By FILAM STAR STAFF
Filipino American community leaders in Daly City and in the Bay Area are clamoring for Mario Panoringan to seek a Daly City council seat in the coming November elections.
Those pushing for his council bid said Panoringan, a well-respected local leader and former publisher and co-founder of the Fil-Am Star, has the leadership qualities to represent the large ethnic Filipino community in the city council.
These leaders think that Mario — an affable and approachable person — is deemed a perfect fit for a council seat because of his deep and long years of involvement in community affairs.
With his experience and leadership traits, Mario can help solve the many problems of Daly City known as the “Gateway to the Peninsula,” particularly issues that impact on the growing the Fil-Am community there.
A certified achiever, Mario has received the “Daly City Citizen of the Year Award” and the prestigious “Professional of the Year Award” from the Peninsula Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, both in 1998.
In the business community, Mario was Chief Executive Officer of the Daly City-Colma Chamber of Commerce since 2004, making him the first Filipino American ever to head a mainstream Chamber of Commerce in the United States. He was voted twice as chair of the SamTrans (San Mateo County Transit District) Citizens Advisory Council, and the Daly City Supporters of Doelger Senior Center, among others.
He was also Chairman of the Daly City Planning Commission, which oversaw the approval of the $200 million Pacific Plaza Project along Junipero Boulevard.
Aside from these, Mario also served as President of the Daly City-Colma Chamber of Commerce in 1999, and organized and led the first-ever Trade and Tourism Mission to the Philippines on the same year.
In further promoting and strengthening the bond among Filipinos and Americans, he founded and presided over the Filipino American Coalition and the Daly City-Quezon City Sister City Committee aside from having been active with the San Francisco-Manila Sister City Committee.
And in recognition of his dedication and service, Mario was designated as Honorary Consul former President Fidel V. Ramos, his province-mate in Pangasinan.
Mario’s long and uninterrupted community involvement has lasted more than three decades. And he remains to be a respected leader in the Filipino American community, and the community as a whole. He enjoys books, golf and movies.
As Fil-Am Star publisher, Mario ably steered the paper during the crucial stage of its infancy. But he had to leave the job late last year to attend to pressing family matters that required him to commute frequently between his native province of Pangasinan and the United States.
People close to him said he has always wanted to serve the Fil-Ams of Daly City in an elective capacity — and now is the opportune moment to achieve that lofty goal.
In a city where one in every three residents is a Filipino, the popular yet humble Mario Panoringan is considered a winner because of the respect and widespread support he enjoys in the ethnic community he has served so well for more than 30 years. (With report from Cesar Nucum, Jr.)
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