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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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New York City, NEW YORK --- Want to feel good this Christmas season while at the same time help in highlighting again that Filipinos are among the most talented in the world?
And in so doing, make a nine-year old girl’s wish come true of becoming the first Filipino to win the “TV Trophy Award” of a prestigious US TV show?
Just log on to www.usatvbroadcast.com and click on the photo of Amanda Puyot as many times as you want to vote for her.
Voting for her would allow her to inch closer to bagging the most coveted award.
Ada, as she is called by friends and family, has emerged on top of the heap of some 14,000 aspirants for the children division of the USA World Showcase Competition’s singing category held last October 22 at the MGM in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ada is a third grade student from St. Jude Catholic School in St. Petersburg, Florida.
She has been singing since she was three years old. Ada won her first singing contest at the Improv in Tampa, Florida. Since then, she has been getting invitations to perform in other competitions, shows and weddings, in the Tampa Bay area.
Of the 14,000 aspirants, Ada was chosen to be part of the 200 to showcase their talents at the MGM last October 22.
There, she won the children division.
Her family and friends are asking Filipinos throughout the US to vote for her so she can earn as many points to become part of an elite group of 25 who will finally vie for the “TV Trophy Award.”
Internet voting starts on January 1 next year. The top 25 will be posted on January 7, after which voting continues until midnight of Saturday, January 14.
The winner of the TV viewers trophy and cash prize will be posted on the web (www.usabroadcast.com) on Sunday, 6 pm, January 15.
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Minneapolis, MINNESOTA --- MoneyGram and Equitable PCI Bank recently announced the extension of MoneyGram service in the Philippines through the network of Cebuana Lhuillier Service Corporation.
MoneyGram, together with Equitable PCI Bank, plans to continue to expand locations in the Philippines and to provide MoneyGram money transfer services for the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and immigrants worldwide.
The MoneyGram global money transfer service enables individuals to send and receive cash internationally in just 10 minutes.without the need for a bank account. Friends and relatives overseas now can send money from 84,000 money transfer agent locations in 170 countries worldwide.
“With the addition of Cebuana Lhuillier, the subagent of Equitable PCI Bank, our service is available for more hours, every day of the week. This enables us to provide a more convenient and reliable service to our customers,“ said Nick Cunnew, regional director of MoneyGram International in the Asia Pacific region.
Cebuana Lhuillier, one of the biggest pawnshop networks in the Philippines, started offering MoneyGram’s money transfer service at its 489 branches on Dec 1, 2005. Some branches open as early as 7:00 a.m., 7 days a week.
MoneyGram International, Inc., (NYSE:MGI) is a leading global payment services company and S & P MidCap 400 company. The company’s major products and services include global money transfers, money orders and payment processing solutions for financial institutions and retail customers.
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Cambridge, MASSACHUSETTS --- The Filipino Students Association (FSA) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) hosted a symposium on Thursday, December 8, to recognize and celebrate the Filipino entrepreneurial spirit. The symposium was held at the Tang Auditorium inside the sprawling MIT campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Hosted by the FSA with the support of MIT’s Special Program for Urban and regional Studies (SPURS), the symposium featured two MIT Filipino scholars who have made pioneering works that either represented the Filipino’s entrepreneurial spirit or challenged the Filipino to unlock his potential for entrepreneurship.
The scholars were Illac Diaz, a 2005-2006 MIT Humphrey Fellow and the first recipient of the Philippines’ Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) for social entrepreneurship award and Neil Ruiz, a Ph.D. candidate at the MIT Department of Political Science, and lead organizer of a team of Filipinos at MIT that founded the Philippine Emerging Startups Open (PESO)
Illac shared his story of how five years ago, without the help of government or donor agencies, he opened a low-cost lodging somewhere in the Manila port area for Filipino seamen and transients from the provinces.
Calling it “Pier One Center,” Illac’s project grew from a 40-bed concern to the largest migrant shelter of its kind in the Philippines.
For only one dollar ($1.00) a night or its equivalent in Philippine pesos, seamen who were in between jobs and transients from the provinces could spend the night at the Center complete with clean water, clean bed sheets, and a safe environment.
Those who could not afford the minimal fee worked or paid it off by volunteering in the Center’s various other projects such as building water stations for residents and neighboring communities.
Now in the MIT SPURS/Humphrey program, Illac is formulating the next big scalable solutions for homelessness in the rural areas.
Ruiz said that PESO was a technology and innovation-oriented business plan competition in the Philippines that uses the MIT $50K model to build a collaborative entrepreneurial environment.
With the help of a fellowship and grant from MIT Public Service Center, Neil and company organized the first Philippine PESO Challenge in the Philippines this year, which attracted the support of major constituencies from academic, business, industry, nonprofit and government sectors.
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Lexington, KENTUCKY --- Even though teenager Karl Washington didn’t understand the Tagalog words at Catholic Mass last night, he understood its purpose.
“It makes us stronger as a Filipino community,” said Washington.
