President's Message

SFAPOA – FEB/2008

Happy Chinese New Year to all, in the year of the Rat.  The Rat, is the first in the cycle of 12 animal signs.  The following is a quote from one of the many sites that explains the meaning about the year:

“A Rat Year is a time of hard work, activity and renewal.  This is a good year to begin a new job, get married, launch a product or make a fresh start.  Ventures begun now may not yield fast returns, but opportunities will come for people who are well prepared and resourceful.  The best way for you to succeed is to be patient, let things develop slowly, and make the most of every opening you can find.” 

What a coincidence…..  “hard work, activity and renewal…”
Last year the SFAPOA has gotten its paperwork straighten out with the current board, working with Debbie Van Patten, and we are up to date as a 501c(4) organization. 
The activity that has been going on for the past year has brought back a renewal of “old” members, joining with “new” members to set new goals for the SFAPOA:
The meeting of the minds, held at Cathay Restaurant…..brought out the “old” to meet with the “new” ….
Deputy Chief Dave Shinn, Captain Keith Sanford, Lieutenant Lon Ramlan, Lieutenant Greg Yee, Inspector Brian Ogawa, Sergeant Eddie Cheung, Officer Karl Ma, Officer Angel Poon, Retired Officers: Nelson Lum, Marshall Wong..
Concepts from this meeting with the executive board members, have already been implemented:

  1. Henry Seto, has transferred SFAPOA monies into 3 CD accounts with Ms. Jennifer Li, SF Police Credit Union.
  2. Lonnie Ramlan, to be looking into financial investments for the benefit of the SFAPOA
  3. Keith Sanford, has been coordinating with Eric Wright, SF 49ers to do a SFAPOA celebrity golf tournament with logistics by Bob Yick and Andy Ting.
  4. Eric Quema and group to co-ordinate fundraiser for the Filam training group to the Philippines and the collection of new/used equipment for the Philippine Police Officers nation-wide.
  5. David Kamita and Karl Ma, have been working w/Regan Wong, President, National Asian Peace Officers Association, regarding a chapter under them for 501c(3) status that will take about 6 months.

David and Karl will also be checking out 501c(5) as another possibility with a 501c(3) component.

  1. Darlene Hong, SF Police Credit Union, has donated $1,000.00 to have a web link on the SFAPOA web site, sponsorship at the scholarship dinner, associate member and coordinator for up-coming training seminars.  Some seminar topics are:  IRA Planning, Estate Planning, Living Trust, Women in Investing, Long Term Care, etc.
  2. Brian Ogawa, has been elected to the NCAPOA Board of Directors/Advisors, NAAALEC Secretary, NAPOA Liaison Officer and volunteered to be our own SFAPOA liaison to all the Asian Associations Nationwide.
  3. Jason Hui, has developed the SFAPOA.ORG website and continues to monitor and maintain the operation.

Continuing the SFAPOA traditions:

  1. Ray Gee, our tireless editor who has been hunting down the writers for the newsletter to make sure all deadlines are met and issues sent to members
  2. David Kamita, who will be starting up the scholarship committee for 2008 and applications should be ready by middle of March.
  3. Alfred Wong and Angel Poon, (who we are trying to recruit) may help with the 2008 scholarship dinner.  They may even get that “old timer”, Lewis Fong to come back and help out with our “regulars”, John Scully and Adam Choy.  The annual Scholarship will be held at the Far East Café on September 5th, 2008.
  4. Angel Poon, has located and confirmed a central storage locker for the SFAPOA.  Any SFAPOA items that need to be stored, contact Angel.
  5. Renewed commitment from SFAPOA Board of Directors, Eddie Cheung-Co. A, Randy Caturay, Roel Dilag, Ralph Kuglar-Co.B, Karl Ma-Co.C, Wayne Sato-Co.E, Dominic Yin-Co.G, Harry Soulette-Co.H, Jody Kato-Co.I, Curtis Liu-TTF, Lloyd Lew, Al Lum-Investigation Bureau, Dave Kamita, Al Wong, Administration Bureau

Hopefully we can get Airport Bureau, Mission, Traffic and Park Station up to date.
The SFPOA, Gay Pride Alliance and SFAPOA met with the new director, Joyce Hicks and had a very open dialogue at the POA office.  Per Gary Delagnes, SFPOA President, “We are optimistic that our relationship with OCC will continue to improve under the leadership of the new Director, Joyce Hicks.  We Believe she is smart, innovative and open-minded, and will continue to work with the POA to repair a broken process that will make it more equitable for our members while remaining responsive to the people of San Francisco.”

Congratulations to the newly formed “Filipino American Law Enforcement Officers Association” that was grouped together w/Richard Alves SFPD who told me that by-laws are done and the executive board is:
Interim Pres:  William Escobar, SFPD
Interim V/Pres:  Richard Alves, SFPD
Secretary:  Brad Bautista, DOJ
Treasurer:  Cliff Valdehuza, Bart PD
Sgt of Arms:  Roel Dilag, SFPD
Aaron Tan, Hercules PD
Sig Neri, CHP
Board of Directors:
Marc Valledor, DHS/ICE - John Barrientos, Walnut Creek PD
Seth Neri, Oakland PD - Glen Sylvester, SFPD
Elpinio Seletaria Jr. SFSD – Eric Quema, SFPD
Jimmy Dacasin, SF Sup Court – Ed Manalang, SFSD
Teresa Guingona, DCPOA – Randy Caturay, SFPD
Jurnation Reymundo, SFSD
Best of luck to you all and we hope to see you at our scholarship dinner.

Congratulations to the newly elected Officers at the NCAPOA
President – Rod Chin, SFDA
V/Pres – Neil Wu, Park Service

Which brings us to the announcement of our own election that will be taking place this year for the executive board for 2009-2010.  Please let Dave Kamita and Alvin Wong your intentions to run for office so that we can get the election running by July.  Installation dinner will be done at the Scholarship dinner on September 5th, 2008 and term to commence on January 1st, 2009.

Thank you all, for your continued support and as stated in the year of the Rat, …“we are making the best of every opening that we can find”…
Looking forward to all the activities we have scheduled for this year and hope to see you there.

 

Sincerely,
David Tambara
President