NorCal Filipino/Americans celebrate June 12

Gabe Velanciano pleased his fans during the free concert last year.

FILIPINO/AMERICANS will take over San Francisco's Union Square this Sunday (June 12) to par - tee!

The fiesta in the middle of the city's high end retail district will start at noon in celebration of the Philippines' Independence Day - June 12 - will culminate with a free concert featuring Philippine singing stars Martin Nievera and Lani Misalucha!

Spread throughout all corners of Union Square, colorful dance troupes, Filipino-Eskrima martial artists, painters, singing groups and musicians will be performing simultaneously throughout the day planned by KalayaanSF.

The event will feature performances from local Filipino/American cultural and performing arts groups, which highlight the unique and vibrant cultures of the different regional and tribal groups of the Philippines. Performances, which will be held throughout the day within Union Square, will reflect the evolution of Philippine cultural expression, from the traditional to the contemporary.

The festival grounds will be home to various exhibitors and organizations, as well as food and craft vendors offering Filipino-themed cuisine and wares to the fiesta-goers and the general public.

In keeping with previous years’ traditions, The KalayaanSF outdoor celebration will culminate in a free, full-length concert headlined by nationally and internationally known recording artists. This year’s concert, produced by ABS-CBN/TFC (The Filipino Channel), will be held in the main stage of Union Square.

At the base of Victoria monument is a tribute to the
Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish American War

Amidst all the hoopla, in the middle of Union Square is the towering Victoria obelisk topped by a statue of Victory. At its base is a tribute to Commodore Dewey, who led the American fleet in the destruction of the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War. The Spanish were trapped in Manila between the American ships in the bay and the the Filipino revolutionaries on land.

RELATED: The true story of June 12, 1898 is a story of betrayal

Filipino nationalists declared their independence on June 12, 1898 that in six months, while negotiating the Treaty of Paris, the Spanish made a secret deal with the Americans that for $20 million, the Spanish would turn the Philippines over to the United States. Little did the Filipino revolutionaries know that they had traded one colonial master for another. 

That betrayal by the U.S. against the Filipinos  would result in another bloody war for the Filipinos. In the U.S., it became known as the Philippine Insurrection. In the Philippines, it was a war for freedom and independence.

The celebration will continue on June 24th with a piano concert and formal gala at the historic Herbst Theater and Green Room at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center. 

This year’s event will feature a full-length concert at the Herbst Theater featuring world renowned, virtuoso pianist Cecile Licad.

The concert will be followed immediately with the formal gal that includes a dinner prepared by top Fil/American chefs. Guests will be entertained by classical phenom Matthew John Ignacio and other artists.

For tickets to the July 24th event, click here.

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For more news about Asian/Americans and Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.

TGIF FEATURE: A busy weekend in California -Kollaboration LA 2015 and Kalayaan-SF

TWO BIG EVENTS are taking place this Saturday, June 27, in southern and northern California. Both showcase the abundance of talent we have in the Asian American/Pacific Islander community.

In Los Angeles, experience an unforgettable evening of live music, entertainment, and community as Kollaboration presents some of the best local up-and-coming artists in the Asian/Pacific Islander (API) community.

Kollaboration Los Angeles 2015 ShowcaseSaturday, June 277:00pm

The Los Angeles Theatre Center514 S. Spring St.Los Angeles CA 90013

Six talented finalists from all across Southern California were chosen through an intense and competitive round of auditions to compete for the chance to move on to the Kollaboration Star finale later this fall and perform for the national title and $10,000 grand prize! In addition to the talent competition, Kollaboration Los Angeles will also feature amazing performances from prominent Asian American guest artists.

The finalists for 2015 Kollaboration Los Angeles are:

• Lisa Sonoda, Singer/Songwriter
• Perry & Danielle, Acoustic Duo
• Peter Chung, Singer/Songwriter
• Rosy Donovan, Singer/Songwriter
• Track IX, Beatbox
• Will Park, Singer/Songwriter

It's going to be a fun evening. Buy your tickets here. For further information about Kollaboration Los Angeles, visit the Kollaboration website or refer to the Facebook event.

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Meanwhile, up the road in northern California ....

