PCGNY.net | News Release

FILIPINOS IN NORTHEAST USA CELEBRATE 108TH INDEPENDENCE DAY

PHILIPPINE CONSULATE - NEWS RELEASE
04 July 2006

NEW YORK --- On June 4, 2006. Filipinos in New York City and environs converged on Madison Avenue in Manhattan for an all-day celebration of the 108th anniversary of the proclamation of Philippine Independence Day.

Philippine government officials led by Ambassador Lauro Baja and Consul General Cecilia Rebong and leaders of the Filipino community in New York and neighboring states, including WWII Filam veterans, gather for the flag-raising rites in front of the Philippine Center in New York to commemorate the 108th Anniversary of the proclamation of Philippine Independence.

The celebrations began at 8:30 A.M. with a flag-raising ceremony in front of the Philippine Center on Fifth Avenue. Officers and staff of all Philippine government offices represented in New York led the flag-raising ceremony. Leaders of the various Filipino-American organizations in New York and neighboring states also joined the flag-raising ceremony. The ceremony was followed by a thanksgiving mass. After the mass, everyone proceeded to Madison Avenue for the Independence Day Parade.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City (in yellow sweat shirt) joins the Philippine Independence Day Parade.

Described by several local T.V. stations (Channels 4 and 9) as “probably the biggest Philippine Independence Day parade and celebration outside the Philippines,” the parade, which started at 40th Street and ended at 20th Street on Madison Avenue, attracted more than eighty (80) Fil-Am organizations, 12 marching bands and 15 colorfully decorated floats. Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City also joined the parade and later greeted the Filipino community on the occasion of their freedom day.

It took all of two hours for the parade to finish. Throngs of excited members of the Filipino community as well as curious onlookers lined both sides of Madison Avenue as the parade wound its way along Madison Avenue.

After the parade, the participants joined in the street fair which began earlier at Madison Park between 23rd and 24th streets. With the passageways almost impassable due to the large number of people that turned up, the street fair featured booths offering a variety of Filipino food, products, and services. One of these booths belonged to the New York Consulate General where consular officers and staff handed out leaflets and brochures about current Philippine government programs for overseas Filipinos such as the 2nd Ambassador’s and Consuls’ General Tour of the Philippines, the on-going registration of overseas absentee voters, and the Dual Citizenship Law. Towards sundown, the celebration’s Cultural Night began. A parade of local Filipino artists regaled the crowd with song and dance numbers.

Overall, the Philippine Independence Day celebrations in New York City this year will go down memory lane as yet another superb commemoration of Philippine freedom day by Filipinos and their friends in Northeast USA. The success of the celebrations is a product of the combined efforts and dedication of the Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc., (PIDCI), the various Fil-Am organizations in New York and neighboring states such as New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, and the Philippine Consulate General in New York working with them and providing them support.