LEA SALONGA A Special Performance Benefit In New York City's Philippine Center For The Victims Of Typhoon Ondoy

Video posted by lwayjr

Video from broadwayworld.com

Tony Award winning artist, LEA SALONGA offered a special performance benefit for the victims of typhoon "Ondoy" last night at the Philippine Center's Kalayaan Hall located at 556 Fifth Avenue. The mini concert repertoire list included songs from Miss Saigon ("I'd Give My Life For You"), Les Miserables ("On My Own"), Stephen Sondheim's "Anyone Can Whistle," John Lennon's "Imagine", Buz Kohan and Larry Grossman's "Gone Too Soon", her wedding vow song called "Two Words" by Louie Ocampo and Freddie Santos, "Someone to Watch Over Me", and Jose Mari Chan's "Hahanapin Ko", among others. Larry Yurman was the musical director who also donated his time for the benefit. Currently on concert tour in the US, Ms. Salonga altered her schedule to make this event possible in order to help flood victims in her native Philippines. The acclaimed artist is admired by many, not only for her singing talent, but also for her love of country and pride of being Filipino. Conceived by Diverse City Theater Company Director Victor Lirio, the benefit has raised more than 1 million Philippine pesos, and 100% of the proceeds will go to the typhoon victims in the Philippines through the Ayala Foundation USA. If you wish to donate, please visit the Ayala Foundation USA website to learn about their projects and how the donations are being spent to help the typhoon victims.

I captured these images of Lea Salonga in a beautiful emerald green dress during last night's benefit performance at Kalayaan Hall. These photos also appear on broadwayworld.com.

The New York Philippine Consulate Opens a Public Book of Condolence for former President CORY AQUINO

Mourning the passing of the Philippine icon of democracy

Manhattan resident Vivian Talambiras Cruz signs the pubic book of condolence as Amelia Barretto and a Philippine consulate employee look on.

New Yorkers have the chance to pay their respects to the Philippine icon of democracy and former Philippine President CORAZON (CORY) AQUINO. The New York Philippine Consulate invites the Filipino community and foreign friends to sign the book of condolence at the Philippine Center. The signing takes place at the Kalayaan Hall (second floor) of the Philippine Center which is located at 556 Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan. The signing of the book of condolence is open to the public, Monday to Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. President Aquino died on August 1 in Manila after a long battle with colon cancer, and will be buried on August 5. Kalayaan Hall was named after the 1986 people power revolution led by Cory Aquino.

Mrs. Aquino was the 11th President of the Philippines, serving from 1986 to 1992, and also the first female president of that country. She attended the Notre Dame Convent School, as well as the College of Mount Saint Vincent, both in New York.

There will also be a memorial mass on Wednesday, August 5 at 6:30 PM at the Chapel of San Lorenzo Ruiz which is located at 378 Broome Street.

Corazon C. Aquino

January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009

11th President of the Republic of the Philippines

February 25, 1986 – June 30, 1992

Maria Corazon "Cory" Cojuangco Aquino became the 11th President of the Republic of the

Philippines, following the peaceful 1986 People Power Revolution that astonished the world.

Aquino was married to Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr., a leading figure in the political

opposition against the autocratic rule of President Ferdinand Marcos, who was assassinated upon

his return from exile on 21 August 1983. Having had no prior political experience, Mrs. Aquino

nevertheless became the focal point around which the fractured political opposition finally unified.

She was the lone candidate against Marcos during the 1986 snap presidential elections.

Soon after Marcos’ proclamation as victor, despite widespread reports of electoral fraud,

then Minister of National Defense Juan Ponce Enrile and Armed Forces of the Philippines Vice

Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Fidel Ramos, set in motion a long-planned coup against Marcos. The

charismatic Archbishop of Manila, Jaime Cardinal Sin exhorted the predominantly Catholic

populace to mass along EDSA (the main thoroughfare between Camps Aguinaldo and Crame) to

support the rebel soldiers. Over the next four days almost 2 million unarmed civilians poured into

the streets, heeding the call of Cardinal Sin. People the world over were amazed to see unarmed

priests, nuns and ordinary men, women and children forming human chains, blockading loyalist

military squadrons, preventing them from reaching the rebel soldiers at the Camps. They answered

guns and tanks with prayers and flowers... succeeding in what became known as the 1986 EDSA

People Power Revolution.

Corazon Aquino was proclaimed the 11th President of the Philippines on the 25th of

February 1986, Asia’s first female head of state. After completing her term in 1992, she continued

to be an advocate of democracy, peace, women's empowerment, and religious piety.

Aquino died of cardiopulmonary arrest after complications of colon cancer at the age of 76

on August 1, 2009.

Overseas Absentee Voter Registration and Town Hall Meeting at the Philippine Center (New York)

The Philippine Consulate

Overseas absentee voter registration (and "party") at Kalayaan Hall

NBC Studio, Rockefeller Center

Having reacquired my Filipino citizenship last year, I thought I should exercise my right to vote during the Philippine national election in May 2010. I took the opportunity to register after work hours at the Philippine Center earlier this evening. The overseas absentee voter registration-town hall meeting was held from 6:30 to 9:00 PM at the center's Kalayaan Hall, although it looked more like a typical Filipino party because food was served. The flag outside the Philippine Consulate is flown at half staff in honor of former Philippine President Corazon Aquino who helped restore democracy in 1986, following a peaceful people power revolution. Tita Cory as she is fondly called, passed away today after a long battle with colon cancer. What better way to honor her memory than participating in the democracy that she fought hard to regain.

The Philippine Consulate is located in midtown Manhattan at 556 Fifth Avenue, between 45th and 46th Streets.

Where to register (from the Philippine Consulate website):

• At the Philippine Consulate General, 556 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY

10036, Monday-Friday, 9AM-5PM (except holidays)

• During the Sunday Consular Service

30 August 2009 at the Philippine Consulate General New York

10am to 3pm – open for all services

• At the Consular Outreach Services, 10am-3pm:

18 Jul 2009, Saturday - NaFFAA Region I and PAMANA –West Roxbury, MA; Finn

Hall, Holy Name Church, 1689 Centre St, West Roxbury, MA

25 Jul 2009, Saturday - Philippine American Association of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh, PA;

Schenley Park, Vietnam Veterans Pavilion, Oakland/ Squirrel Hill 15213

8 Aug 2009, Saturday – Fil-Am Friendship Society of New Hampshire – Manchester,

NH; Comfort Inn, 298 Queen City Ave., Manchester, NH 03102

15 Aug 2009, Saturday - Philippine Association of Connecticut Inc. (PACI) –

Newington, CT; VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) Post 9836, 85 Kitts Lane Newington,

CT 06111

From the Asian American Federation of New York Census Information Center:

In 2000, the New York metropolitan area had the fourth-largest Filipino American population in a U.S. metropolitan region.3 Approximately 65 percent of Filipino Americans in New York State lived in New York City. Filipinos also were the fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group in New York City, constituting 7 percent of the city’s Asian population.4 From 1990 to 2000, the Filipino population in New York City increased by 44 percent, from 43,229 to 62,058. That growth was far greater than the city’s overall 9 percent population rise but lower than the 71 percent expansion of the city’s total Asian population. In raw numbers, the addition of 18,829 Filipino New Yorkers represented the sixth-largest population increase among Asian groups in the city in the last decade.5 Within New York City, in 2000, the majority (54 percent, or 33,225) of Filipinos lived in Queens, followed by Manhattan (16 percent, or 10,223); Brooklyn (13 percent, or 7,918); the Bronx (9 percent, or 5,446); and Staten Island (8 percent, or 5,246).