RP ambassador bids goodbye to Fil-Ams in San Francisco

"Hasta la vista, baby". Playfully mimicking the Terminator movie character played by actor and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, outgoing Philippine ambassador to the US Albert del Rosario bid goodbye to the Filipino-American community in San Francisco. Del Rosario, who formally leaves his post July 8, told Filipino-Americans he would still be around to support the community even in a private capacity, according to Philippine consul-general to San Francisco Ma. Rowena Sanchez. The Filipino-Americans in attendance reportedly responded with a five-minute standing ovation at the end of del Rosario’s speech. "They were all united in the purpose of paying homage to a man who has led the Filipino-American community all over the United States for the past five years," Sanchez said. Last month, Malacañang announced that del Rosario had resigned to return to the private sector. Del Rosario, however, said he was “recalled". In a ceremony at the War Memorial Building in San Francisco last week, del Rosario thanked the Filipino-American community for their support, including remittances which have buoyed up the Philippine economy. California state controller Steve Westly narrated his cooperation with del Rosario to keep the California Public Employees Retirement System (Calpers) account in the Philippines. Calpers, which handles the retirement and health benefits of 1.4 million California employees and 2,500 employers, is the US’ largest investment fund with some $2.6 billion invested overseas, including about $68 million in the Philippines. In 2004, Calpers considered pulling out its investments in the Philippines and Del Rosario was largely credited with rallying the Filipino-American community to lobby for its retention. Davis City mayor Ruth Asmundson also presented del Rosario with a proclamation honoring the outgoing ambassador for his service to the Philippines.-GMANews.TV