Filipinos from around the Bluegrass gathered on December 18 celebrating Simbang Gabi at St. Paul Catholic Church at 501 W. Short Street in Lexington.
Traditionally in the Philippines, Catholic parishioners meet for Mass at 4 a.m. the nine days before Christmas, said Nellie Bingcang, who was the liturgy planner and pianist at the service. Simbang Gabi culminates on Christmas Eve with a midnight Mass.
However, Simbang Gabi was held on one night in Lexington mainly because of work schedules, said Noel Zamora, a seminarian.
Washington, 14, who grew up in Lexington and is half-Filipino, admitted he attended Simbang Gabi because his mom wanted him to. However, he said he enjoyed learning more about his heritage, said a report from the Lexington Herald-Leader.
“We share that part of our tradition,” said Zamora, who emigrated in 2001. At the same time, the next generation can see “what it was like back home.”
Some Filipinos have lived in the Lexington area as long as 30 years, but this is just the second year St. Paul held Simbang Gabi. The tradition started through a church leader who wanted to welcome young Filipino adults interning at Lexmark, said the Rev. Charles Niehaus of St. Paul.
“We thought, ‘What way can this parish be a home away from home when they are missing their home in the Philippines?’” Niehaus said.
With the church’s interest in the tradition, more Filipinos caught on. This year, about 70 people attended the service, which was double from last year, Zamora said.
“There is something about talking and worshiping God in your own language,” Zamora said. “The gospel really becomes alive.”
Rev. Norman Fischer, a Kentucky native who is half-Filipino and half-African-American, officiated Simbang Gabi for the first time.
“I felt a special honor with my heritage and a reminder of the presence of God’s love alive in each of our hearts,” Fischer said.
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Jersey City, NEW JERSEY --- Marilou Sengco, 45, a nursing assistant in Jersey City, woke up very early on the morning of December 16 to attend the first of the nine-day “Simbang Gabi” at St. Mary’s Church. Like many Filipino Americans in Jersey City, she is determined to complete the nine-day early dawn Masses leading to Christmas Day.
Since 1996, Simbang Gabi has been celebrated at the St. Mary’s Church. With Filipinos continuing to flock to the church even at the supposedly unholy hour of 5:00 am every year, this tradition of Christmas night Masses still lives in the heart of Filipinos despite being thousands of miles and several years away from their native Philippines.
“Simbang Gabi is part of us living a Christian life. This tradition gives us a sense of oneness,” said Sengco, adding that she has completed the nine-day early morning Masses for the past five years now.
She vividly recalled when she was in her 20s living in the Philippines, she used to attend the pre-dawn “Simbang Gabi”.
Despite of the cold early morning breeze, she would wake up before 4:00 a.m. to attend Mass.
As a tradition, Filipinos believe that those who completed the masses would have a special grace and their special prayers would be granted.
In the Philippines, faithful Catholics usually pack the churches for the pre-dawn Masses held inside mostly Spanish-inspired century-old churches.
Sengco recalled that in the Philippines, after every ealry morning Mass, Filipinos would partake of the special purple rice cake called “Puto Bumbong.”
At St. Mary’s Church’s Social Hall, Filipinos feasted on special culinary delights such as arroz caldo, cakes, soup, chicken adobo and pancit donated by Filipino religious organizations attending the parishes of St.. Bridget’s , St. Michael’s and St. Mary’s churches.
“This is part of Filipino fellowship and tradition. We like to eat after a novena,” said Mila Nananghaya, a retired medical technologist from St. Mary’s hospital in Hoboken.
“This year, I’m attending the Simbang Gabi with a special wish: Healing for some members of my family,” said Nanaghaya.
During the Mass, Fr. Vic Kennedy gave a homily and inspired the Filipinos to live with the values of Christ.
Global Pinoy.com said that it was in 16th century when Pope Sixtus V decreed that these pre-dawn Masses be also held in the Philippines starting every December 16.
The decree was in keeping with the nine-day traditional festivals of Filipinos in celebrating auspicious occasions like harvest time. It was also meant to give farmers a chance to hear mass before setting out for the fields. Rural Filipinos were used to starting the day two hours before sunrise.
Five days before the start of the Simbang Gabi, members of the St. Mary’s Church choir start practicing Filipino Christmas carols.
They sing Holiday ditties such as “Pasko na Sinta Ko, ( Christmas Is Here, Honey),” and “Ang Pasko ay Sumapit ( Christmas is Coming),” to serenade church goers during the night Masses.
It’s not a surprise that Angie Ammen, a nursing assistant in Jersey City, took a two-week vacation from work so she could attend the nightly masses.
“I want to spend this Simbang Gabi with my relatives. My prayers are intended to help people return to faith,” said Ammen.
“Most Filipinos have hectic schedules. They work hard every day and very dedicated. These nightly masses help Filipinos to renew their acquaintance and friendship,” said Lou Gregorio, a guitarist for the St. Mary’s Church choir.
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