At around 6:00pm today, I arrived at Holiday Inn Bloomsbury in Central London via the London Tube exiting at Russell Square Station. I am attending the Induction Ceremony and Pre-Christmas Celebration of the European Network of Filipino Diaspora (ENFiD) United Kingdom Chapter. I have paid £30.00 via bank to bank transfer for my booking. I have two roles to perform: to witness the oath-taking of my Tau Kappa Phi Fraternity brother, Ricardo Gacayan, Jr. as ENFiD Assistant PR Communications Officer, and to cover and take photos of the event in relation to my write-up about ENFiD for the initial salvo of OFWorld-UK, a global Pinoy news and entertainment tabloid.
When I entered the hotel lounge, I saw Filipino looking ladies and gentlemen having their photos taken. I am no doubt at the right place I said to my self. After a call, I joined the group I was looking for: my Tau Kappa Phi Law Law Fraternity brethren, Ricardo Gacayan, Jr. and Gilson Bautista with Finchley Raiders Coach, Danilo Cantero. They have almost consumed their glasses of Stellas and another round of drinks was was ordered.
The lady bar attendant who first attended to us was a Filipino from Cebu. Another lady attendant came to collect the empty champagne glasses who said that she is from Romania. Later, brod Ric joked, “Ako lito.” “Lito?,” we asked. He replied, “Lithuania.” He seemed to have a clairvoyant powers because the next lady attendant, young and gorgeous, who came to us is from Lithuania! She was the one who took our photos at the bar lounge.
I later met Jo Penados, a professional photographer I am acquainted to only on a Facebook group of photography enthusiasts called Glass-Eyed Peeps (GEP) created by Ambrose Ezpeleta. He is the official photographer of the event. I only take photos when I see that he is not shooting so as not to distract his attention.
Our group was assigned at table no. 13 with cards on top showing our names. We were later joined by a group of ladies from another organisation. The masters of ceremony were Peps Villanueva and Carol Panday, ENFiD-UK Vice-President and PR Communications Officer, respectively. Gene Alcantara was represented by his wife who read his message to the audience. The main event came and the ENFiD Officers and Board of Directors who will serving office for 2014-2016 took their oaths before the Philippine Labor Attache Joan Lavilla.
The awarding of certificates of recognition to organisations, individuals and corporate entities came next. The ENFiD interim Board of Advisers and Directors were also given due commendation. Consul General Senen Mangalile of the Philippine Embassy handed the certificates to the awardees.
During his inspirational speech, ConGen Mangalile defined what the term “diaspora” means. According to him, it refers to the people of an empire whose government ordered them to occupy a certain territory. When I heard that, an eyebrow rose up because it does not coincide with what I have researched about its definition. My concept about what a diaspora is similar to what he mentioned later, that is, it refers to the people of one country who were forced out from their homeland. He cited the situation of the Jewish people who were dispersed to other countries when they were invaded.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson was invited but did not come. He just sent his message which was read by Aimee Alado, ENFiD Vice-President for Wales. After the formal ceremonies were concluded, the crowd started to party led by the ladies in red dress. A DJ played the tunes with music videos projected onto the wall.
The ENFiD-UK Induction and Pre-Christmas Celebration was, so far, the second gathering of Filipinos in the UK where I saw a huge number of participants. The first was the Christmas Party of the Brighton and Hove Filipino Community in 2012 when I took videos and photos of an all Filipino band called Riversion. In both occasions, the hall is full packed. One marked difference is that the ENFiD event was attended by leaders and members of organizations, corporate entities and individuals who supported ENFiD-UK.
My job was done and I need to exit fear that I may miss the last train. I do not want to experience again what happened in the past where, after missing the last train around 11:00pm, I need to wait for night buses in going home which arrives every two hours! During that time, I came home around 4:00 am and had to go to work at 7:45am. However, at this time, I came home around midnight. I needed to sleep to have some energy the morning after to finish the write-up I already started and sending it together with the photos for editing, final approval and layouting.
