TRIBUTE TO THE PHILIPPINES

  Ocean City has scheduled its second annual Tribute to the Philippines for July 23-24. The celebration will be centered at the City’s historic Music Pier, Boardwalk and Moorlyn Terrace. It will include a Craft and Trades exhibition, Tourism Fair an entertainment program featuring Filipino and American music and an Consular Out Reach Service. During the Consular Outreach Service, a team from the Philippine Consulate General in New York will be at the Music Pier to process the applications for passport, notarization and dual citizenship of Filipino nationals.

The Craft and Trades exhibition will be held in the Pavilion area of the Music Pier adjacent to the auditorium. It will feature displays of crafts including clothing, pottery, music, exotic lanterns, hand bags, photography plus foods and many other items. There will be special displays by the Philippine Department of Tourism, Ocean City Chamber of Commerce, City of Ocean City, Ocean City Board of Realtors and Western Union, major sponsors of the event.

Air Circus of Ocean City will present a Yo Yo, demonstrations during exhibit hours. The Yo Yo was invented in the Philippines and the word means “return-return” in the Filipino language. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sat., July 23 and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sun., July 24.Admission is free and there will be giveaway items from exhibitors.

An opening ceremony is set for July 23 at 11 a.m. in front of the Music Pier including members of the Philippine Consulate, City officials and representatives of the Chamber Commerce and the business community.

On Sat.at 8 p.m., the Filipino-American Tribute Show will be held in the Music Pier Auditorium. It will be hosted by Rene P.  Sese, Filipino American singing sensation. who will sing both Filipino and American standards. Featured Band will be Tidal Wave, a popular group that specializes in Beach Boy and classic rock.

Featured in the show will be teenage vocalist Nina Sophia Mojares who was selected out of 70,000 acts to perform as a semi-finalist on NBC’s, America’s Got Talent before celebrity judges Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandell. She was featured in FOX 5 Good Day New York’s musical presentation of Bye Bye Birdie, appeared on the Maury Povich Show and named Most Talented Kid and also appeared on GMA7-24 Oras and ABS-CBN Philippine Networks as the “most promising singing star in the U.S.

Nina was also selected to sing at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, at the New York Knicks Half Time Show and for the Philadelphia 76ers. She has won numerous awards including the 2010 Presidential Outstanding Academic Award signed by President Obama. She has also won five major Ballroom Competitions in her age group.

Also featured are singer, Monica Castillo Meares, April Talangbayan, a flute playing dancer who has wowed audiences throughout the Delaware Valley and New York and Hula dancer Betty Harshaw. The championship Air Circus Yo Yo Team will open the show.Admission is $10.Tickets are available at the Music Pier Box Office, open 9 a.m. to 9p.m. daily or at the door. Children are free.

The Philippine Consulate has moved its annual Out Reach Program to the Music Pier. It will be held on Sat, July 23 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Music Pier Auditorium Hundreds of Filipino Americans living along the east coast who will be able to apply for various Consulate services and get answers on the spot.

Two years ago, Ocean City formed a Sister City relationship with San Jose Occidental Mindoro of the Philippines and this has led to the Tribute to the Philippines that last year was visited by several thousands of Filipino Americans and their friends. Rene Sese, who lives in Ocean City and is a native of the Philippines, was instrumental in arranging the Sister City relationship.