16 December 2022, SAN FRANCISCO – Philippine Consul General in San Francisco Neil Frank Ferrer congratulated three Filipino American mayors who were recently sworn in as local chief executives in the cities of Colma, Daly City and South San Francisco in California.
Joanne del Rosario was sworn in as mayor of Colma on 13 December 2022, replacing outgoing Mayor Helen Fisicaro. Del Rosario was the first female Filipino American to become Mayor in the San Francisco Bay Area, and her recent appointment will be her fifth time to serve as Colma’s Mayor. She was first elected to office as a member of the City Council in December 2006, and last served as Mayor in 2015. She was reelected as Councilmember of Colma in the last elections in November 2022.
South San Francisco’s first Filipino American woman mayor, Buenaflor Nicolas, took her oath of office on 13 December to replace Mark Nagales, the city’s first mayor of Filipino descent. Nicolas is the fourth woman mayor of the city known as the “Birthplace of Biotechnology,” and which has become a biotech industry hub with over 200 biotech companies headquartered in the city. Mayor Nicolas, an immigrant from the Philippines who mentioned her hard-earned life experiences as a biotech executive herself, said she will work towards building an “inclusive and equitable community” in the city.
In Daly City, Ray Buenaventura was sworn in as Mayor, his fourth time to take on this position, on 12 December 2022.
“On behalf of the Consulate General of the Philippines in San Francisco, I am sending our warmest congratulations and best wishes to Mayor Buenaflor Nicolas of South San Francisco City, Mayor Joanne del Rosario of Colma, and Mayor Ray Buenaventura of Daly City. We look forward to working with them in the service of our Filipino American communities in their cities,” Consul General Ferrer said.
(Photo courtesy of Mayor Ray Buenaventura)