THE FOLLOWING is the text of my talk delivered at the Philippine Librarians Association, Inc. (PLAI) Conference held at the Iloilo Convention Center on November 22-25.
I was a plenary speaker on the same day the Vice President of the Republic was invited as a keynote speaker on November 23.
The theme of the conference was āWorking Together: Sustainability, Opportunity, Adaptability, and Resiliency.
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My talk was modest.
In fact, the title alone reads like a brief or synopsis:
āThe Peter Solis Nery Foundation for Hiligaynon Literature and the Arts: Promoting, Preserving, and Propagating Literature and Filipino Art and Culture through Research, Publications, Productions, Education, and Cultural Dissemination.ā
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Hereās the text:
Maayong hapon sa inyo nga tanan.
Magandang hapon po.
Good afternoon, and peace be with you all.
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The story of my Foundation is one story of resiliencyāthat quality of springing back, or recovering quickly from difficulties.
This year celebrates the 10th anniversary of my literary and art foundation.
A foundation that was at first highly criticized for bearing the name of a living writer that may not even be known to you all.
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But after 10 years, the foundation is still here.
We are still here.
Growing in magnitude, in recognizability, in online presence, and even in the number of private donors.
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In the first seven years, all activities of my foundation were financed by my own salary working as a Nurse in the United States.
I have since retired myself from Nursing, and now continue to work on my advocacy which is also the whole vision-mission of my foundation.
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Starting on its eighth year, I began to hit friends in the US and everywhere else in the world for donations and support.
And I am so proud to say that I am still trusted by my benefactors, and I seem to gather more benefactors every year, every day.
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This confidence in my person and my foundation signals to the sustainability of the Foundation.
Hopefully, now that I am more present in the Philippines āfor goodā, my foundation can benefit from the branding that I have been working on for years.
A brand that represents trustworthiness, accountability, generosity, volunteerism, and that can-do attitude thatā as someone who has lived abroad for almost 17 years, I find so lacking in the modern Filipino society.
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My Foundation was born of a great opportunity.
Translation: A time when I had enough money to fulfill the financial requirement of the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission.
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In 2012, I was elevated to the Palanca Awards Hall of Fame after winning five first prizes since my first win in 1998.
By the way, my name is Peter Solis Nery, and usually people clap their hands when they hear it.
[inserted after applause: Thank you. You are all so smart!]
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Side story: This year, I am so lucky again to win two awards: a first prize in Hiligaynon Short Story, and a second prize in Childrenās Poetry in English.
It brings my Palanca awards total to 21ā 20 competitive awards, plus the Hall of Fame in 2012.
It could very well mean my retirement from competition, but donāt hold your breath.
Iām pretty competitive.
Albeit, more mellowed now.
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But back to 2012, ten years agoā
Feeling most grateful for the rare honor of being inducted to the Hall of Fame, I started the Foundation with one million and three pesos from my own bank account.
I organized the board of officers from a circle of my friends and close associates who each donated one peso.
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I was honored by the Palanca on September 1, I constituted the board for the foundation on September 5, and it was promptly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the 5th of November.
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I thank God that I had one million five thousand pesos that year.
After all was said and done, I got P4,997 left in my bank account. (To be continued)/PN
