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For the past 17 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
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This website includes selected articles from this week's edition of the Filipino Express. Not all the stories published in the printed version appear on this site.
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To tell us what you think about Filipino Express Online or to comment on the stories published here, E-mail us at Filexpress@aol.com
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Movie actor Ricky Davao will receive the Fanclubx.com Lifetime Achievement Award in Entertainment during the benefit screening of LaVisa Loca on August 26 in New York City.
Ricky Davao has inspired many of Filipino American filmmakers abroad.
Known recently for his role as a dirty cop in “Saranggola (The Kite),” he has won Best Actor awards from various film festivals and award-giving bodies such as the Cine Manila Film Festival, the Urian awards, the Star awards, and FAMAS.
Davao first appeared as a singer and dancer in his early teens and has starred in 75 movies ranging from comedy to drama. He is also well versed on stage, appearing in the Philippine productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “ Jesus Christ Superstar,” Rodger and Hammerstein’s “the King and I,” and many more.
Ricky Davao will be on hand at the ImaginAsian theater, 239 E 59 St, to help kick off the new satiric movie La Visa Loca. The film centers around the Filipino’s quest to achieve the American dream made possible only by attaining a highly elusive US visa.
The film is produced by Sharon Cuneta, co-produced by UP Alumnus Tony Garcia, and directed by another UP Alumnus Mark Meily. UP Alumni, family and friends are encouraged to attend the event to support fellow alumni and help current UP students
Tickets for the screening, reception, and award ceremony are at $20. A portion of the proceeds will be used to fund the UPAA Adopt-A-Scholar project to support deserving UP Juniors, Senior Iskolars ng Bayan, and the Society of Filipino Archivists (SOFIA), an organization that aims to preserve Filipino film heritage.
For ticket inquiries please email Luis Pedron at luisfpintvip@yahoo.com, Dr. Menchee Quesada Fulgado at upaa-ny@nyc.rr.com or Elaine Magalona-Dayoan at emagalona@yahoo.com.
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HONOR ROLL. Officers of the Knights of Rizal, guests of honor and the awardees after the rites. From left to right: KGCR Roger Alama; Consul General Cecil Rebong; Pat Berberabe, Entrepreneur; Jose Douglas Ovilla, Civic Leadership; Victor Sison, Esq., Government Service; Arnie Rosario representing Juliet Rosario, Health Care; Reddie Ungco representing Dr. Cecilia Ungco-Schewerman, Health Care; Mystica Flor Tolentino, Education; Lina Gonzales and Amor McQuiness of UP Rondalla, Culture and Arts; and Sir Lito A. Gajilan Jr., KCR chapter commander.
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Jersey City, NEW JERSEY --- For their leadership and involvement in the Filipino American community, the husband and wife team of Francis and Evelyn Sison have been selected as Jersey City’s “Outstanding Parents of the Year”.
Both Francis and Evelyn hailed from Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur in Northern Luzon.
Francis runs his own import-export business FDS Enterprise and his employment agency. He is an active member of the Kansas City, Missouri-based People to People International, and an active leader of various Filipino American organizations in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Philadelphia area.
Evelyn, a registered nurse currently with the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ, is also active with People to People International.
People to People, an international organization founded by President Dwight Eisenhower, aims to encourage international understanding through educational, cultural and humanitarian exchange among peoples from different countries.
The Sisons have two sons, Michael Vincent, 25, and Carl Francis, 16.
Michael Vincent holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Bio-Medicine from Rutgers University and is currently taking up Nursing at the Bayonne Medical Center School of Nursing.
Carl Francis, a consistent honor student at McNair Academy in Jersey City, aspires to become an Army surgeon.
Francis Sison is presently the president of the Santa Maria Ilocos Sur Association in the Eastern Seaboard Inc., of which he was one of the founders.
In 2003 and 2004, he served as the Executive Ball chairman of Performing Arts Philippines Inc. and the Philippine Community Center, spearheading the fundraising drive to benefit gifted Filipino American youth artists.
