An announcement in one of four Filipino community newspapers is better than no announcement at all. It’s a huge improvement over a poster pinned to the bulletin board announcing its upcoming AGM. PCCM has maintained a low community profile throughout 2014 after last year’s secret AGM and resulting delays in sending Typhoon Haiyan donations to the Philippines. Even after promises from President Lou Fernandez to host a community town hall to address PCCM community matters never ended up happening. The summer Open House was conveniently planned on the same weekend as a Consular Outreach service and most of the people attending the open house were all there to get their passports renewed.
The Philippine Canadian Centre of Manitoba is hosting its Annual General Meeting on Sunday, December 21, 2014. (No time was indicated on the announcement). The PCCM is currently accepting applications for membership each week from Tuesday to Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm. Deadline for membership is November 30, 2014. Nominations for members of the board of directors will be accepted from December 1 to December 15, 2014. For further details visit PCCM, 737 Keewatin St. Winnipeg, MB or call Jing Asperin 204-451-1765, May Deculing 204-775-4928.
Make no mistake about the date and times listed in the PCCM AGM announcement. Firstly, the Sunday, December 21 date for the AGM is the weekend before Christmas. It’s the last weekend before Christmas and many in our community will be celebrating, spending time with family and shopping. Attending an AGM is probably the last thing on anyone’s event list. The PCCM board is anticipating low attendance to either pass motions with very little resistance or to keep the meeting short.
Secondly, membership application dates and times are restrictive as most people are usually at work. The least the PCCM board could do is consider opening up membership during all business hours that the Centre is open. In fact, why not open up PCCM memberships to those community members attending the Consular Outreach program scheduled for November 21-24? Since the Honourary Consul is a primary beneficiary to free rent at PCCM, in return, Honourary Consul Marcelino should at least help promote PCCM memberships.
