Toni Daya now an active Fil-Am leader in US

Remember Toni Daya, the voice behind the hit ballads Kung Alam Ko Lang, Baliw na Puso and Desire, and once a much-sought-after corporate and hotel lounge performer in the Philippines?

According to Funfare’s Big Apple correspondent Edmund Silvestre, since settling down in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1998 — with her husband Scott Luetgers and their two daughters Lauren, eight, and Melissa, three — Toni hardly performs in public anymore. But she has not totally gone to oblivion, at least not in metro Atlanta, home of CNN and Coca-Cola.

Edmund said that Toni has turned into a community activist, promoting the interests and welfare of Filipinos both in Georgia and back home, while enjoying her life away from the limelight as a stay-at-home mom. While other former celebrities are content living in luxury, shopping and socializing nonstop, Toni knows she has a lot to offer.

“I love what I’m doing and, in this community, we know that in our own little way we can make a difference,” she told Funfare. “Hati-hati ng trabaho and there’s always room for more.”

It’s a blessing that Toni’s husband, a global sales leader for General Electric (GE), has been so supportive of her community endeavors that he even assisted Toni when she hosted a reception in Atlanta on behalf of Galing Foundation for former President Fidel Ramos.

“Toni and Scott formed the Galing Foundation, a non-profit group that provides new and gently used books and school supplies to libraries and indigent school children in Philippine rural areas to fight illiteracy,” said Edmund. “Toni believes that the talents and potential of millions of Filipino children are wasted because of extreme poverty, lack of education and lack of opportunities to grow.”

She’s also involved in several mainstream humanitarian projects in Atlanta from Hunger Walk and Meals on Wheels to various undertakings to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina and other calamities; and in the Georgia Council for International Visitors, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce, the Center for Pan-Asian Community Services. At the same time, she serves as press officer for the Philippine Honorary Consulate in Atlanta.

Toni recently launched AccessPhilippineAtlanta, an electronic broadcast communication that gives Filipinos in Georgia a venue to network and empower themselves, promote Philippine art and culture, discuss community concerns such as immigration, health and social security, and promote Philippine tourism, trade and investments.

Currently, she’s in the middle of a big community crusade to free a Fil-Am internist, Dr. Noel Natividad Chua of St. Marys, Georgia, who was charged with “double murder” in the overdose death of a 20-year-old Caucasian man.

Said Edmund, “The police said Chua had prescribed the drugs that killed the man. The problem is that almost 20 months after the alleged murder — and 10 months after Dr. Chua was incarcerated following his indictment in September 2006 — the case has not gone to trial. Toni’s group wants the authorities to give Dr. Chua his day in court or drop the charges.”

The case against Dr. Chua was so weak, according to Toni, that the prosecutor is now reportedly convincing the jailed doctor to cop a guilty plea to one of the lesser charges in exchange for probation and the dropping  of the murder charges. The district attorney declined to discuss the case, but insisted that no injustice had been committed against Dr. Chua.

Through old-fashioned community work and through cyberspace (www.galingfoundation.com and www.accessphilippineatlanta.com), Toni got the ball rolling. She began disseminating information, and serving as moderator in the community’s e-mail  dialogues. As of July 26, the signatures in the Free Chua petition on-line has reached 1,100, with signatories from across the US and the Philippines.

Because of her efforts, and those of other Fil-Am  leaders in Georgia, the state’s mainstream media as well as those in Manila have taken notice of their “people power” efforts to find justice for Chua.

Toni declined to be interviewed about her community activism for fear of being viewed as “self-serving.” But in previous talks with Funfare, she said, “I do the things that I do because it is a responsibility and not a choice if we truly want to make this world a better place for our children. We need to live our lives for the purpose of serving the Almighty God, our neighbors then ourselves.” Born in Manila, Toni grew up in Provident Village in Marikina; her parents are from Lucban, Quezon.

In parting, Toni told Edmund and Funfare, “Christianity is not a costume that we can choose when and where to wear it.”

(Postscript: Barely two weeks after Edmund filed his report, he informed Funfare that Toni and her group’s campaign has paid off. “The case of Dr. Noel Chua will finally go to trial in five weeks.”)

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