I hope you are in good health, as are my family and I, apart from the ongoing effects from shifting to the new shop. John and I knew it would be a big undertaking, but neither of us really appreciated how much work was involved. What with the planning and organising the new premises which took a lot of time, the actual move itself was real hard graft – I still have lots of boxes in storage in the house. Both John and myself are looking forward with eager anticipation to the day when we can say “it is done”, and finally sit down and relax – well as much as we ever do with all our other commitments.

I thank all those members of the committee and others who have covered for me over the last few months, ensuring the Society still functions smoothly.

Our Annual General Meeting is fast approaching as you are aware, where we are going to have an Election of Officers. Those people who are elected, take care and actively maintain our society during his or her term and are committed to the Society’s aims and objectives. I ask, nay beseech, everyone to attend on the evening of 15 June and seriously consider standing for office, as the more committee members we have the more we can achieve, and everyone’s load is lightened. Even if you cannot serve on the committee your vote and inpu is needed. We also have to start discussing and planning for Labour Weekend 2014 when your Society hosts the activities and competitions, and remember if you wish to take part in these you have to be financial members of the Society.

Again I thank the outgoing committee for their help and support throughout the year – I could not have done it alone.

See you at the AGM as your presence is needed and God Bless us all…

Ulinda Sandford
President

Evanny Ibag was selected to represent New Zealand at the annual World Championships of Performing Arts later this year. (6 July 15 July 2012).

Team New Zealand will represent New Zealand for the sixth time at the 16th annual World Championships for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles, California. Participants from over 40 countries are invited to compete at this prestigious event. Evanny will be leaving with TeamNew Zealand on the 30th of June 2012 and return to NewZealand on the 15th of July 2012 arriving in Auckland on 17 July 2012.

This is a very special opportunity for her to compete internationally and possibly furthering her career. This is a major accomplishment, which may only come once in a lifetime! Unfortunately the costs are high and they have to rely on sponsors, donations and fundraising to make their dream come true.

The costs for her airline ticket, accommodation, entry fees, seminars,World Stars boot camp, teamuniform and taxes etc. amount to about NZ$6,500 per contestant.

To make it possible for her to represent her country, financial assistance is needed in the form of donations towards her travel expenses, hotel costs, meals etc. Without sponsorship she will not be able to reach her goals and we are therefore asking for any kind of sponsorship / donation.

Evanny will greatly appreciate your donation.

TheWorld Championships website: http://www.wcopa.com.

Please feel free to contact me for any further information.

Kind regards,

DINA JANSE VAN RENSBURG
National Director: New Zealand
World Championships of the Performing Arts

Good day to you all!

I am Evanny Honey Ibag, Filipino Citizen and a Permanent Resident in New Zealand. I have lived in New Zealand since September 2007. I currently work in Ward 1 Taranaki Base Hospital. I am best known as “HONEY”. Before anything else I would like to give you a bit of background of myself. Year 2007, I arrived in the Garden City of Christchurch – full of hopes and dreams in the land of the long white cloud. I stayed in Christchurch for 2 years and eventually finished my return to nursing course and became registered in New Zealand. I’ve got lots of memories in Christchurch and friends and family in there will always be close to my heart.

Currently, I have been living in New Plymouth for 3 years and have been involved in various musical activities around town. I have been involved in Taranaki Star 2011 and was included as one of the finalists. From then on it opened the door for me to musicians and great talents in Taranaki. I have also been involved in the Rugby World Cup 2011 singing the National Anthem of the countries that played here in Taranaki Yarrow Stadium. I belong to a group called Acapella Bella which every end of each music term will sing in Singer Songwriters New Plymouth and last year we got invited to record in Access Radio Taranaki. I have performed in Pukekura Park in co-operation with the Festival of Lights 2011. I am one of the members of Performing Arts Collective and had lunchtime entertainment in Espresso Cafe for some time last year. And lastly I have played as Tina Turner in th e recently Hospice Fund Raising Show – musical comedy “The Wedding Singer 2012″ last month in TSB SHOWPLACE. There has been a National Competition held in Howick, Auckland for all the Performing Artists in New Zealand, both professional and amateurs, last March 8-10, 2012. Luckily, I brought back 3 silver medals and 1 gold medal upon singing 4 categories of songs (broadway, musical, pop, open and variety categories) and a chance to compete in Los Angeles, California for the 16th Annual World Championship of Performing Arts.

Attached herewith is the support letter from Accolades International Marketing seeking for sponsorship and donations from your kind heart to support me achieve my dreams and bring the GOLD to New Zealand when I come back from Los Angeles in 17th of July.

