Wednesday, September 01, 2004 Talk back: That trip to Spain By Teresa Banaynal-Fernandez Executive Director Lihok Pilipina Foundation Inc.
I have just read the Aug. 24 issue of Sun.Star Cebu entitled “Mayor to attend forum in Spain.”
I guess Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Bimbo, my husband, can speak for themselves. What I hope is for reporters like LCR to carefully check their facts to avoid harmful misinterpretations.
First, those who officially accompanied the mayor to Japan to receive the award as the Most Women Friendly City of Asia Pacific were Nida Cabrera, as member of Bantay Banay, and myself, as Lihok Pilipina representative.
Both of us are also members of the City's Women Commission. Margot, the mayor's wife, went at her own expense. Bimbo did not accompany us.
Second, let me put this straight. I am not "joining the mayor and my husband in the official trip." The three of us were separately invited by three different groups who will shoulder all our expenses.
The mayor was invited by the United Cities' Local Government to share his experiences in working with civil society and the private sector.
Bimbo was invited by the Habitat International Coalition as a general resource person for a number of conferences.
I was invited by the UN Hairou Commission to present the Bantay Banay experience and to take part in activities to help engender the World Urban Forum.
In other words, I am not "joining the mayor and my husband in the official trip."
Bimbo and myself have worked on urban concerns even before we were married and we have attended many international conferences, both jointly and separately.
With or without the mayor, we attend the World Urban Forum in Barcelona representing our own respective NGO's, at no cost to the City of Cebu.
(I would like to apologize to Ms. Fernandez for an error in the Aug. 24 story, which stated that she and her husband, Cebu City Hall’s consultant on the welfare of the urban poor Francisco “Bimbo” Fernandez, left with the mayor for Fukuoka City last March. I stand corrected, since Sir Bimbo was not among those who left for Japan that time.
As for my report that Ms. Fernandez will be “joining” the mayor and her husband in Barcelona, Spain next month, I did not intend to cause any “harmful misinterpretation.”
I simply meant that the mayor, Ms. Fernandez and her husband will be together in the trip, although I clarified in the later part of the story that all three of them were invited separately to the World Urban Forum and that the organizers will shoulder their travel expenses and accommodations in Spain.
Ms. Fernandez may not have liked my use of the word joining, which is defined in the New Oxford Dictionary as “to come into the company of” but rest assured, this reporter did not have any malicious intentions.—LCR)
(September 1, 2004 issue) Write letter to the editor.Click here. Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here.
