Nearly 100 APODCAA members and their families braved the cold to give a warm welcome to one of their own, HE Jejomar C. Binay, a loyal member of Alpha Phi Omega for half a century. Vic DeLeon, president of APODCAA led the reception in honor of the Vice President of the Republic of the Philippines, in downtown DC on February 1, 2011.
To add to the warm welcome, APODCAA surprised the Vice President by bringing to the audience his APO batch mate, Willy del Rosario, whom the VP had not seen for almost 50 years. The Vice President was accompanied by his 20-plus delegation and were treated to a sumptuous dinner and fellowship.
The VP shared with the audience how even his family and closest advisors doubted that he could win the election. He told of how he had 2% of the votes at the beginning of the campaign while his opponents were at the high 30-40 % at the time. Never wavering throughout the campaign season, he slowly inched higher and higher as the campaign progressed. He eventually won 14 of the 17 regions with a margin of 700 thousand-plus votes. He thanked his APO brothers and sisters who helped him during the campaign and in the immediate aftermath of the election with their courageous efforts to preserve the integrity of the votes.