It is indeed an honour to represent New Zealand in this prestigious event as well as bring honour to New Plymouth and the whole of Taranaki. I amtherefore knocking on your doors to help me so I could join the TEAM NEWZEALAND daubed as BLACK STARS.

Below is my account number if you wish to make any donations:

15-3953-0728977-26
Evanny Honey Ibag
TSB BANK NEW PLYMOUTH

Your help will definitely go a distance. My contact number is 02108159714. I have enclosed as well in this letter the video links from Youtube for the Aim to Fame National Championship Showcase Night, a video from Rugby World Cup in which I was luckil y captured by SKY TV singing Namibia’s National Anthem, a photo of myself holding my 3 silver and 1 gold medal. Please do state your name as a reference for acknowledgement.

I do hope to hear fromyou soon.

Many Thanks,

Evanny Honey Ibag

Aim to Fame Showcase Night link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7npUzv8l-0
Namibia vs Wales clip (myself captured by Sky TV): http://youtu.be/jhCYrcNmi9w

Recommendations from the Federation Sub-committee

In the last year’s general meeting, it was agreed and approved by the members that a sub-committee be formed to address the various concerns raised with regards to the management and organization of our annual Labour Weekend activities. The objectives of the Resolution Sub-Committee are:

• To gather facts on several concerns raised on member’s behaviour or conduct of another member organization
• To analyse the facts and data gathered on each concerns vis-à-vis Federation constitutional and operational policies
• To present recommendations in order to prevent occurrence of similar incidents and situations in future annual reunions
• To present resolution to the current issues of member organizations affected and for its immediate implementation (which may include sports and/or cultural activities)

The sub-committee was composed of Jun Valencia of Waikato Filipino Association, Roy Homewood of Manawatu and Districts Filipino-Kiwi Association and Anita Mansell of NZ Filifest Group. The Federation Executive Committee with the presence of Con.Gen. Marc Punzalang of Philippine Embassy met the committee in January 2011 in Wellington to discuss and understand each concern and assign responsibilities to members of the sub-committee.Jun Valencia met with the concerned parties separately to discuss their feedback on the final findings/recommendations and reinforced again that all members are to uphold the aims/objectives of the Federation. All members should work together for the unity of the community.

The sub-committee reported back to the Exec-Com with recommendations and resolutions which have been accepted and approved by the Exec-Com and adopted in this year’s annual celebration.

1. Strongly emphasized and recommend that any Executive Officer should not be at the same time the head of the organizing committee of the host organization. The Executive Officer’s responsibility is for the whole membership and should the officer opted to be involved in the hosting, the Executive officer should relinquish his/her role in the Executive Committee of the Federation.
2. Where the Federation is to spearhead any celebration of a Philippine event, e.g., Philippine Independence Day celebrations, Exec-Com Officers should not be involving the organization being represented in terms of funding/financial activities. Activities as well as finances should be managed by the Exec-Com to avoid conflicts of interest. Where a member organization or group of organizations given the mandate to organize the event, the federation or the Exec-Com for that matter shall not be involved in its financial/funding activities.
3. Another recommendation made which have to be resolved & agreed upon is a ‘moratorium’ for all Federation members not to participate/organize any sports events (also, cultural & pageant) on the Labour Weekend if they cannot attend/participate in the annual Federation celebration.
4.  To establish accountability in hosting the Labour Weekend celebration, a set of policy was finalized to clarify the bidding process, define the criteria for hosting, post-event accountability and reporting, and the other policies that must be adhered to. In addition, a timetable of activities was also prepared to guide the host on what should be done each of the month 12 months prior to the event.
5. A section will be added to the Sports Rules regarding the forming of Sports Portfolio Sub-Committee composed of five (5) members from different sports organizations to manage the incidents reported during sports competition. The sub-committee will be selected by the Head Sports Portfolio at the end of sports registration. This is formed every year hence membership changes every year. It is further recommended that this group be involved in any Federation Sports’ Rules improvements (if any required) that may arise from the annual sports events. An Incident Form was drafted which will be used to log any incident/complaints with the Sports Sub-Committee.

   In addition, house rules could be implemented by the host, as needed, to ensure smooth running of the sports events, e.g. special instructions to the referees and committee members.

6. To clarify and be consistent in applying the provision of Membership section of the Constitution, the Federation Exec-Com discussed and agreed that clubs/organizations wanting to be members will have stand-down period of one-year before they can participate in the Labour Weekend activities under the banner of their club/organization.

POLICIES THAT MUST BE ADHERED TO BY THE HOST ORGANISATION

1. Only current members are allowed to participate in any cultural activities and/or sports events. By definition, a current member is one who has paid member’s registration fee for the year and has no membership fee arrears for the past two (2) years.

