Umpisa na ang labanan

I've been busy in the last few weeks in preparation for our US trip. I was glad our HK trip didnt push thru because if it did, I'd still be grasping for breath amidst heavy loads of work, haay...I still haven't found my assistant (and eventually replacement) to turn over my tasks. I was particularly struck by the subject line of our ISO Consultant in one of the emails he sent that said "Umpisa na ang labanan" (start of the fight). Well it's not a fight between the Americans and Filipinos but rather, start of the fight in quest of the success of our endeavor. After the kick off meeting via teleconference call, I realized that it's really going to be a tough job for us convincing our counterparts in the US to be compliant to our standards. I just hope that they will all participate and the resistance to change will not surface.