I was honored to join the Philippine Delegation to APEC 2014 Women and the Economy Forum in Beijing. DTI Usec. Nora Kakilala-Terrado, head of delegation, and DTI Director Lydia Guevarra were my travelling companions, and so I got to experience the VIP welcome accorded to Usec. Nora. Lydia and I rode in one car behind Usec. Nora’s car, and we were whisked to the VIP room at the airport upon our arrival in Beijing, while our passports were stamped and our luggage retrieved.
At the Beijing Hotel, we were warmly received by none other than the beautiful, vibrant and ever-so-efficient commercial counsellor for Beijing, Christine dela Cruz. This is one lady which makes the Philippines proud.
After checking into our rooms (Usec. Nora had kindly offered to let me share her room) we went down to have lunch at the Chinese restaurant of the Beijing Hotel. I must say that the food was superb, and the Peking duck (my fav) was delicious! It was a long leisurely lunch while we discussed what was ahead of us for the next few days. Soon, we were joined by fellow delegates, Chit Juan, Boots Garcia, Bea Herrera-Davila, and Gilda Maquilan.
After lunch, we hied off to the Silk Market for an hour (to shop, of course) where Lydia proved her negotiation prowess to secure hefty discounts for us. I sure was glad I was with her.
.
Soon, the rest of the delegation arrived: Miyen Verzosa and Tinta Paredes, and we were complete! We met Director Grace Fabella of APEC too.
That evening, we were treated to a delightful welcome dinner by the Deputy Chief of Mission, Evangeline Ong Jimenez-Ducrocq, where we met representatives from the Philippine Embassy. The repast was delicious and filling, especially the roasted which apparently was the piece-de-resistance of the restaurant. Peking duck was present too, and I helped myself unashamedly to it.
To get to the restaurant, we walked through a park, the entrance to which was an imposing Chinese arch.
Day 1 in Beijing was marked by great food and warm hospitality from our kababayans in China. I looked forward with much anticipation to the next few days.
I was honored to join the Philippine Delegation to APEC 2014 Women and the Economy Forum in Beijing. DTI Usec. Nora Kakilala-Terrado, head of delegation, and DTI Director Lydia Guevarra were my travelling companions, and so I got to experience the VIP welcome accorded to Usec. Nora. Lydia and I rode in one car behind Usec. Nora’s car, and we were whisked to the VIP room at the airport upon our arrival in Beijing, while our passports were stamped and our luggage retrieved.
At the Beijing Hotel, we were warmly received by none other than the beautiful, vibrant and ever-so-efficient commercial counsellor for Beijing, Christine dela Cruz. This is one lady which makes the Philippines proud.
After checking into our rooms (Usec. Nora had kindly offered to let me share her room) we went down to have lunch at the Chinese restaurant of the Beijing Hotel. I must say that the food was superb, and the Peking duck (my fav) was delicious! It was a long leisurely lunch while we discussed what was ahead of us for the next few days. Soon, we were joined by fellow delegates, Chit Juan, Boots Garcia, Bea Herrera-Davila, and Gilda Maquilan.
After lunch, we hied off to the Silk Market for an hour (to shop, of course) where Lydia proved her negotiation prowess to secure hefty discounts for us. I sure was glad I was with her.
Soon, the rest of the delegation arrived: Miyen Verzosa and Tinta Paredes, and we were complete! We met Director Grace Fabella of APEC too.
That evening, we were treated to a delightful welcome dinner by the Deputy Chief of Mission, Evangeline Ong Jimenez-Ducrocq, where we met representatives from the Philippine Embassy. The repast was delicious and filling, especially the roasted which apparently was the piece-de-resistance of the restaurant. Peking duck was present too, and I helped myself unashamedly to it.
To get to the restaurant, we walked through a park, the entrance to which was an imposing Chinese arch.
Day 1 in Beijing was marked by great food and warm hospitality from our kababayans in China. I looked forward with much anticipation to the next few days.
The day started with an official shoot of the Heads of Delegation. The opening was pretty straightforward. No dances, no singing, unlike APEC WES Bali. Just speeches upon speeches.
In the afternoon, we went to the China Association of Trade in Services for a meet and greet. I was interested to know the status of their IT-BPM industry, but it was hard going trying to communicate with a translator. I wasn’t sure how much of the information was actually getting to them. I got the impression though that they thought they were far ahead when it comes to this industry. (Hmmm, I thought, to myself. They need to visit the Philippines to really see how vibrant this industry is). It was funny how whenever Boots would speak up, she would be told to let them finish talking first. I guess they are not used to assertive women.
