‘UNITY FOR DEVELOPMENT AND PROSPERITY:’ THE 33RD FFCCCII BIENNIAL CONVENTION
(Welcome speech of the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII) president Dr. Henry Lim Bon Liong)
OPENING CEREMONY OF THE 33RD BIENNIAL CONVENTION OF THE FFCCCII MARCH 23, 2023, SMX CONVENTION CENTER
His Excellency President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.;
distinguished guests from the government, diplomatic corps, and business sector;
delegates to our 33rd Biennial Convention; ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.
It is my great pleasure and honor to welcome all of you to the opening ceremony of the 33rd Biennial Convention of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII).
Our special welcome to our guest of honor and keynote speaker, His Excellency President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. for gracing us with his presence on this occasion.
Your Excellency, participating in this convention are more than 800 outstanding business leaders of the Filipino-Chinese community. They represent all regions of our country and all sectors of our economy.
In the next three days, we will discuss and evaluate the projects and activities we have undertaken in the past four years. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our federation decided to move the convention from 2021 to this year.
When we talk about the pandemic, we could not help but recall how all of us struggled to cope with the challenges and adjust to the times. With our combined efforts and our resilience, however, we all did our best to overcome the odds.
I wish to thank all our officers and members for the support you have provided our federation throughout the pandemic, even as we were faced with business difficulties and uncertainties. Together, we revitalized the FFCCCII into a stronger organization in the service of our country and the Filipino people.
With FFCCCII as the lead organization, together with 10 Filipino-Chinese civic organizations, I, as FFCCCII president, became the chief convenor of the Filipino-Chinese Community Calamity Fund which raised and donated P300 million worth of medical supplies to help our countrymen cope with the pandemic. We were able to donate face masks, PPEs, face shields, thermal scanners, alcohol, ventilators, and testing kits. We also donated other relief items such as rice, canned goods, and noodles.
During the same period, the Filipino-Chinese Community Calamity Fund also launched relief operations to aid the victims of earthquakes, the Taal Volcano eruption, and typhoons.
When we were faced with problems as regards global vaccine supplies, our federation helped facilitate the procurement of 20 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines at a reasonable price when then vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. requested our assistance.
Our federation also supported the government’s Covid-19 vaccination program through our FFCCCII “Operation Bakuna” project, where we acquired 500,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines. We rolled out the vaccination of economic frontliners including entrepreneurs and employees nationwide in cooperation with LGUs and DOH regional offices.
Even amid the pandemic, we continued to give top priority to our flagship program, “Operation: Barrio Schools.” We had to temporarily halt the construction of school buildings, but since last year, we have resumed operations once more. Currently, we are constructing over 480 school buildings.
Since “Operation: Barrio Schools” started in 1961, some 6,074 units of two-classroom school buildings or the equivalent of 12,148 classrooms have been
built nationwide from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi. These have benefited hundreds of thousands of students across the archipelago. During this convention, we will have a new pledging session for more barrio school donations.
Likewise, despite the temporary cancellation of our public medical missions due to the pandemic, we continued with our medicine and vitamin donations to help our fellow Filipinos fight Covid-19. From 2019 to this day, we have conducted 250 medical missions.
With fewer activities onsite during the pandemic, we were able to complete the renovations, beautification, and upgrading of the FFCCCII Building’s conference areas and other facilities.
When a Filipino fishing boat accidentally collided with one from China in 2019, I offered our sincere assistance and support to the 22 fishermen for the immediate rehabilitation of their damaged boat. We provided them daily allowance while their boat was being repaired. I also personally sent trucks of rice for the fishermen and their families. Under our “Operation: Barrio Schools” program, we donated three public school buildings in their town, San Jose, Occidental Mindoro.
These we unilaterally undertook upon ourselves, with the objective of preserving the good relations between the Philippines and China.
Our federation and the Filipino-Chinese community is at the forefront of promoting Philippine-China relations. Rest assured, Mr. President, that you can count on our federation as your partner in further strengthening our relations.
We are Chinese by heritage and we are Filipino citizens committed to sustainable and inclusive Philippine economic growth and social progress.
Your Excellency, ladies, and gentlemen, apart from the review of past activities, the delegates of this convention will also focus on the theme: Unity for Development and Prosperity.
By adopting this theme, we will discuss how we can further support Your Excellency’s call for unity to build a brighter future for our families, our children, and our country. We give our full support to the government’s efforts to further promote trade and investment, peace and order, agriculture, and growth in other sectors.
I, as FFCCCII president, has publicly discussed economic growth projections in various press conferences. These projections have proven to be accurate. This said, these discussions not only raised the prestige and public profile of the FFCCCII and our Filipino-Chinese community, but our analyses and generally optimistic forecasts boosted business confidence in the Philippine economy and the morale of Filipino-Chinese entrepreneurs nationwide.
Let me today announce my Philippine economic forecast for 2023, which I believe shall be a robust 6 to 7 percent, especially if all of us Filipino-Chinese entrepreneurs and all sectors of Philippine society respond to the theme of the 33rd FFCCCII biennial national convention. Let us unite, work hard, and be resourceful.
We are glad to witness the Philippines’ strong and positive post-pandemic growth. With this, we reiterate our full support to you, Mr. President. We are confident that with your leadership and the continuing support of our Federation, development and prosperity will be fully achieved across the country.
Once again, my warmest welcome to all of you. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Mabuhay ang Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.!
Thank you very much and have a pleasant day.