A Balikbayan's Letter to Her International Community

Dear Friends mostly outside Philippine Soil,

As many of you already know, the rest of my life when not focused on my mother’s final stages of her life’s journey, has been a rather surprising engagement with another campaign for presidency...this time in Philippines. (On the periphery of the international scene, but oh, what a space & true potential we hold!).

Go to www.nicanorperlas.com to understand the man we are behind. And to www.apeopleforperlas.ning.com, the community gathering internationally to support his candidacy. And a new twitter that Brad, I and few others just started and will be gaining momentum soon: twitter.com/perlascebu. We are taking on an area of the Philippines that includes my hometown of Cebu — about 2.5 million voters — and are being invited to take on the larger Visayas Region of some 10 million voters. (I know, I know, mindboggling and insane on one hand, but totally natural and fulfilling on another. Go figure. Actually, don’t! ;-D)

Anyway, picking up on the international thread, I wanted to alert you to this growing body of international volunteers who have started websites, blogs, and more recently Skype calls — from France, Germany, Canada, India, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, US, Belgium & other places I don’t even know about — to engage in strategic thinking to support Nicanor Perlas’ campaign for presidency. If you check out their developing campaign strategy, you will see high involvement among Anthroposophists and Waldorf School leaders. So you know the heart and the principles that this movement for new politics and a new Philippines shares with each of you.

I understand that there is in particular a 3-week period starting now in which international donations are allowed. After that, we’re on our own. The dollar goes a long long way in the Philippines. Things I am asking you to consider doing?

• Read the above sites & blogs, especially Nick's, and his growing community of ALL VOLUNTEERS.
• Go tell your buddies in education and social transformation (the kind we all aspire and are dedicated to) that there is a man running for president who has the mind and heart of an educator you would love to start an educational revolution with, a love and passion for the environment, a dedication to right governance, the vision for a new civil society (see his three-folding writings) and now a dear friend.
• Join A People for Perlas and/or be in touch with Seth Jordan who heads the group (I’ve copied him here) and listen for what you might be able to give to support this huge and beautiful endeavor.
• Contact your own Filipino friends — in the North & South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, etc., even back here in the Philippines -- and share this.
  

THE IMPACT OF THE INTERNATIONAL — YOUR -- VOICE: Early in the filing of candidacy, the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) denied Nick Perlas his candidacy because he had no money, no political machinery, had not run for political office (his real track record for what he has done instead with his life is in his website) and not a descendant of a political clan. An immediate response worldwide rippled through the cyberspace and in two weeks some 2,000 petition signatures from 44 countries were signed, and letters to COMELEC by the Green Party in Australia and France and other Green Parties arrived. The international presence and voice is well heard and paid attention to here in the Philippines. COMELEC rescinded their initial decision and put Nick Perlas as an official candidate for President of the Philippines in the Election on May 10, 2010.

Thank you beloved community for all you are and continue to be for me, for the work and for our beautiful planet.

All Love, Always, and In All Ways,
Your Tressa