CFO Second Global Summit appoints DDB Group Philippines

CFO Second Global Summit appoints DDB Group Philippines

The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), the government agency mandated to promote the interests of overseas Filipinos and strengthen their ties with the motherland, recently appointed DDB Group Philippines as its official communications partner and marketing arm for the 2nd Global Summit of Filipinos in the Diaspora to be held on February 25-27, 2013.

DDB Group Philippines, one of the largest companies in the Philippine advertising industry, entered into the agreement with the CFO in line with its corporate social responsibility program. For the coming Global Summit, it will mobilize its services in integrated marketing and communications, advertising, customer relationship management, strategic media planning, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and specialty communications.

With its theme ‘Two Years Thereafter: The Best of the Philippine Diaspora’, CFO chairperson Secretary Imelda M. Nicolas expects the event to be the biggest Filipino global summit of community leaders of Philippine associations worldwide. It will track the progress of the different groups’ diaspora projects and identify areas of synergies among them in order to enhance their contributions to Philippine development. The summit also aims to promote networking among Overseas Filipinos (OFs) in the different regions of the world and accelerate participation of second- and third-generation OFs in the country’s development. Diaspora refers to the movement or migration of people away from their countries of origin, heritage or interest while maintaining links with their homeland.

Through its flagship program, Diaspora to Development (D2D), which was launched during the First Global Summit in 2010, the Commission intends to institutionalize and maximize overseas Filipino involvement in the socio-cultural and economic development of the Philippines through 10 major areas of interventions including skills and technology transfer, arts and culture exchange, educational exchange, business linkaging, diaspora investments, global legal assistance, advocacy, diaspora philanthropy, medical mission coordination, tourism initiatives, and return and reintegration.

In addition to Secretary Nicolas who serves as chairperson, the CFO has a nine-person board of commissioners which includes: the Department of Foreign Affairs as vice chairman; and Departments of Trade and Industry, Labor and Employment, Education (DepEd), Justice (DOJ), Tourism (DOT), Presidential Communications Operations Office, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and the CFO’s Executive Director Mary Grace Tirona as members.