In the afternoon, Chit and I had separate interviews by Machelle Adigue-Ramos, Filipino Service News Editor and Program Producer for China Radio International. Oh, I had to draw from deep down my Tagalog as the interview was in our local language. Mama mia!
I was late for the Welcoming Dinner so I missed out on the entertainment, and had to join another table. Wine was being served, and for some reason, glasses kept spilling at our table. We were all surprised when exactly at 9pm, the emcee went up to the stage, thanked us for coming and announced that dinner was over! We were nonplussed. Bitin, we thought.
Most everyone left the dinner hall, well, except for the Australian contingent that beat us to the stage. The Filipinos, fun loving as we are, took souvenir photos of our dressed-up selves, both serious and wacky. We literally closed the venue, and proceeded to the Beijing Hotel’s coffee shop for some coffee, except they only had tea. It was good bonding with the ladies.
That night, I didn’t sleep as I had to put together my slides for the presentation I was to make at the Seminar of Women in Business Community. I was the lone speaker from the Philippines, given only six minutes to make a presentation. How could I talk about TeamAsia in six minutes, I wondered?
Today was my big day. I was the lone Filipino speaker during the Women in Business Community, and then moderator for the Women’s Business Smart Technology Seminar. After a quick breakfast, I hurried to the convention center to check out the venue, and to have a last minute pow-wow with the organizers of the Smart Technology Seminar.
Both seminars took place in the East Ballroom. For the Business Seminar, there were 12 speakers, 8 of whom were from China. The Chinese speakers mostly represented big businesses: traditional Chinese medicine, Peking duck, banking, investment, finance, construction and beauty products. There was one young Chinese entrepreneur who was a national chess champion at 10 years of age and who had founded an event management company, who spoke passionately about her love for country. She was quite interesting to listen to, a breath of fresh air following the formal presentations of the other Chinese speakers.
I got to sit with the non-Chinese speakers. There was Yuka Mitsuhata, whose Mo-House Company in Japan sells a fashion line for breastfeeding women; Lynette Mayne whose Work Wear World provides work apparel to major Australian companies; Dr. Lorna Wright, a director of the Centre for Global enterprise of Schulich School of Business in Canada. Lorna was also slated to speak on Smart Technology Trends and Canadian Women-Owned Business.
The night before, I had stayed up late, putting together the slides for my presentation, drawing from the credentials deck we would present our clients. I had been too busy with work before leaving for Beijing so had not been able to prepare my presentation earlier. Looking at the deck, it felt too much like a pitch and I agonized over what to say. Before I would have Mike to bounce off my ideas, and who would give me solid advice, hold my hand, and encourage me to shine. This time, I was on my own, about to face a ballroom full of accomplished women, and given only six minutes to talk about my business. What to do? Listening to the others speak, it dawned on me what to say. Or better yet, I allowed the real message in my heart to come out.
When it was my turn to speak, I took a deep breath, got up and spoke of my love story with Mike, how we had started TeamAsia in a garage and grown it over the years to what it was now. I told them about my mom, who had taken care of my children while I was busy working, and how grateful I was for her support. I told them I had lost Mike to cancer a year ago, and that it was very difficult, but that my eldest daughter, out of love, had come home to help me with the business. That got everyone’s attention, and so many women came to me after to give me a hug or thank me for sharing my story. I can only surmise that the love story resonated with the guests, as everyone had their own love story.
The Women’s Business Smart Technology Seminar followed. I was the first of three moderators, and was tasked to start the seminar and introduce the keynote presenter Dr. Ernest McDuffie of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, as well as Dr. Kio Chung Kim, president of the Global Women’s ICT Network of the Republic of Korea. The seminar was designed to be a one-day event, but was shortened to two hours by the organizers of APEC Beijing. This meant the speakers had to shorten their presentations, which was a pity because they were all very interesting.
I was amazed at how advanced the Koreans were when it came to smart technology and how it was being used for economic empowerment of women. I felt bad that I wasn’t able to get a photo while I was speaking at the two seminars, but the experience was well worth the travel. I met many interesting and accomplished women, and made a few friends.
As a relative newbie to APEC WEF, I learned a lot and voiced this out to my new friends from the Smart Technology Seminar, wondering aloud if anything ever came out from all of the discussions at APEC, if they were ever able to act on any of the agreements reached at APEC, and if the results were ever communicated. Apparently not, it turned out, as this started a heated discussion. So, we got to talking about the need for a common platform to disseminate information on Women and the Economy. This got the group excited, and we met right after the Smart Technology Seminar to discuss what we could do, in time for the Philippines’ hosting of APEC WEF next year. Lorna, Irene and I were tasked with coming up with the Wish List of what we wanted the platform to be. This would then be sent to the rest of the group for inputs, and to Dr. McDuffie for quality check. Meanwhile, another group would try to raise the funds necessary to get the platform off the ground.
