FILIPINO-AUSTRALIAN APPOINTED AS LOCAL SENIOR REPRESENTATIVE OF A WESTERN SYDNEY CITY COUNCIL

15 January 2008 – Philippine Consul General to Sydney Maria Theresa Lazaro reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that a Filipino-Australian was recently appointed as a Senior Adviser representative in a Western Sydney city council known for its largest concentration of Filipinos anywhere in Australia.

Consul General Lazaro congratulated Mrs. Rosario Natividad for her recent appointment as a member of the Senior Citizens Advisory Sub-Committee of the Blacktown City Council, a consultative group that advises the council on matters affecting senior citizens in the Blacktown area.

In a statement, Consul General Lazaro said:  “The Consulate congratulates and welcomes the appointment of Mrs. Natividad to the Blacktown Council’s Senior Citizens Advisory Sub-Committee, which is made more fitting by the fact that blacktown has the largest concentration of Filipinos in Australia.  Her qualifications as educator and active community member concerned with the welfare of senior citizens put her in a position to bring valuable views and inputs into the Council on how to improve local services for the elderly in Blacktown.  We wish her success in the fulfillment of her duties to serve the best interests not only of Filipino-Australian senior citizens but also of the broader migrant communities in Blacktown.”

A resident of Blacktown since the 1980’s, Mrs. Natividad holds a doctorate degree in education and a former President of the Sydney Australian-Filipino Seniors, Inc. (SAFSI), one of the largest Filipino senior citizen organization in the State of New South Wales.

The City of Blacktown, some 45 kilometers west of Sydney, hosts a population of 20,878 persons of Filipino ancestry, making the Filipino-Australian community the third largest ethnic group in the city next to those of local Australian and English heritage. END

/wingret

(Home)