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University of the Philippines
Alumni Association of Toronto

(Opening remarks by Prez Joe Zagala during the first session of the Career Development seminar series, February 18, 2010)

There is more to Filipinos here in Canada than care giving.  This is not to demean the care giving community or to debase the service they provide.  On the contrary, I salute the hard working dedicated people who in many ways support both the Canadian economy and that of our homeland. But care giving is not where the Filipino community begins and ends.

There is much more potential amongst us for higher paying jobs in almost every industry or profession. We see this very clearly in the medical, dental and nursing profession. In the UPAA, for example, 100% of those in our community possess university degrees; a large number have post graduate degrees, MBAs, masters degrees in various fields, and a quite an impressive bunch of PhDs. Just in this small group of CD committee members and speakers, there are I believe five who have earned doctoral degrees.Read more

For the benefit of those who may not know it yet, in 2006 the UPAA Toronto Endowment Fund granted $25,000 to the UP Foundation to help our University keep and maintain some of our best teaching staff, and at the same time provide scholarships to poor but deserving students.

In a meeting last June, the Council decided to adopt a project proposed during the planning session held last May 30, that will raise additional money for our  Endowment Fund. To implement this, we are planning to hold two golf tournaments, one on May 30, 2010 and another on May 29, 2011 from which we aim to raise ONE MILLION PESOS.Read more