MEDIUM RARE
It’s a small world with big players and extensive influence.
And not all that democratic.
At their last election recently, 830 delegates cast their votes to represent 168 chambers. Cecilio Pedro of Hapee toothpaste smiled all the way to the top as president. He ran unopposed, which implied that federation funds shrank on election day on the basis of the rule that candidates for the position are invited to donate sums ranging from ₱20 million to ₱30 million “as required by the mood and need of the times.”
FFCCCII, where individuals matter not as themselves but as part of a group — traders in buy and sell, industrialists, entrepreneurs, i.e., a chamber of chambers “representing all regions of the country and all sectors of the economy”: Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc., whose distinction is its Filipino-Chinese character, a brand that advertises philanthropy and community empowerment for the hardest-to-reach communities as well as the richest urban centers of commerce, Aparri to Tawi-Tawi.
As noted in my book, Chinatown Is Not a Place, published by Manila Bulletin, only an organization as well-funded as the Federation has the muscle and means to help on such a large scale. During the lockdown that crippled commerce and wounded the economy, “new normal” conditions effectively shone the light on the chamber’s refusal to surrender. As the “pandemic president,” Henry Lim was forced to face the daunting challenges and accomplish tasks that were “too many to enumerate.”
It’s not all business. But thanks to its reach and influence – ground zero as a listening post, informal data gathering, field reports, rumor and talk – and its role as the “voice of the entire Filipino-Chinese community,” the Federation aims to keep its volunteer fire brigade going, build more schoolhouses, keep sending medical missions to the most disadvantaged barrios, gather relief goods for storage, and, very important, raise funds for future use.
To emphasize the size of the job, president Cecilio Pedro was elected with a board of one EVP and 15 VP’s, a treasurer and an auditor – not your ordinary clubby club – who will need a support staff headed by its secretary-general, Fernando Gan, now on his 16th assignment, plus an honorary VIP circle of past presidents.