a collective desire for stronger organizational unity, a wider cultural and civic acceptance and enhanced ethnic distinction, nothing could go wrong.
In the end, the moral seems clear: true accomplishment is achieved through balance and practical judgment from the leaders and not to forget, that the 116th Philippine Independence Day 2014 is like all poignant Independence Days that we had previously observed. With even greater patriotic fervor, we honor the memory of our heroes—the gallantry and nobility in their martyrdom, giving us the freedom and right to govern ourselves and instill in us an almost unlimited strength and ability to rise above every crisis worldwide esteem and recognition for our people.
It had to be more than just the quiet toilers and great civically minded individuals who made sure the night of Saturday, June 14 turned out to be the biggest gathering of the Fil-Am community.
Call it a benign stampede of six hundred people at the LAX Westin Hotel—all decked out in their traditional and nostalgic ternos and barongs; the dancing, the speeches, the politicians, the musical production that welcomed Senator Grace Poe.
The ladies came to the ball resplendent, gowned, coiffed, blushed and contoured, enough to send a fashion editor to die of happiness and angels weep.
It will be unfair not to recognize a compendium of able and dependable doers logistics, stamina, grit: the imagination of these men and women who gave their unconditional support for the Kalayaan Inc. 2014. Led by Cultural Officer Ms. Wilma Bautista, the Philippine Consulate staff worked like plow horses all day and were expected to look like butterflies at night.
The vin d’ honneur held on June 12 marked the highlight of this year’s Independence Day festivities. That moment as the Dean of Diplomatic Corps. here in Southern California toasted a gentle libation for our country was not only ritualization of power and democracy. On the side of human values and in the world of diplomacy, no one can put a price tag behind the protocol of the pragmatism and persuasion of how international society is managed, balances power and preserves peace.
Our Consul General Leo Herera-Lim’s outstanding skills in international and financial matters as well as human interest is reassuring. Whatever the currents in the political goldfish bowl, he will calm water behind the scenes, with his drop dead gorgeous smile.
The 2014 Kalayaan, Inc. proved that not everyone wants something from another and there are lots of gifts left in life. As Ginang Kalayaan Lolita Bandong reflected, “the lesson in all these, is to be independent of both the good and dissenting opinion of others, then you have freedom of decision, as you look for the positive elements from one another. The media becomes a privileged spectator to a gathering of the Filipino-American crème de la crème, but the thrill fades when the lights dim.”