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For the past 21 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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CHICAGO-- It is only January but preparation for the 110th anniversary celebration of the Philippine Independence six months from now is now in high gear in Chicago, Illinois, where four groups are celebrating the same event separately.
The Philippine Week Committee 2008 launched Saturday, Jan. 5, the kick off and induction of officers that will host this year’s one fourth of the Philippine Independence Week celebration in Chicago. The kick off-induction was held at Manzo’s Ristorante & Banquet Hall in Des Plaines, Illinois.
Thelma T. Fuentes,overall chairperson of this year’s Philippine Week Committee 2008, appealed to the Filipino American community for support to her group’s effort to celebrate 110th anniversary celebration of this year’s Philippine Independence from Spain on June 12, 1898, with the theme, “Caring to share, sharing to care.”
“We are looking for volunteers, advertisers, sponsors,
patrons and buyers of tickets that will raise funds to support the hosting of the event,” Ms. Fuentes, a registered nurse, told a group of supporters.
Supporters included officers of another group –Kalayaan
of the Council of Presidents – headed by Ms. Myrna
Tamayo, who announced her group’s kick off of their event on January 12, 2008 at Meridian Banquet Hall (847-952-8181) at 1701 Algonquin Road, Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Miss Fuentes, R.N., said that she is always
open to suggestions that only one group should host the Philippine Independence celebration in the community
in keeping with the spirit of the celebration.
For her part, Ms. Tamayo, this year’s chair of COP- Kalayaan 2008, said she will adopt her predecessor’s effort to hold common celebration with Philippine Week Committee by joining the parade and picnic with Fuentes-led faction on June 8, 2008 at the Bunker Hills Forest Preserve on Caldwell St. near Devon Avenue in Chicago.
In his visit to Chicago area last Oct. 27, 2007, Commissioner Alfredo G. Gabot of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts told some members of the NPC-Phil. U.S.A. that if he has his way,the Chicago Filipino community should only have one group
that should lead in celebrating the Philippine Independence.
Mr. Gabot said that because the Philippine Independence
is a Philippine government undertaking, as it is done
in the Philippines, the Chicago-based Midwest Philippine Consulate General should take a leading role in organizing the Philippine Independence celebration.
He said the Philippine Consulate should invite the
officers of the four groups,celebrating the Philippine Independence, at the earliest opportunity and discuss ways on how they can join their resources and talents in celebrating it into a single event.
When informed of Gabot’s proposal, COP’s Kalayaan founder, Orly Bernardino, agreed to the suggestion, saying, “Of course, I would like the hosting of a single Independence event in Chicago area.”
Bernardino, publisher of Philippine Weekly in Chicago,
who turned up at the Fuentes-led kick off, said, “but putting these various groups together is going to be a challenge.”
Vice Consul Roberto T. Bernardo, who represented Consul General Blesila Cabrera at the kick off, did not address the “unity” celebration but merely wished the organizers a success.
In her remarks, Ms. Fuentes thanked her “fellow officers and volunteers” for attending the kick off of the event. She said among the beneficiaries of whatever funds the Philippine Week Committee 2008 will collect will be the following current projects of her group: “Feeding the street children of Manila,” which involve
200 street kids, who are taught gospel songs and Bible
verses and treated to some Jollibee food and toys and shirts; Supplying artesian wells where potable water is scarce; Sponsoring medical missions and scholarship programs from donations from PACF (Philippine American Cultural Foundation); donating to veterans, senior citizens and other charitable causes.”
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THE newly organized Somerville Metro Lions Club in Somerset County, NJ is inviting the Filipino-American community to support the Club in its Charter Night on Saturday, January 26, 2008 at the Bridgewater Manor.
The Club is one of the newest charters of Lions Club International, one of the most widely respected and
recognized service organizations in the world.
The Club is composed of 26 hardworking men and women who share a common desire to have a positive impact in the different areas of society thru community service.
For more information about the Charter Night, please contact the Club’s Charter Secretary, Rogel Bautista, at (908) 268-4346 or n.bautista@patmedia.net. You may also inquire about the event through Paul
Verzosa at 908-764-9011.”
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