75 Years of US-Philippines Diplomatic Relations: Hawaii’s Filipino Chamber Presidents Speak

This is the first roundtable forum featuring presidents of Hawai`i’s Filipino Chambers and the head of the coalition of Fil-American chambers based on the US Mainland.

Moderated by the past-president of the FCCH and chair of the MabuHI Expo and Summit, the chamber presidents will share their programs and initiatives in strengthening links between their jurisdictions and the Philippines.

Join us via Zoom
Thursday, July 1, 2021 • 4 p.m. Hawaii
Friday, July 2, 2021 • 10 a.m. Philippines
Event will also be streamed live via Facebook.
Follow HPBEC to get notified.

Speakers:

Rose Y. Bautista, Past President of the Big Island Filipino Chamber of Commerce, is an immigration lawyer and has over 20 years of experience providing services in immigration and nationality law. She received her bachelor’s degree from Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles and law degree from University of Puget Sound School of Law in Washington State. Most recently she served as Executive Assistant to Mayor Harry Kim (2016-2020) and as Hawaii County’s Immigration Specialist (2001-2016) where she assisted thousands of immigrants navigate thru the complexities of immigration law. In 2016, she received the Big Island YWCA’s “Remarkable People” Award.

Randall Francisco. After a career in the University of Hawaii System, Randall relocated to Kauai where he was from originally, and served as the President/CEO of the Kauai Chamber of Commerce for nearly 10 years. Afterwards, he was appointed by former Mayor Bernard Carvalho to serve as the Kauai Film Commissioner. Upon the end of the mayor's term, he retired and continued to serve on several non-profit boards. Randy is currently the President of the Kauai Filipino Chamber of Commerce.

Rose Galanto is president of the Filipino Chamber of Commerce of Hawai`i (FCCH) and served as vice president of FCCH for two years, and chair of the Filipino Entrepreneur & Scholarships Awardees in 2019. She is past president of the Hawaii Association of the Filipino Travel Agents (HAFTA). Rose is owner and CEO of Aloha Tours and Travel Inc., CEO of Hills Solid Gold, Inc., a retail jewelry store, and Real Estate Associate at Granventure Realty since 1980. She is the 2017 entrepreneur of United Filipino Council and is a devoted member of Saint Paul’s Church.

Chris Rabang, president of the Maui Filipino Chamber of Commerce, is the general manager of The Westin Nanea Ocean Villas, a property he opened in 2017. He graduated from Santa Clara University in Northern California and has a bachelor’s degree in marketing. He has over 20 years of experience in the hotel Industry. Chris serves on several other boards, among them are Binhi at Ani Advisory Board, Maui Visitors & Convention Bureau, chairperson for the UH Maui Campus Hospitality Advisory Committee and others. He is the chairperson for the Maui Hotel Lodging Association Visitors Industry Charity Walk in 2020-2021.

Gerry Palon is the founding president of the Coalition of Filipino American Chambers of Commerce (COFACC), an umbrella organization of 22 Chamber organizations nationwide. He was president of the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Los Angeles (FACC GLA) in 2015 & 2017. He has two masteral degrees and a bachelors degree in Economics from the University of Santo Tomas. He works full time as a fully licensed (Securities) registered representative of Western & Southern Life Insurance Co., a Fortune 500 Financial Services firm dealing with life insurance, retirement solutions and financial investments.

Jeoffrey Cudiamat is past president of the FCCH & Chair of the MabuHI Expo and Summit. He is also past president for the Structural Engineers Association of Hawaii and is currently the CEO of Structural Hawaii, Inc., a design and engineering consulting firm, and is president of Structural Builders Hawaii, Inc., a construction contracting company. He has recently been awarded the 2019 Filipino Entrepreneur of the Year by FCCH and won the lifetime excellence award in the field of engineering and construction by the Hawaii Filipino Chronicle.