In San Francisco, the Filipino American community will be winding up its two-week celebration of Philippine Independence Day with a free concert featuring Jessica Sanchez, first runner-up in American Idol, and Gab Valencia of Manila.

Kalayaan-SF started June 12 with a formal affair at City Hall but this event is for the people. There'll be food, booths and performers galore. All for free!

A Philippine Independence Day Celebration 

SAT, JUNE 27, 2015UNION SQUARE, San FranciscoFree Admission to the festival and concert!

OUTDOOR FESTIVAL:12:00 PM – 8:00 PMA showcase of Philippine dance, art, cuisine, crafts and exhibitors

TFC EVENING CONCERT:5:30 PMFull-length concert featuring American Idol top-2 finalist Jessica Sanchez and Manila headline artist Gab Valencia

Have a great weekend!

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The Filipino diaspora makes the celebration of Philippiine independence a worldwide event

A Filipino American choir performed at last year's city hall gala in San Francisco.

PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE DAY on June 12 has taken on worldwide status with the millions of Filipino workers throughout the world.

In few places such as San Francisco, it is gaining a foothold as an annual event as part of the city which seeks any reason to have a party. It will be a two-week celebration in San Francisco. It'll start on June 12 with the transformation of City Hall into an ornate beau arts ballroom for a formal dinner and dance and culminate in a free outdoor concert featuring American Idol finalist Jessica Sanchez.

The concert is the commemoration's main event in the heart of downtown San Francisco, in historic Union Square, against the backdrop of San Francisco’s iconic cable cars and well-known landmarks. Besides the concert, the fiesta will feature a cultural showcase, food bazaar and marketplace.

Jessica Sanchez

The celebration of the 117th anniversary of Philippine Independence should turn posh Union Square into a mini-Manila, or at least, a larger version of the Serramonte Shopping Center in next door Daly City. It will bring in not only the city's Filipino Americans but the larger community around the Bay Area.

KalayaanSF, named after the Filipino word for “independence”, is a series of events held in San Francisco during the month of June to commemorate and celebrate the anniversary of the Declaration of Philippine Independence, which occurred in Kawit, Cavite on June 12, 1898. 

Organized on an annual basis by the Filipino-American community in the Bay Area with the support of the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco, the celebration showcases Philippine culture and heritage, drawing attention to the contributions Filipinos and Filipino-Americans have made to their communities.

This is not to be confused with Philippine-American Friendship Day when the U.S. granted independence to their Pacific colony on July 4.

Cities throughout the world where large concentrations of Filipinos reside - from Honolulu to Seattle to New York City to London, San Diego, L.A., Chicago, Stockton, Daly City,  Sydney, Brisbane, Copenhagen, Riyadh, Rome, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul - all part of the Philippines diaspora, will mark the day with parades, dinners, concerts and talent shows, the guitars will come out to strum the old ballads, loudpeakers will blare with hip-hop, speakers will wax eloquently (and probably to long) and the long bamboo poles will find a stage to dance the tinikiling, lith women will don the butterfly sleeves for the zarzuela, brave men will suck in their stomachs and bare their chests to dance the exotic mountain dances and Muslim princesses will step nimbly through the rapidly clacking bamboo poles, health care professionals, nannies, maids, 

RELATED: Speaker series eyes SF's future for Filipinos

teachers, chefs, bankers, and the thousands of crew members on countless ocean liners and merchant marine cargo ships, high tech workers or newly minted billionaires in Silicon Valley, they are recent immigrants speaking in their dialect or 6th and 7th generation Americans with blond hair with that wonderful inherited lightly tanned complexion, have done what Filipinos have always done - adapt, survive and perhaps prosper in whatever surroundings they are in, an innate ability that is a blessing and sometimes a curse.

The wonderful halo-halo-like melange of Chinese, Malay, Indian, Polynesian, Negrito, Spanish, American and Japanese and (most recently) Vietnamese that we call Filipino are all tied together by the Internet and social media, unearthing long-buried memories of volcanoes and jungles, white sand beaches and beeping jeepneys, the sweetest mangoes and fresh fish roasted over an open fire, the love, laughter and the poverty of relatives left behind. 

Image by Jason Baguia

Heroes of the Philippine Independence

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