OF THE Philippine ambassadors assigned to New Zealand in the last 15 years, I find the incumbent diplomat Jesus “Gary” Domingo as the most hardworking and most accessible.
I joined him for dinner on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019, along with Ariel Imperial, president of the Waikato Filipino Association, and committee members of Pulong-Pulong 2019, one of the highlights of the Pistang Pilipino, the biggest annual gathering of Filipinos in New Zealand.
AmbaGary, as he prefers to be called, commanded the conversation. He talked about what he has learned in dealing with overseas Filipino organizations. While overseas Filipinos are known to be good workers, they tend to have difficulty in forming a unified front unlike the Chinese and Koreans. He said this is reason few Filipinos hold elective positions in other countries.
He began by explaining how a beehive thrives. With one queen bee, the hive is able to produce much honey as worker bees attend to their tasks. He then asked, “What if a hive only has queens without workers?” The obvious answer, the hive will fail as the queens fight for dominance.
Much as he has tried to encourage unity among different organizations and its leaders, he had done little progress. He has come to accept the existence of the “Queen Bee” syndrome; and worked around it. He has instead concentrated on smaller groups and communities, which have proven to be more effective. With clear objectives and able leadership, these units pursue programs with committed members.
AmbaGary also talked about the traditional thinking of organizers of big Filipino gatherings. Usually, these events focus on sports contests, beauty pageants and singing competitions. He thinks these activities create an unhealthy environment. He may be right as there always are physical altercations, more so in the basketball games. The gatherings are about who is better, who is more beautiful, who is more talented.
He offered an alternative, such as the Pulong-Pulong, where participants are able to air their grievances and come out with solutions; fun games like the LingawDuwa where Filipinos, both young and old, are able to play traditional games, such as siatong, tubig-tubig and takyan. He also suggested the establishment of sister-cities relations between local government units in New Zealand and those in the Philippines, as well as for Filipino entrepreneurs and professionals creating linkages with Kiwi business chambers and professional organizations.
We could only nod our heads, convinced that AmbaGary’s ideas are pro-active and out-of-the-box. Truly, he challenges leaders who are stuck with the status quo. Yet, he has hope, as there are those who have been enlightened by his thinking.