Filipinos blaze new trails in B.C.

ALDEN E. HABACON, Administrator

Alden E. Habacon is Senior Advisor , Intercultural  Understanding at the University off British Columbia,

A graduate of Simon Fraser University in Fine Arts, Habacon  led the development and implementation of CBC Television's national diversity strategy, as the Manager of Diversity Initiatives for CBC Television.

He was founder and Publisher of Schema Magazine (www.schemamag.ca), and the co-founder of the Asian Canadian Journalists Association (ACJA) in Vancouver. He currently serves as a member of the board of S.U.C.C.E.S.S., the OMNI Advisory Committee (Rogers Television), the Tyee Solutions Group, and the Hua Foundation. He also lectures at the UBC Graduate School of Journalism.

ALVIN ERASGA TOLENTINO, Contemporary Dancer

Alvin Erasga Tolentino is an accomplished international dance artist whose body of works has reflected identity, gender, interculturalism and cross-cultural collaboration that have reached four continents.

Tolentino's creation, cross cultural collaboration and touring creation has taken him and Co.ERASGA to over 55 diverse cities and in countries as France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and across Canada.

He left the Philippines in 1983 at age 12, settling in Vancouver, where he founded Co. Erasga in 2000.

A graduate of York University, he studied classical ballet with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet for two years.

BERT MONTERONA, Visual Artist

Bert Monterona is an internationally-acclaimed artist with several awards and grants in Australia, USA and Canada.

His Philippine credits include the GSIS Museum Artist of the Month and the Art Association of the Philippines Best Entry Award.

Monterona won the 2007 International Mural Festival and Competition in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was artist-in-residence for the Leigh Square Community Arts Village in Port Coquitlam, B.C

He had a number of one-shows in the province including SFU and UBC and participated in group shows - Pagtitipon and currently Harana. His works were recently exhibited in Hong Kong.

Daryl Dela Cruz, Blogger

Daryl Dela Cruz is a 20-year old blogger whose passion for public transportation lead him to advocacy and a blog that has gained popularity.

Daryl’s Dialogue - West Coast transportation, politics and issues and SkyTrain for Surrey and coming soon,Daryl’s Japan Blog - the true story of how he lived in Japan for a year’s scholarship

The Kwantlen graduate summarizes what he has a achieved so far:

• Started an advocacy for rapid transit in Surrey

• Helped build the bus stop on Highway 1 at 156th St

• Influenced thousands of people during the transit referendum

• Performed research that got quoted by transportation professionals

• Got an invitation to attend SmartRail Asia

DELIA LAGLAGARON, Administration/Public Policy

Delia Laglagaron was formerly Deputy Commissioner, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer and General Manager, Planning, Policy and Environment for Metro Vancouver in British Columbia.

Metro Vancouver is the regional governing body of a federation of 24 local authorities including 22 municipalities, one electoral area and a Treaty First Nation.

Laglagaron is an Architecture graduate of the University of Santo Tomas and a Master’s Degree in Urban  and Regional Planning from the University of the Philippines before she moved to Vancouver in 1976.

She obtained a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

EMMANUEL ESCUETA, Teaching

A public school teacher for 27 years, Emmanuel (‘Noel’ to friends) Escueta invented Verbathon, a teaching tool that makes it fun to learn a language.

Verbathon is now used extensively in schools throughout Canada. Available in French, Spanish and German, Verbathon is used to teach grammar through games in a fun, active, and team-based approach.

After finishing a degree in Education at the University of Manitoba, he moved to British Columbia where he taught  Grd. 2 French immersion at Irvine Elementary in Port Coquitlam. He obtained a Masters in Educational Leadership at SFU.

Escueta was recently honoured as one of Canada’s top teachers by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for teaching excellence.

ARCIE LIM, Religion

Arcie Lim is State Deputy for the B.C. and Yukon branch of the Knights of Columbus.

An accountant, he became a Knight in 1982 and is a recipient of the Papal Award “Benemerenti Medal”.

Lim was former Chairperson of the St. Joseph’s Pastoral Council for many years and is currently a member of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council of the Archdiocese of Vancouver. He was treasurer of the Regional Parish Education Committee,St. Patrick Secondary School and was appointed member of the Special Task Force of the Catholic Independent Schools of Vancouver Archdiocese serving for three years.

MABLE ELMORE, MLA

Mable Elmore was re-elected as the MLA for Vancouver-Kensington in May 2013. She was first elected in 2009 for the New Democratic Party, the first MLA of Filipino heritage.

She lost in the nomination in 2015 to Jenny Kwan for Vancouver East.

Elmore is the Opposition spokesperson for ICBC, deputy spokesperson for Finance and critic for Immigration and Temporary Foreign Workers.

Prior to her election as MLA, Mable worked as a transit operator for 10 years and was active with the Filipino womens’ movement .

Elmore graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in Physical Education.

LEONORA C. ANGELES, Associate Professor

Professor Leonora (Nora) C. Angeles is Associate Professor

She is currently the Graduate Program Advisor of the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies. She is also faculty research associate at the UBC Centre for Human Settlements where she has been involved in a number of applied research and capacity-building research projects in Brazil, Vietnam and Southeast Asian countries.

Dr. Angeles has an M.A. in Political Science from the University of the Philippines and a Doctorate in Political Studies from Queen’s University.

THERESA FRESCO, Administrator

Theresa Fresco is Assistant Manager, Upper Fraser Region for the Fraser Basin Council Society (FBC).

She coordinates support for the Nechako Watershed Roundtable and the development of the Nechako Watershed Strategy.

A Carrier and Filipino ancestry, Fresco holds a B.A. in Geography and English from the University of the Fraser Valley and a Masters in Urban Planning from the University of British Columbia.

Her research thesis focused on collaborative governance in the Angat River Basin of the Philippines. She still continues this work in collaboration with FBC, providing expertise on collaborative approaches as part of  a three-year international action research project.