Last year, he was the New Jersey chairman of the of the Philippine Independence Day Council Inc., and presently a committee chairman of the Garden State Filipino American Association.
This year, Francis is a chairman for three of the largest Filipino American umbrella organizations in the US. He is executive chairman of the Philippine Day Organizing Council, executive vice overall chairman for special events of the Philippine American Friendship Committee (PAFCOM), and chair of the parade and general services and operations committee of the Philippine Independence Day Council Inc.
Evelyn Sison is a co-founder and currently corresponding secretary of the Santa Maria Ilocos Sur Association in the Eastern Seaboard.
She is the director of the Educational and Cultural Center of New Jersey and assistant business manager for the Performing Arts Philippines Inc.
She was crowned Mrs. Independence Day on June 4 during this year’s celebration of the Philippine Independence Day in Jersey City.
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Lel Garcia, a young Fil-am rock fan, enters the Time Square branch of Virgin Megastore and heads straight toward the rock & pop section of the giant music seller. She browses through the long shelves of compact discs, hoping to buy the music of a Fil-Am band she saw perform the other night at a downtown NYC rock club. Unable to find the CD, she turns to a Virgin Megastore sales girl nearby. “ I’m looking for The Magical Ride by The Ferns”, She tells the VMS sales personnel. The sales girl quickly scours the racks up and down, side to side, but finds no sign of the band and their CD.
The fact is, they can both look for it at every record store in NYC and still go home empty handed. Why? Because no record store in NYC carries any Fil-Am music on their shelves. Never did, and looks like never will -- until now.
Last June, a group of musicians and entrepreneurs from Manila and New York established an independent record company catering exclusively to US-based Fil-Am acts aiming to put their music in every shelf of every music store in the US, real or virtual.
“It’s about time we put our local Fil-Am talents where they really belong – the mainstream” says Jeff Antiporda, the executive director of Soulworks Records LLC. “If most minority groups can sell their music at Tower Records and the iTunes online music store, why can’t we?” Antiporda adds.
“It’s a shame we only have Philippine-based artists on sale in Pinoy Stores and totally nothing on the mainstream American stores. Why can’t they carry the local, NY-NJ-based bands or singers’ CDs?” adds Jojo E, the NJ -based talent A&R of Soulworks records.
“Listen to a recent “Parokya Ni Edgar” album, and a local Fil-Am bands’ effort, then compare it to other indie CDs from other minority acts, which are enjoying “shelf-time” in major music retailers. You’ll then realize that all of them are well produced and professionally done.“ Jojo E, explains. “ Quality wise, we are up there. So if there’s any reason why our CDs cannot get the same shelf-time, it must be the marketing. ”He continues.
The marketing aspect
Consider this. Almost all the Filipino stores in the NY/NJ region don’t carry independent titles from local Fil-Am artists, for the sole reason that these local artists doesn’t have the popularity of a “Parokya Ni Edgar”, which gets mainstream media coverage in the Philippines.
As a result, these Fil-Am bands don’t get coverage from The Filipino Channel and the newly established GMA global channel, which in turn doesn’t make them an easy sell to the Fil-am community.
Moreso, if competing with a Philippine-based band like “Parokya” seem to be a lost battle due to the extensive media coverage these pinoy bands get, what more can they do to compete with other minority artists here in the states, who have access to their very own cable TV stations, Radio Stations and print media? Even “Parokya” doesn’t stand a chance against these US-bases minority artists.
Soulworks records aims to solve this issue by establishing a media channel for their acts through their website; a site which would have a regular radio program featuring their talents; a TV program aimed at showing their talent’s live performances, music videos, and documentaries; and print materials to further broaden the coverage of their acts,
“Putting an independent Fil-Am CD in Tower Records or iTunes online music store is easy as long as these acts have enough local media exposure. “If Time Out NY or MTV won’t cover our acts, we must double our efforts to bring the word out there on our own, and that’s exactly what we’re going do. In order to get shelf-time from major stores, we must create a real demand for the product. And we can achieve this with the potent combination of an explosive artist and a clever maketing strategy.”, Antiporda concludes.
