One Australian Filipina who bears that famous surname recalls the moment she had the rare opportunity to meet her presidential 'cousin'.
SecretaryDepartment of Trade and IndustryRepublic of the Philippines, Hon GregoryL. Domingo:
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour of introducing to you, the President of the Republic of the Philippines, his Excellency Benigno S Aquino III”
10 minutes later…
Asia Society, Chairman, Hon Warrick Smith:
“Ladies and Gentlemen can I please invite you to stand and thank the President for his speech, for his time on this whirlwind tour down under, thank you Mr President.”
And that would have been all.
Within 10 minutes of President Aquino’s introductory speech at the Asia Society Australia dinner at Sydney’s Shangri La on Thursday, Mr Aquino was whisked away without even a chance to charismatically say ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’ to the gathering - well unless you forced one that is.
It’s a rare event for the President of the Philippines to come to Australia and I wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip without sneaking in a quick ‘family reunion’ (refer to writer’s ambitious surname above.)
As security moved to escort President Aquino out of the dinner hall, the crowd gathered in hope of photos, the phones and cameras were out, but only few were able to squeeze in and under.
I was one of them.
Now as much as I’d love to outline the exact mechanism for bypassing national security, it’s in my best interests to keep my strategies to myself for future use.
Let’s just say as President Aquino neared the exit, an elegant side-step around the necessary forces, I reached my hand out and contact was made.
“President Aquino, Hi welcome, I’m Ania Aquino… perhaps we’re cousins?”
“Oh ahh”, he responded with a smile. Perhaps an affirmation? Perhaps confusion? Nonetheless, entrusting my camera to a stranger, it only takes a second…
Mission Accomplished.
The rest of the night was an opportunity to network with leaders in the business and trade sectors. As a current Producer and Presenter for SBS PopAsia and a former journalist, relevant contacts were made with leaders in the airline, construction and banking sector and of course, the odd chit chat about Gangnam Style.
If the opportunity could have been extended I had questions ready for the President, but I’ll save that for another time.
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