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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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Philippine Consul General Cecile Rebong and Knights of Rizal New Jersey Chapter Commander Lito A. Gajilan Jr. lead the wreath-laying ceremony at Rizal Park. (Photo by Butch Gata)
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Jersey City, NEW JERSEY --- The Knights of Rizal led the Filipino American community in paying tribute to the Philippines’ national hero , Dr. Jose Rizal, offering flowers at the foot of the statue of Rizal at the Rizal Park and holding a memorial program at the City Hall Council Chambers on December 31.
The tribute was held in time with the Philippine celebration of Rizal Day, which falls on the 30th of December, the date of Rizal’s public execution 109 years ago.
“Rizal has remained relevant because he continues to inspire Filipinos to aspire for independence,” said Jersey City deputy mayor Ador Equipado.
“He helped us to value education, to free ourselves from the bondage of illiteracy and poverty. His teachings are universal. Just like Martin Luther King, his teachings uplifted the world and encouraged people to strive for freedom,” he added.
Lito A. Gajilan Jr., chapter commander of NJ Knights of Rizal, said the Rizal Day observance was an occasion to pay respect to the patriotism of Rizal who inspired Filipinos of his time to fight for freedom. Consul General Cecile Rebong, who was among the main speakers of the commemoration, said the event is not only a recollection of the historical past, but a proposal for the future.
“We need to redefine the role of Rizal in these modern times and arouse a sense of great national consciousness among Filipinos in the U.S., We need to continue the ideals of Rizal. We need to help each other and help the country,” she said.
Among those who attended the Rizal Day observance were Jose Red, Ronnie Atinaja, Elmer Dayang Hirang, Domingo Hornilla, Eduardo Toloza, Gani Puertolano, Francis Sison, Wilson Verzosa, Tomas Tobias, Cesar Alarca and Ernesto Sulat, Edwin Solano, Saylani Austria, Oscar Fernando, Zonny Lerum, Dennis Hayes, Rev. Gaudencio Soriano and other members of the Knights of Rizal and their families and friends.
“Rizal is ahead of his time. People at that time were merely talking about equality; but it was Rizal who started the movement. Rizal, through his books, taught Filipinos to value freedom and justice,” said Ed Toloza, Jersey City’s chief assessor.
“Rizal dedicated his talents and sacrificed a lot for his fellowmen. He believed in non-violent ways to achieve freedom. His values and respect for everybody were passed on from generation to generations “ said Hornilla, chief comptroller of New York’s Lincoln Center Institute.
Rizal was executed by a firing squad at the Bagumbayan Field in 1896. He was sentenced to die by the Spanish colonial government because of his writings which was critical of the Spanish rule in the Philippines.
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West Nyack, NEW YORK --- While one woman brought a box of goodies to be shipped to the Philippines, another selected from an assortment of coconut, bean and yam cakes on display inside the Far East Mart.
Other customers examined the spread of typical Filipino dishes inside the specialty store on Route 59 in West Nyack. Among the array of foods were pancit, a pork, egg and noodle dish whose aroma permeated the air inside the well-stocked establishment; snack-sized servings of salted and fried squid, anchovies or sardines; and dinuguan, a thick stew of pork blood and innards that the store’s cook, Fem Tacadena, declared quite tasty.
As she browsed the store’s offerings of Filipino food, entertainment and novelties, Lydia Escudero, a retired nurse who came to the United States in the 1950s, remembered how she and her husband, Filino, had to drive to Chinatown in New York City for Filipino goods before the Far East Mart opened 21 years ago.
That was before Tacadena’s husband, Lorenzo, had an idea.
“There were a lot of my countrymen who were already moving here to buy houses here, and I said it would be good business if we open a business, not only for them, but for all of Asia, because there’s a lot of them moving to Rockland,” Lorenzo Tacadena, a retired printer who worked for the United Nations, said as he rang up items and bagged them for his customers.
Filipinos started coming to the United States after the Spanish-American War, but in the 1970s only about 200 families were living locally. Since then, the community has grown to about 4,500 people, according to the census figures, but community leaders believe the number is closer to 6,000.
The glue of the flourishing community has been the Filipino Association of Rockland, a cultural organization that next weekend celebrates it 30th anniversary.
