The South East Manitoba Filipino Association has inducted seven new officers onto their Council. 

Association President Kris Ontong

New Association President Kris Ontong, says the non-profit organization looks after Filipino Canadians living in the Southeast. "As an officer, we are supposed to carry out the mission of the association, which is to develop a strong, united, and healthy Filipino Canadian community here in the Southeast. We do that by giving them starter packs to help them get settled, we give them pointers on what to do next, and where to go to find a job."

Ontong says twelve years ago, the Filipino community consisted of only a handful of people and has now grown to about one thousand individuals. "We have no idea how many people will be coming over so we need to have a large pool of funds to draw from to purchase our welcome packs."

The main fundraiser for the Association is the authentic food stall they set up for the Summer In The City festival in June. "We look forward to that because it's one way to get together, see old friends, and enjoy the camaraderie as one big community working towards a common goal of raising funds for the association."

Ontong notes he hadn't initially planned to run for council, but after making suggestions on how to improve the structure of the association, it was suggested he get involved. "When election time came, the outgoing officers encouraged me to run so I would be the one to implement this new structure and I said fine, because if I was sincere about my intentions of improving the organization, then maybe I need to put my money where my mouth is."

The changes Ontong says he would like to see for the Association would include making the officers council into more of a representatives council. "If that measure gets passed, I will be the last president, and the next one would be more of a chairperson of different committees. We identified several job sectors and plucked representatives from there so every sector would be represented, and everyone would have a voice."