Author: Frank Gayaldo

Sporadically for over twenty years and with much greater focus and determination since 2019, Frank Gayaldo has done humanitarian work primarily focused on a remote fishing village located in the Northern Philippines. Calay-ab, Santo Domingo, Ilocos Sur is the ancestral village of his wife, Edythe. Frank and Edythe’s main joint project, the philanthropic “Tuk Tuk Inn by the Sea”, is only seconds away from the politically and environmentally sensitive West Philippine Sea and minutes away from the UNESCO World Heritage City of Vigan. Frank met Edythe over twenty years ago at a Stockton, California jail while she worked as a Registered Nurse and he as a sheriff correctional training officer. At that time, Frank, an ex-bounty hunter and San Quentin State Prison guard that had worked with some of the most dangerous criminals on the entire planet, had zero idea how such a stunningly beautiful Filipina American would totally change the trajectory of his life. Since retiring from a twenty-year career in law enforcement (city, county, state, federal and self-employed) in 2004, Frank has helped raise global awareness and profitability for several US based agricultural producers. Frank worked as a passionate promoter of value-added US agricultural exports. Frank’s motivation came from growing up on his family’s vineyard in Lodi, California that he still farms today. Frank’s eclectic experience has given him an extensive network of government, media and business connections that literally spans the globe. In May of 2006, he organized an international wine tasting event that resulted in Costa Rican President and former Nobel Peace Prize winner, Oscar Arias, serving three boutique wines from Lodi, California at his presidential inauguration. Frank has been an organizer of several inbound and outbound trade missions to China that have resulted in the purchase of multiple container loads of various California agricultural products, including wine and tree nuts. Over the years, Frank has personally hosted numerous high ranking foreign dignitaries from China, Costa Rica, Japan and Russia at his vineyard home in the spirit of friendship and promoting California agriculture. Frank’s international successes have received coverage in the Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Central Valley Business Times, Honolulu Star Advertiser, Sacramento Bee, Stockton Record, AM Costa Rica, El Financero, Russian Observer, Jing Daily, China Wine News, China Daily and World Journal. In 2012, Frank was awarded the “Tourism Advocate of the Year” for his work in promoting international opportunities for his hometown. Frank has served as the very first Director of International Business Development for the Lodi District Chamber of Commerce, the past Chairman of the Board of the Visit Lodi Tourism bureau, and as the Executive Director of the Galt District Chamber of Commerce. Frank was a previous guest columnist for the Lodi News Sentinel and has served as a Senior Investigator Reporter for 209 Times where his investigative journalism efforts led to the capture of a serial killer, prevented a school mass shooting and assisted in curtailing various other acts of extreme violence. In 2018 Frank wrote a children’s book called “Rosa and Guapple” designed to help Filipino children learn English and provide Filipino grape growers a unique way to promote agricultural tourism.