June is Motherland’s Month

By: Veronica Leighton

 

Festive June activities get our adrenaline running in high speed as we jump from one party to another with Philippine Independence gala ball as the culminating event.

June 12 has been the official holiday date for this historical celebration as was written by Joe Mauricio in his Objectively Harsh column on page 22, but it used to be celebrated every July 4th by the Filipinos for some years back starting in 1946 until 1960’s (not counting America’s takeover in 1898. Historically, the United States’ independence celebration on July 4th seems to be also the wrong date as it does not actually coincide with the historical signing of the Founding Fathers Constitutional Convention. Please read Joe Mauricio’s article on page 22.

Whatever is the official date to celebrate any country’s independence day commemoration, the most important thing is that the citizenry cel-ebrates the occasion with patriotice fervor and nationalistic passion.

Here in Chicago, we look forward to the Philippines Independence Week Committee’s (PIWC) varied activities that culminated in June 17 this year with the traditional coronation of beauty queens and gala dinner ball held at the Marriott O’Hare under the chairmanship of Ms. Lourdes Livas. Please watch for our July 2017 issue featuring these beauty queens. Some of PIWC’s activities have been included in this issue, such as the flag-raising ceremony, picnic at LaBagh Woods and cultural presentation held at the Daley Center and honoring of the senior citizens. Please read Elsie Sy-Niebar’s Notebook column on pages 14-15. The winners of the PIWC’s Essay Writing Contest with participation from our community’s youth featured on Bata Korner page 34 is always ably handled by Ms. Josefina WeeSit, the annual chair for this activity. A past PIWC chairperson herself and a former schoolteacher, she devotes her time and talent to this youth activity project.

VT salutes all the PIWC committee chairs in doing a remarkable job in this very successful annual gala event in our community! We also salute the organizers led by Ruben Salazar and the volunteers of the just-concluded Pyesta Pinoy held in Bolingbrook attended by thousands of Filipinos and featured Filipino popular entertainer Jericho Rosales from the Philippines.

We also chose the merry month of June for the blessing of our new pad together with my belated birthday celebration, for the two birds in one shot cause celebre.

Thanking all our friends, family members and VT/CPRTV staff for coming and celebrating with us. Please see the pictorial pages 8-9 in this issue.

Special thank you’s to the following for taking their time and giving me their special time and attention for my birthday…my family, son Bobby, his wife Christy, and grandkids Maya & Christian; VT/ CPRTV staff Jovie Calma & Nick Vera Perez, Girlie Pascual and Melody Dizon. See pictures on page 5.

Below are photos of the Pavilion pad blessing officiated by Fr. Carlos Llagas. ##

Solemn blessings for our new pad coming from the officiating lips of Fr. Carlos Llagas, with sponsoring friends in attendance: Flor Kramer, Dan Gawat, Rev. Nancy Abiera & Dr. Jonathan Abiera, Lesty Naval, Melody Dizon and Angie Francisco. Also shown in picture with Joe and me are Connie Bohannen, Marie, Gloria Key & Dino Dizon. Not in picture are Girlie Pascual, Lourdes Livas and Fred & Nora Tsai. (Photos by Rosie Reed)