Dinner to welcome diplomats

Governor Gwendolyn F. Garcia, on behalf of the Province of Cebu with Vice Gov. Greg Sanchez, hosted a dinner reception for the Philippine Honorary Consuls General and Honorary Consuls from Austria, Croatia, Slovenia and Slovakia at the Casino Español de Cebu two weeks ago.

Headed by Philippine Ambassador to Austria Linglingay Lacanlale, with her were the following: Second Secretary and Consul Josel F. Ignacio; Honorary Consul Thomas Wagner and wife Alexandra of Salzburg; Professor Waltraud Steinbock of St. Pollen and lower Austria (she is also a publisher in her city) with her son Erik; Honorary Consul of Slovenia Joze Kastelic and wife Olga; Dr. Christian Traweger of Tyrol and Yoralborg; Dr. Pavol Konstiak, nominee for Honorary Consul General of Slovakia and Dr. Andreas Altman.

From the Cebu end were our very own prominent consular officials headed by Consul General of Austria in Cebu Arcadio "Dodong" Alegrado (who personally took care of the guests in bringing them to their hotels), Honorary Consul of Sweden Jose "Cheling" Sala; Honorary Consul of Spain, Jaime Picornell; Honorary Consul of Belgium Enrique Benedicto; Honorary Consul of Turkey Tina Benedicto; US Consular Agent John Domingo; Honorary Consul of Portugal Sammy Chioson; Honorary Consul of the Republic of Slovakia Antonio Chiu, and Honorary Consul of Japan Shigekaja Hokunosa.

Dinner over, our fave host Sam Costanilla started the ball rolling for the evening's entertainment. Cool and articulate, Sam introduced the two Cebuano songbirds Windie Prado and Zenith Rivera, who for us, were a discovery. Dances presented quickly and quite impressively by the members (kids all) of the Mandaue City School for the Arts Dance Troupe who also performed during the ASEAN Summit's formal dinner with Lea Salonga. As the program ended, Sam calmly announced that the director of the presentation was no less than the incomparable Junjet Primor.

Brief speeches were delivered by Gov. Gwen Garcia and Vice Gov. Greg Sanchez, and on behalf of the visiting Honorary Consuls, Second Secretary Josel Ignacio said his piece thanking the Governor and the Cebuanos for the warm hospitality accorded them.