   If a member who wants to participate, has not been up-to-date with the membership for more than 2 years, i.e. has not been a member for 3 years or more, the member is considered as a new member hence only the current year’s membership fee should be paid.

2. Participants of the sports events should sign the sports Code of Conduct. Refer to Federation Sports Rules.
3. The Sports Rules and the Miss Philippines- New Zealand Beauty Pageant Rules should not be altered. For any clarification, the Portfolio Head-Sports & Recreation and Portfolio Head-Arts & Culture should be contacted.

First of all I would like to express my heartfelt concerns on Ulinda’ s brother in the Philippines who had been a victim of an assault and now lying in hospital with serious injuries and on life support. Let us all pray for him for his early recovery. May the Lord bless him and may he regain his good health soon. The past months have been quite hectic for the officers and members of our society. The Christmas carolling, New Year’s Eve Party, the Pukekura Park Festival of Lights presentation, and then Valentine’s Day Party. All these activities have made us much closer and very much involved. I am pleased to say that our membership has improved and now we have at least over 65 financial members.

I would like to thank you all for your contributions. I would like to specially thank the Couples for Christ group who participated in our cultural performance at the park. I also would like to thank Ruel Sanchez for leading the choir group. Thanks to Evanne Hull for acting as our compere. Thanks to all the performers, too many names to mention but you know that I mean you because you were there and you gave your best. With our efforts, we continue to raise funds for our community. Recently, Ulinda conducted the lotto bonus and we had the raffle at the Valentine’ s Day party. Thanks to those who bought tickets and those who donated goods for our raffle.

Next month, we are going to have a beach picnic at Ngamotu Beach, on Taranaki Anniversary Day. Bring your husband/wife/partner and children, swimming togs, hats, sun block, towels, sandfly spray skin protector, beach umbrella, and most importantly your food and drinks. Its our family day (weather permitting) and you can also bring your cricket ball & bat, volleyball & net, anything that you can play games with. To all parents, please keep a close watch on your children to prevent any accidents. No Multi Ethnic Extravaganza this year but instead there s a Race Relations Day on Wednesday 21st March, 5:30-8:00pm to be held at Huatoki Plaza. Our committee have talked about it and decided that we will participate. We will have a food stall and present an entertainment; either a dance or a song. We are counting on your support.

On Easter Monday, our first Sausage Sizzle fundraising for the year. If you can help, we welcome you. Just turn up at the New Plymouth Warehouse at 9 am.

See you around and God Bless us all…

Edna Wilson
Secretary

Settlement Support in partnership with New Plymouth District Council are running an event on Wednesday March 21st 5:30pm-8pm to Highlight Race Relations Day. We are in the initial stages of planning and having the event at the Huatoki Plaza.

Would you be interested in being part of this by:

1. Running a food stall for “Taste the World” – We are looking for multi-ethnic groups who are interested in sharing food from their culture with members of the community. Each food stall will provide a sample of a traditional food from their culture, not a dinner portion more like a taster. The food will sell for $2 to keep it affordable. We will provide each stall with the serving plates, cutlery, serviettes, trestle table, pop up tent and a small koha (donation) will be given.
2. Performance – we would like to give groups the opportunity to share a cultural performance (dance or vocal) as well. 20 minutes for each performance and a small koha (donation) will be given.

Limited spaces for both, to register your interest in either one of the above options please call … by the 24th of February 2012.

Hope you will support our community and make this event a success.

Geetha Kutty
Settlement Support Co-ordinator
Settle Support New Zealand
New Plymouth

I hope you are in good health, as are my family and I.

Thank you to all the people that came with us to Hamilton. We held our own Labour Weekend – it was great. At the Federation meeting Edna proposed that the Taranaki Filipino Society, Inc. host a Labour Weekend in the near future. This will be one of those times where we all have to work together as a team. We have sufficient time to organise it as it will probably be the Labour Weekend in 2014. We want every one involved in this, so if you think you can spare some time, please we need you. Remember for you to be eligible to participate in the Labour Weekend competitions (eg. Basketball, Ten-pin Bowling, Dancing or the Beauty Pageant) you must have been a member of a club affiliated to the Federation for at least two years. We invite you to come back. Ring us and talk to us, or any committee member, if you can help. Join us now so that we can start as soon as possible.

I would like to thank Edna for organising the Ladies Only Night Out, it was a great night. Thank you very much and also thank you to everyone that came on that night – even though we were busy it was very enjoyable. Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone. Please give us a ring

Ulinda Sandford
President