JEDDAH, 24 July — After their first exploratory meeting almost a month ago, community leaders in Jeddah will try again to unify when they meet for the second time on Friday at the Tropicana Restaurant.
These leaders will vote on the five-point primer they have agreed earlier, and will deliberate on the following points:
Autonomy of organization. To recognize and respect the identity, ideals and purposes of any organization without interfering on each organization's operation and existence.
"Complementarity" of organizations to one another. To recognize that each organization is an integral part of the community.
"Subsidiarity". To provide for an orchestrated, efficient impact for their efforts, they must recognize that coordination and cooperation is necessary.
Unity in diversity. To recognize that although they adopt different perspectives in discussing and acting on pursuing their objectives, these factors should not lead to discordant actions and disagreements.
To act as convenor and moderator, respectively, in Friday's meeting are Fred Castolome of the Overseas Filipino Workers Cooperative Council (OFWCC) and Edriss Tamano of the Kapulunga ng mga Samahang Pilipino (Kasapi).
Community leaders from other places in the Western Region, such as Raffy David from Yanbu, have also been invited to attend the meeting.
While Jeddah community leaders are mulling to unify, OFW-allied organizations in Manila, in a show of unity, held a congress yesterday in time for the opening of the regular session of the Philippine Congress.
To dramatize their united stand, these organizations will elect 24 OFW congressmen and senators to meet with their counterparts in Congress to rally for economic and political empowerment for OFWs the world over.