It was an election with a difference! At Marayong Community Hall on Sunday morning of 12 February, where anyone with grey hair was called “mommy”, the [members of] Sydney Australian Filipino Seniors Inc. (SAFSI) had gathered for their much-awaited annual elections.
The annual general meeting (AGM) started off with prayers led by the incumbent President Jules Sanchez, followed by the singing of the national anthems and the SAFSI hymn. Then to get them all going, the song “Mag-exercise tayo sa umaga” was blasted with the seniors waving their hands in the air and moving their hips around.
Presidential candidates, Rose Natividad and incumbent president, Jules Sanchez took turns to address the crowd with their campaign speeches.
Rose Natividad was first up and her message resonated with the seniors’ sentiments over the last year and their desire for “Freedom.” She said that a lot of the seniors have stopped attending meetings because “they were afraid”; “because of fear” and “Walang tiwala.” She concluded with her battle cry “Freedom of Speech — Democracia para sa lahat at Pag-galang sa kapwa. Basta sama-sama at Masaya.”
Jules Sanchez who has been president of SAFSI since 2009 started off his speech with statements like “Sana tama” and “Sana walang buliliaso” referring to his opponent’s speech. He emphasized on his capabilities as a leader and stressed that his competitor “walang ginawa.” He reiterated the reason he was there was “[para] makatulong sa SAFSI.”
Despite the nail-biting vote counting, and Sanchez’ comment the day prior that he had “overwhelming support” from the seniors, Rose Natividad emerged the winner with 85 votes and Jules Sanchez got 64 votes. Total votes were 152 with 3 votes declared invalid.
For the position of Vice President Elaine Liddle won with 75 votes over Raymunda Morris who had 72. No election was held for any other position.
The election also continued despite the fact that no AGM report and financial statement was distributed to the members which Mr. Sanchez’s failure to do so declared publicly as a “technical mishap.” However, when later asked why the AGM report and Financial statement were not presented to its members Mr. Sanchez replied “Meron, pero kulang na sa oras. Gusto na nila magbotohan, eh.” However, no copies of the above mentioned documents were made available.
Also noted amusingly was the fact that one voter was clearly below the 55 age limit for members. When asked why, the voter clarified that Sanchez had allowed [her] to join the group even if she was under the age requirement for as long as she had a grandchild.
Amidst a throng of rejoicing seniors, Mrs. Natividad said, “There will be a lot of things to be fixed. And referring to Sanchez dramatic appearance at the PCC elections the day prior, she said, “Yes, there is no question about it — we will be renewing our affiliation with PCC. It was done without Board consultation.”
Sanchez conceded to defeat and struggling to be heard over the shrills declared: “I am resigning effective immediately from SAFSI. Besides, I have others things to do. ” (www.filipin-oz.com)