By Staff
When Prime Minister Stephen Harper was preparing to visit the Philippines in 2012, one of the people his office sought to join him was Francisco ‘Jojo’ Quimpo.
When the Vancouver man received a call from Harper’s office, it got him thinking that perhaps it was time for him to do more for his adopted country.
Previously apolitical, Quimpo began to realize that the Filipino community needed a voice in Parliament to articulate its various interests and causes.
In 2014, Quimpo sought and won the nomination of Harper’s Conservative Party to be its candidate in Vancouver Kingsway in the October 19 federal election.
Prior to coming to Canada with his family in 1996, Quimpo was a law student in the Philippines. As he worked in a fish-packing plant to provide for his family, he never forgot his dream to work in the legal profession. He eventually completed his studies in Vancouver and became a paralegal at a premier law firm in Vancouver, where he worked in litigation and evidence management for several years.
Quimpo is also active in the community, organizing festival and other public events to share the vibrant Filipino culture with the rest of Canada. He is the founder of the Pinoy Fiesta: Unang Hirit summer event, the largest Filipino event in the Metro Vancouver region.
Quimpo, a descendant of a prominent political family in Aklan province in the Philippines, also uses his talent as an entertainer by performing at various fundraising initiatives for victims of natural calamities in the Philippines.