Ex-DH wins seat in Italian town council

By Emman Cena, Karlo Jose R. Pineda
Inquirer
Posted date: March 06, 2007

THE PHILIPPINES AND ITALY ARE worlds apart in politics. Unlike the Philippines, a campaign sortie in Rome, Italy, is not star-studded. There is no crisscrossing of party lines, no campaign jingles, no circus.

But there’s one thing in common: both Filipino and Italian politicians spend a lot to get elected.

Take it from businesswoman Norma Macalindong, a 46-year-old Batangueña based in Rome. She was elected councilor or consiglieri, representing the migrant community in Rome’s Municipio 2 last December.

Macalindong says she only spent “some thousands…way, way little” compared to others” to oil her campaign during the December polls for migrants. “In fact, I only stayed home while an ongoing counting was held,” she tells the Inquirer in an unmistakably Batangueña accent. “My five opponents even had ‘grand pakain ’ (feast) and rented vehicles to fetch the voters.”

She had managed only to tour around town handing out her fliers and posters, she says. No monkey business involved.

“I was startled,” she tells the Inquirer in a phone interview. “My colleagues were earlier telling me that I would probably lose my bid since my opponents were literally courting the voters when what I could only do was shake their hands.”

Two Filipinas

In the local elections in Rome on Dec. 5, Macalindong garnered the highest votes among the Filipino candidates. She and her winning colleagues were sworn into office five days later.

Filipinos took seven out of 20 contested seats. Two of the seven seats went to Filipino women, Macalindong among them.

Elected and sworn in also as consiglieris for other municipios were Joselito Ramirez for Municipio I; Romeo Ramos for Municipio 9; Rachel Gutierrez Dolor for Municipio 7; Conrado Dolor for Municipio 15; Pia Gonzales for Municipio 16; and Demetrio Rafanan for Municipio 20.

As consiglieri, they play an important consultative role in the formulation of policies for foreign residents. They help the local government draft plans targeted at delivering the rights due to migrants.

Her presidency of Mancini Club, an organization of Filipino businesswomen, most of them store owners in Piazza Mancini, worked to Macalindong’s advantage.

“I am actually a mother to most Filipinos here—helping them process their papers for business and staying permits,” she says.

“My fellow Filipinos and other Italian officials cajoled me to run to further my service in the community. They say that I have a great chance of winning, having established good relations with other Filipinos and people from other races.”

Joining politics was not in her to-do list when she went to Rome in 1984 at the age of 24, however. She was first a domestic helper turned businesswoman who morphed into a politician.

11 children

On her first day at the municipal hall, , however could only stare at her fellow officials debating on various laws and ordinances.

“It was actually a difficult day,” she recalls. “I had to study all the SOPs so as not to look stupid, although I could speak Italian.”

She is a mother of 11 children, seven of whom are living with her in Rome, while another four are raising their own families in Batangas. “There was no luck for me in the Philippines so I decided to take chances abroad,” she recalls.

On her first few months in Italy, Macalindong cleaned and scrubbed floors and in her free time sold Filipino food and products at the Termini or Central Train Station in Rome, and at Risorgimento, the tram stations.

“I could not look for an office job here since I only finished third year of high school,” she says. By some twist of fate, however, her sideline selling food grew into a larger business enterprise in 1998: A convenience store sitting on Viale Pinturicchio at Plaza Mancini.

“It all started when I became president of the Mancini club,” she recalls. “We would all spend our days selling Filipino food near Piazza Mancini, there under the bridge, everyday.”

Birth of a ‘sari-sari’ store

Macalindong says she realized that Filipinos thriving in a land far from home miss the salty treat of the tuyo-itlog na pula combo and tangy add-on tastes like bagoong.

Apparently the “sari-sari” store, the Philippine one-stop shop, makes life easier for the average Filipino. This is true especially for his sudden cravings - from the chips and crackers for merienda to canned goods and instant soups for supper, she says. It didn’t take long for her to take notice of this and daringly set up “Norma’s International Food Store” in Rome.

It offers various goods, from soft drinks to dried goods to husked rice, and some Filipino products. Her husband, Jesus, a driver in Batangas, soon joined her in Italy to help run the store.

“Surprisingly, we now have more South American customers than Filipinos although, of course, Filipinos patronize what we sell,” she says. Soon it became the couple’s main livelihood.

Envious Pinoys

“This is all for my children,” says Norma Macalindong. “I have many so I make even the night a working day just to assure their future. With the store, I do hope to feed them and also send them to decent schools.” When one of them is not around, an in-law takes over.

But the business venture was not as easy as she imagined, she says. “It was definitely a hard endeavor, with people trying to pull you down, perhaps because of envy.”

In 1993, she completed her high school (terza media) and was finally granted a license to operate a business from the Camera di Commercio. “I was schooled for a year and four months while still selling goods illegally because I had no permit then.”

Last year, she was awarded as an outstanding Overseas Filipino Entrepreneur by the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship, part of the program called “Go Negosyo Para sa mga OFWs at Balikbayans.” The award was handed by PCE founding trustee Jose Concepcion III and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

New venture

The Macalindongs have also started an export business in the Philippines, managed by one of their children. The Las Piñas-based Macalindong Export-Import was established to reduce import-export expenses.

“We started off with a total of three shipments. For the moment, I’m only supplying our store. I will accommodate other stores in neighboring countries given the right time and the chance,” says Macalindong.

She has also branched out to computer shops and restaurants, and has reached a point when she’s managed to buy four cars for her family in Rome and another four for the rest in Batangas.

“When you’re that passionate in what you’re doing, and you believe that God is by your side, there is just no breaking you down,” she says. She adds that she only hopes Filipinos in Rome are given equal opportunities to enjoy their rights.

Her ultimate dream, she adds, is to go home and settle down in her native land when the right time comes. Something she wants to do when she goes home this month is to join Aquino’s “Deal or No Deal” game show on ABS-CBN Channel 2. She watches it regularly on The Filipino Channel and wants to try it herself, she says.

Now in the local politics in Rome, this daughter of a fish vendor and farmer has really gone a long way. “I will continue to fight for our rights here before I go back to Batangas for good,” she declares.