{"id":231601,"date":"2016-07-06T06:06:55","date_gmt":"2016-07-05T20:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=231601"},"modified":"2016-07-06T06:06:55","modified_gmt":"2016-07-05T20:06:55","slug":"2016-libday-parade-many-firsts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/2016-libday-parade-many-firsts\/","title":{"rendered":"2016 LibDay parade had many firsts"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-231601 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/2016-libday-parade-many-firsts\/parade-pix-1-2\/'>Parade-pix-1<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-231603'>\n\t\t\t\tMembers of the Filipino community, led by Miss Teen Pusong Pinoy Clarice Mhae Canajero, show the cultural side of various groups in the Philippines during last Monday\u2019s 71st CNMI Liberation Day Parade. (Jon Perez)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/2016-libday-parade-many-firsts\/parade-pix-2-2\/'>Parade-pix-2<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-231602'>\n\t\t\t\tRotary Club of Saipan president Ivan Ilmov, right, joins some of their members as they march in the parade. (Jon Perez)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>Last Monday\u2019s more than two-hour long Liberation Day Parade had a lot of firsts as various sectors of the community took part in the festivities of the 71st commemoration of the opening of the gates of the then Camp Susupe. This year\u2019s celebration\u2019s theme is Our Islands, Our Heritage.<\/p>\n<p>This was the first time that it took close to three hours before the parade ended, the Vietnam War veterans and the U.S. Army Reserve joined, members of the United States Army Band and Guam Army National Guard marched, and a B-52 bomber making a flyby.<\/p>\n<p>Volunteer groups, non-profit associations and organizations, various departments and government agencies, and local and visiting nationalities gathered at Quartermaster Road, the starting point of the annual parade.<\/p>\n<p>Members of the Matua Riders, some having various sizes of the U.S. and CNMI flags mounted on their motorcycles, were at the front of the parade and was followed by various local elected leaders and other VIPs.<\/p>\n<p>Liberation Day executive committee chair Chris Leon Guerrero had a car reserved for him but chose to join the Matua Riders at the start of the parade.<\/p>\n<p>Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, Lt. Gov. Victor B. Hocog, and Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council members Antonia Tudela (chair), Alice Igitol (vice chair), and Lareina Camacho (secretary) were the CNMI leaders that were part of the parade.<\/p>\n<p>Liberation Day non-profit group president Louis Rogers, Japan Consul Toshio Matsumura and his wife Kiyoko, Philippine honorary consul to the CNMI Eli Arago, Korean Association president Hong Kyun Kim, Joint Region Marianas commander Rear Admiral Bette Bolivar, Skywalker Communications Group managing director Dr. Hu Bo also rode in separate cars.<\/p>\n<p>Imperial Pacific International Holdings majority shareholder Margaret Cui Lijie and Best Sunshine International, Ltd. chief executive officer Mark Brown rode on a private car.<\/p>\n<p>Jonathan Wolf and his family was also part of the parade after the 11-year-old made history by becoming the first middle school student from the Pacific Islands District to win in the National Speech and Debate Association finals. His winning piece was Patrick Henry\u2019s 1775 speech \u201cGive Me Liberty or Give Me Death.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They were behind the Department of Public Safety Color Guard and Grand Marshall Viola Alepuyo. The 2015 Royal Court and this year\u2019s candidates were among those that received loud cheers.<\/p>\n<p>Vietnam War veterans and U.S. Army Reserve rode in two military trucks, while the Yum Kwang High School Marching Band and Sung Sin University, and the 70-member Koenji Awa-odori Association flew all the way from South Korea and Japan just to join the festivities.<\/p>\n<p>Hopwood Junior High School\u2019s Leadership Corps and the Mr. and Miss Hilitai, and the CNMI JROTC Unit from Kagman, Marianas, and Saipan Southern high schools were also part of the parade.<\/p>\n<p>The Chinese Association of Saipan\u2019s lion dancers, the Northern Marianas Islands Football Association, Coca-Cola and Foremost, Fleet of Happiness, Falun Dafa Association of Saipan, Japanese Society of NMI, Saipan Awa-odori Team, Lion\u2019s Club International District IV-Region II, Mariana Stamp &amp; Coin Club, Mc Donald\u2019s Saipan, American Red Cross NMI Chapter, Rotary Club of Saipan, trucks by J.J. Cabrera\u2019s 670 Lifts, Stellar Marianas\u2019 Miss Teen and Miss CNMI candidates were among those who represented non-profit groups and businesses.<\/p>\n<p>The Commonwealth Ports Authority-Airport Rescue Firefighting, Department of Commerce, Commonwealth Office of Transport Authority, Homeland Security and Emergency, Department of Public Safety, Joeten Kiyu Public Library, the CNMI Women\u2019s Affairs Office, and the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs-Office on Aging were the government agencies that took part in the parade.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Fire and Emergency Services, Tan Holdings, the United Filipino Organization, Papgo Familian Lancheros, Commonwealth Health Center Corp. Employees Association, Kosch Refaluwasch Carolinian Affairs Office, Department of Public Works, Marianas Visitors Authority, Marshallese Association, Department of Public Lands, and SM LLC were the competition floats entries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last Monday\u2019s more than two-hour long Liberation Day Parade had a lot of firsts as&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":231602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[26,6720,5621,4426],"class_list":["post-231601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-cnmi","tag-japanese-society","tag-liberation-day-parade","tag-vietnam-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}