pinoy power

wow. there were three major filipino events in los angeles last night and every single one was packed. i decided to go to two of those major events and never have i seen such a huge group of pinoys under one roof.

first off: the philippine independence day ball at the sheraton universal. the guest speakers were senator manny villar and his wife, rep. cynthia villar. the consulate people told us earlier that according to protocol, the couple must not be called. sen. and mrs. manny villar, since the wife also holds an elected position in the government. hence: sen. manny villar and rep. cynthia villar.


how do you spell 'philippines'? ask the sheraton people. they sure know how.

the entire international ballroom was transformed into a small pinoy-town with lots of filipiniana-attired women and barong tagalog clad-men. i wore my green barong tagalog. yes, green. hehehe. a colleague complimented it. 'ang unique naman ang barong mo. nag-iisa.' just exactly what i wanted. not the compliment. but the uniqueness of it.

next: the sharon cuneta concert at the shrine auditorium. various hollywood events such as the oscar's and the emmy's used to be staged here. and i was surprised (and so was sharon herself, apparently) that sharon was able to fill the shrine up to the rafters. seriously, tons of pinoys flocked to the mega concert, the last stop of her us concert tour. and this made sharon cry like a baby. caught only the last half of the show. it was good, her sharonians made the show fun to watch. they're fiercely loyal.


heads, heads, heads...thousands of people at the shrine

which brings me to the third major event in hell-ey: the return of the champions at the grand olympic auditorium, the usual place where pinoy concerts are held. i could not possibly try to tri-locate so i asked my friend who attended to tel me what went on. apparently, the auditorium was also filled to the rafters with young, screaming fans.

this is a surprise. and it is good. at least, no producer got burned even if they put two strong concerts (plus a philippine consulate-sponsored ball) on a head-to-head-to-head collision.

no losers this time, all winners.