Noya and I had a quick meeting at the hotel lobby’s Tea Corner. I wondered why the lady serving us kept pouring tea on the Buddha at the corner of the table. Unable to contain my curiosity any longer, I asked her why she was doing that, and she explained that she was sharing the tea with the Buddha. Hmmm, I thought.
With APEC WEF Beijing over, we were finally able to relax. Lydia, Noya, Miyen and I decided to visit Tiananmen Square, which meant a lot of walking. Noya was bent on having her photo taken doing a high jump. Good thing Cara had taught me how to snap fast shots when we were in Italy, so the three ladies got their jump shots at Tiananmen. Noya convinced me to jump too for a photo. I was scared to do so with my bad back, but jump I did. I looked really funny though with my long dress flapping and my legs splayed out. Like a bat gone awry.
The walking got us hungry, and we asked the driver to bring us to where the locals eat. And so he did, except we didn’t figure that we would not be able to communicate. None of us spoke or read Chinese, so we ended up ordering by pointing to the next table. I was laughing so hard as one of the ladies imitated a chicken’s cackling to indicate that she wanted to eat chicken. But the driver was right. The food was both excellent and hearty.
Back at the hotel, we packed. Tomorrow will be our last day, and we intended to see the Great Wall of China before leaving Beijing.
We woke up to a dark and gloomy rainy day. This was supposed to be our free day to explore Beijing and to see the Great Wall of China. We were crestfallen. The guide told us it didn’t look like it would push through, but we were adamant that we wanted to see it, despite the rains. So off we went after searching for umbrellas, first to the Forbidden City which we had seen from afar yesterday afternoon, then to a traditional Chinese medicine place, a jade factory/museum, and finally, the Great Wall of China.
Walking to the Forbidden City, we passed a river moat. It was such a romantic walk, despite the rain. I just wanted to sit down and paint. Next time, I promised myself. We reached the imposing Forbidden City. At the gate, there was an ancient column announcing to visitors in three languages that this was a place of peace. Entering the gates, we saw the vast expanse of the square. Huge vats adorned the square. These contained water, the guide explained, to quench fires in case of attack.
The guide pointed out things of interest: a turtle represented the emperor for long life; the heron the empress for her beauty. The emperor’s quarters had dragons on its panels, and the guide said people would trace its body with their fingers: the head for wisdom, the body for strength. I traced it lovingly, whispering a prayer to Mike, my very own dragon. I was glad the rain masked the tears streaming down my face.
The garden of the Forbidden City was lovely. It had stopped raining for a while. I was intrigued by a huge rock that the emperor had made at the top of which was a small house where he would play chess with whichever concubine he fancied for the day.
Apparently, there would be annual events, similar to beauty contests, where the most beautiful and intelligent women of the land would trek to the Forbidden City for the chance to be selected as the Emperor’s concubine. And when chosen, it would be a cloak and dagger existence with the Empress always on the lookout to ensure that she would not lose her favored place.
Leaving the Forbidden City, our guide asked us if we wanted to have a free foot massage. After all that walking, we readily agreed only to find out that we would end up being sold traditional Chinese medicine while we had our feet in wooden tubs filled with hot water. Chinese doctors came and checked our hands and pulses to determine what illnesses we had and what medicine we needed to get well. No way to escape. They sure had their marketing under control.
Our next stop was the jade factory/museum. It reminded me so much of an earlier life, and was thus not interested in buying anything.
Finally, we were off to the Great Wall! We were only given 30 minutes to explore the place. I made another silent promise to come back and visit. Noya and Miyen went ahead, being in much better shape than Lydia or me. But we did manage to get our jump shots.
We made our way back to the hotel, and then to the airport. Good-bye, Beijing, for now.
Get the latest updates from WomenBizPH by subscribing to our newsletter. This subscription will help you learn more about the different projects and initiatives of WomenBizPH and discover the different engagements where our partners and members actively participate. We discuss hot button topics and issues like gender diversity, women in leadership and capacity building for women in entrepreneurship.
WomenBizPH would like to hear from you! Do you have any inquiries, concerns or suggestions for the organization? Let us know by leaving us a message and we’ll make sure to get back to you as soon as we can.