The organization’s members are compatriots, neighbors and good friends. They have an active bowling league that plays in Montvale, N.J., on weekends. A seniors club meets monthly at St. Joseph’s Church in Spring Valley. Other members host fairs, picnics and trips to Atlantic City, N.J. And, always, there is church.
At St. Catharine’s Church in Blauvelt, Filipinos are a dynamic segment of the congregation.
“Well, they are a very active and devout group,” said the pastor, the Rev. Emmet Nevin.
The Filipino population within the congregation has grown over the years, Nevin said, and the faithful recently started an annual tradition of celebrating at the parish an important Filipino religious festival called the Santacruzan.
“We seem to be an attractive community for many different groups, and this group has found a home here, and we’re very happy because they contribute to our parish as well as the community,” he said. “They’ve added a certain flavor, which is wonderful.”
Though Filipinos and Americans have always had an affinity for one another, it was in the 1970s that larger numbers of Filipinos came to America, in part to escape martial law, and also for the preferential visas available to skilled workers, particularly nurses.
Marylou Ibalio, a medical secretary who lives in Sloatsburg, came to America 10 years ago. Her four sisters all came to America to work as nurses.
“The economy wasn’t doing so well and, culturally, coming to the U.S. is like coming to a land of milk and honey,” she said.
That promise of a better life lured many, who have become American citizens and raised families. According to government estimates, there are 2 million Americans of Philippines ancestry in the United States.
For the majority of Filipinos in the area, New York City was the first stop.
Lorenzo Tacadena was in his 20s when he came here with his wife and daughter in the 1970s. The family lived in an apartment in the Bronx four years before they bought a house in Rockland County.
Many other Filipinos followed the Tacadenas, attracted to Rockland by its schools, suburban atmosphere and proximity to their New York City jobs.
Lydia Escudero came to America in the 1950s. Her husband followed in the 1960s.
The Escuderos, of Chestnut Ridge, said they have achieved the American dream.
They own their home, and their children are well-educated, working professionals.
The only thing they hope for is to have grandchildren soon so they, too, can proudly display numerous snapshots at social gatherings organized by the association. (The Journal News of Rockland, NY)
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NEW YORK --- The Asian Lunar New Year - The Year of The Dog - will begin January 29, 2006 and will be celebrated by many Asian American groups including Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean Americans. This celebration is a cultural tradition rooted in ancient times and is filled with excitement and joy. “The Asian Lunar New Year is an extremely important holiday that is widely celebrated in many Asian communities.
It is a time for reunion, renewal, and revitalization with family, friends, and business colleagues,” said Cynthia Park, executive vice president & managing director, Kang & Lee Advertising.
Kang & Lee, a recognized authority on Asian culture in the United States, is the nation’s leading multicultural marketing consulting and communications agency specializing in linking corporate America to the Asian American marketplace.
Known as “Chuen Jie” (Spring Festival) in Chinese, “Tet Nguyen Dan” in Vietnamese, and “Sol” in Korean, the Lunar New Year is a holiday during which family members come together to wish each other happiness and pay respect to ancestors.
Traditionally, the festivities start 22 days prior to the New Year and continue for 15 days afterwards.
The Lunar New Year is represented by a cycle of 12 years, each denoted by a different animal. This year, the Year of the Dog, is the eleventh animal in the Chinese horoscope. According to Chinese astrology, people born in the year of the Dog (1910, 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006) are loyal, generous, honest and straightforward. (See below for more Year of the Dog facts.)
The Lunar New Year is celebrated with loved ones, lots of special holiday food, and traditional music including drums and gongs. Family members and friends gather at each other’s homes for visits during which they share large meals and gifts symbolizing fortune.
According to tradition, Chinese and Vietnamese give children “red-envelopes” with good-luck money for the New Year, and Koreans offer newly minted money as a symbol of auspicious and fortuitous beginnings. Business people in the Asian communities also celebrate the holiday with colleagues and employees.
During this celebration, decorations are also significant. Red and gold are the primary colors as they symbolize good fortune.
The Asian Lunar New Year is also the one period in each year during which advertisers who target Asian American consumers - regardless of product category - develop Lunar New Year greetings ads and/or special promotional offers tied to the holiday.
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