In our country’s history some events are clear acts of treason against the best interests of the people and the nation. These acts caused ours to be an “Unfin­ished Revolution.” One of these was the decision of that segment of the Philippine Revolution’s leadership to untruthfully implicate the respected Jose Rizal in the armed struggle, which he opposed. The reason behind the mendacity was to convince those among the masses and the intel­ligentsia who were still fence-sitting that Rizal himself was the man behind the ris­ing in revolt against the Spanish colonial government. “Viva Rizal! Viva la Revolu­cion” thus became a battle cry. And this was used by the court martial that tried our national hero to unjustly convict him and sentence him to death.

Easily, the biggest newsmaker of the year 2008 was sport hero Manny Pacquiao for his victory over much -touted Oscar de la Hoya for the world welterweight title in Dec. 6 at Las Vegas. In November, the Filipino community gathered in Toronto for the culmination of a three-year successful project called ‘Filipino Community and Beyond: To­wards full participation in a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic Canada”. Sponsored by the National Alliance of Filipino Women in Canada (NAPWC), the conference at the U of Toronto on Nov. 6-9 drew more than 100 delegates from all over the country and was hailed as a ‘historic moment’ by organizers. Yet, despite its success and significance, the 15 or so Filipino newspapers in Toronto did not cover the event and only PNT reported on it.

But for the Filipino community in Vancouver, the year began on a sad­der note with the murder of teenager Deward Ponte on Jan. 27. Deward was the second Filipino youth that died a violent death. In 2003, Mao Jomar Lanot was killed. Both were sons of Live-in Caregivers (LCP) and both were just reunited with their mothers before their deaths. The controversial Philippine Com­munity Centre Society (PCCS) an­nounced the completion of the sale of its Surrey property in August for close to $2M, which prompted its equally contro­versial president Mars de la Cruz to brag that the society is a ‘millionaire’. Before the year ended de la Cruz trumpeted the purchase of another lot in Richmond for $1.275 M out of the proceeds of the Sur­rey sale. De la Cruz again promises that a six-story centre will rise from this ‘crown jewel’ of a location by the end of 2010 or early 2011. No financial statements on the net proceeds of the sale were ever re­vealed by the PCCS.

Recent events in our nation’s capital have effectively ‘closed’ the House of Commons until January 26, 2009. The opposition is more blunt – Parliament is ‘padlocked’. Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked the Governor General to prorogue the House, meaning to suspend its operations until next year. Harper made the move to save his political life instead of facing a ‘non-confidence’ vote, which would have seen a coali­tion government lead by the Liberals with the support of the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois replace him.

The election of Rod Belleza as a school trustee for the City of Richmond is understandably greeted with elation among the community. Although a school trustee is not the highest political office in the municipal level, Belleza’s win is still significant in that it proves that we can make it to the po­litical arena. It is also a step to­wards a future run at the provin­cial or even federal level.