The fact that there is such a fan like Lel Garcia, who is willing to tread the entire island of Manhattan, for a copy of a Fil-Am band’s CD, is proof enough that there are indeed, lots of explosive Fil-Am artists out there waiting to be signed by a company and marketed to the mainstream.
It may be a million miles away from the stature of, say, the Hip Hop industry, or the Latin music industry, or the fast-growing, Japanese-punk industry, but nevertheless, it’s a noble start.
Note: Soulworks Records has a talented set of Artist & Repertoire people scouting for great Fil-Am artists who deserve a break.
For submission info email them at soulworksrecords@mac.com
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The Maharajah, USA Inc. will commemorate its 27th Anniversary on September 3 in honor of the patron saint of Macabebe, Pampanga, Saint Nicholas de Tolentino.
Co-presidents Lourdes P. “Lulu” Yabut and Enrique “Jake” Reyes will be hosting the annual event, a black tie dinner ball at 6:30 pm at the Wayne Manor, 1515 Route 23 Wayne, New Jersey.
As a showcase of Macabebe Beauty, Miss Tonie Marie Balingit will be crowned Miss Maharajah 2005 at the ball There is a donation of $65 per plate.
Festivities will continue until September 4 at the Holy Face Monastery in Clifton, New Jersey. A mass will be celebrated at noon, followed by a procession and the traditional “fiesta” where guests are invited to sample various Pampanga dishes and to experience Macabebe hospitality.
Basketball tournaments are also taking place at Passaic Etta Gero School Number 9 at 140 First Street in Passaic, New Jersey. Games are scheduled for August 14, 21, 28, and Sept 4 from 9am-4pm.
Proceeds for all events will go to Macabebe for ongoing projects including scholarships, maintenance of schools and churches, and to aid flood and typhoon victims.
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Union, NEW JERSEY --- “An Untold Triumph,” the never-been-told story of the U.S. Army’s 1st and 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiments, will be shown on Saturday, August 27, 2005, 4:30pm at the United Methodist Church located at Byrwin Street and Overlook Terrace, Union Township (Union County), New Jersey. Admission is $10 per person.
This film, produced by Noel Izon, illuminates the most important period in the history of Filipino-Americans and chronicles the creation of the regiments which were made up of more than 7,000 immigrants and sons of immigrants.
This award-winning 85-minute documentary is narrated by actor Lou Diamond Phillips. It focuses on on a time during World War when immigrants have to assert their rights to join America’s fight for freedom.
Since the end of WW II, the vital role played by these US Army regiments is Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s covert plan to retake the Philippines has remained untold. Not simply a story of men at war, it is an intimate portrait of a people who were unlike any other in America. Their love for America -- the land of their colonizers -- and the love for their ancestral homeland defined them as they served both countries in this time of war.
“An Untold Triumph” had its world premiere on Nov. 4, 2002, at the Hawaii International Film Festival where it won the “Blockbuster Video Audience Award for Best Documentary.”
This significant piece of American history will aid educators and students as this ethnic history is used in classrooms across the country. Community showings and public forums are an integral part of the unfolding of this documentary in the US and will be staged wherever sponsorship is provided.
This powerful documentary will continue making its rounds at US and international film festivals. A showing at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC was held to a standing-room- only audience.
The Union Township (Union County) showing is co-sponsored by the Filipino American Political Action Organization of Union County, Inc. (FAPAO-UC). Proceeds of the movie will be used to sustain projects of the organization, such as civic awareness and education, voter registration campaign, leadership programs and citizenship projects.
For additional information, call Joey Lagdameo, President-FAPAO-UC at (908) 249-2730 & (908) 686-1649; Paul M. Verzosa, Vice President at (908) 764-9011;
Benny Tolentino, Chairman of the Board at (908)265-2878, Gani Puertollano, Chair, Fund Raising Committee at (908)230-6468 and Jess Arteche, Director (908) 687-8787.
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