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).

DOLPHY visits NEW YORK for GERRY GARCIA's ART EXHIBIT OPENING at PHILIPPINE CENTER

Dolphy

Gerry Garcia and Dolphy

Gerry Garcia with one of his paintings on exhibit

Last night I attended the art exhibit opening of Filipino artist GERRY GARCIA at the PHILIPPINE CENTER on Fifth Avenue. The beloved Philippine movie actor dubbed the "King of Comedy" was on hand for the ribbon cutting. The exhibit called ICONS OF FAITH is presented by GK777 and ANCOP Foundation, and features Gerry Garcia’s iconic and visceral paintings, etchings and animation art to benefit GAWAD KALINGA. Also in attendance was Dolphy's son, ERIC QUIZON. The Philippine Center is located at 556 Fifth Avenue between 46th and 47th Streets in Manhattan. I also made images of some of the artworks by Gerry Garcia on exhibit at the Philippine Center.

Dolphy was born Rodolfo Vera Quizon on July 25, 1928 in Pampanga and grew up in Tondo, Manila. At 80, Dolphy's career has spanned for more than five decades. He has made countless films, mostly comedy. In 2001, Dolphy and his sons Eric and Jeffrey Quizon all won the Prix de la Meilleure Interpretation (the equivalent of a Best Actress Award) in Brussels, Belgium for playing Walterina Markova in the movie Markova: Comfort Gay.

Gerry Garcia is not only a painter but also pioneering artist who single handedly created the Filipino animation industry. It was him, according to Filipino animators, who made Filipino animation possible. In the 80’s the first ever Philippine- made cartoon for television was ‘Panday,’ a creation of Gerry Garcia. In 1997, Garcia cemented his legacy as he made the first ever-Filipino full-length animated feature film– ‘Adarna.’

From Gawad Kalinga website:

Gawad Kalinga translated in English means to “to give care”, and it is an alternative solution to the blatant problem of poverty not just in the Philippines but in the world. GK’s vision for the Philippines is a slum-free, squatter-free nation through a simple strategy of providing land for the landless, homes for the homeless, food for the hungry and as a result providing dignity and peace for every Filipino.
What started in 1995 as a daring initiative by Couples for Christ to rehabilitate juvenile gang members and help out-of-school youth in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City, then the biggest squatters’ relocation area in the Philippines, has now evolved into a movement for nation-building. Together with its partners, Gawad Kalinga is now in the process of transforming poverty stricken areas with the goal of building 700,000 homes in 7,000 in 7 years (2003-2010). To date Gawad Kalinga is in over 900 communities all over the Philippines and in other developing countries. (establish link to GK ABROAD, write-ups on GK Communities outside the Philippines)
Gawad Kalinga is more than about building houses for the poorest of the poor. Providing a decent home is just the beginning of the transformation of the people and the community.

LOLITA VALDERRAMA-SAVAGE: An Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings

Above are two of the oil paintings by artist LOLITA VALDERRAMA SAVAGE now on exhibit at the Philippine Center on Fifth Avenue (between 45th and 46th Streets) in Manhattan. The Foundation For Filipino Artists, Inc., in collaboration with the Philippine Consulate of New York sponsored the opening of the exhibition. The show will run until Nov. 14. Lolita Valderrama-Savage, is a native of the Philippines who now divides her time between New York and Florence. I took this photo of the Philippine Consulate last winter.