{"id":345942,"date":"2021-06-14T06:06:43","date_gmt":"2021-06-13T20:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=345942"},"modified":"2021-06-14T06:06:43","modified_gmt":"2021-06-13T20:06:43","slug":"filipino-community-marks-123rd-ph-independence-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/filipino-community-marks-123rd-ph-independence-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Filipino community marks 123rd PH Independence Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_345944\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-345944\" style=\"width: 1800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Philippine-Independence-Day-pix.jpg\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-345944\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Flanked by participants in last Saturday\u2019s 123rd Philippine Independence Day celebration at Marianas High School, Philippine Honorary Consul to the CNMI Glicerio Eli DM Arago and Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, seated front row, show the CNMI-Philippines Friendship proclamation that Torres signed last Saturday. (Joshua Santos)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Saipan\u2019s Filipino community gathered to celebrate the 123rd Philippines Independence Day last Saturday, holding events in the morning and afternoon to commemorate the Philippines\u2019 declaration of independence from Spain on June 12, 1898. The theme for this year\u2019s celebration is \u201cDiwa ng kalayaan sa pagkakaisa at paghilom ng bayan\u201d (spirit of freedom for national unity and healing) as the Philippines begins its road to recovery in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n<p>Saturday\u2019s celebrations began with the raising of the Philippine flag at Marianas High School at 7am, followed by a gathering at the school\u2019s cafeteria, where Gov. Ralph DLG Torres signed the CNMI-Republic of the Philippines Friendship proclamation. In the afternoon, leaders of the Filipino community held a motorcade that began at Dandan Middle School and ended at Garapan Fishing Base.<\/p>\n<p>In signing the CNMI-Republic of the Philippines Friendship proclamation, Torres thanked  the many Filipino workers who have come to the CNMI for decades and recognized the community\u2019s many contributions to the CNMI and its economy.<\/p>\n<p>In remarks after signing the proclamation, Torres spoke of the roles that many Filipinos played in developing the CNMI, and spoke of how the later generations of Filipinos who have grown up in the CNMI go on to do great things for the community. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn behalf of my wife and lieutenant governor I want to thank you for not just making the CNMI your home, but also [for] your children for representing the CNMI,\u201d said Torres, who also took part in a ceremonial cake slicing alongside Philippine honorary consul to the CNMI Glicerio \u201cEli\u201d Arago.<\/p>\n<p>United Filipino Organization president Marcelo Masilungan, Delegate Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, and TanHoldings president Jerry Tan as representative of the CNMI\u2019s business sector also gave remarks at the event.<\/p>\n<p>Sablan drew many parallels between the CNMI\u2019s and the Philippines\u2019 histories and how thousands of Filipinos have made the Marianas \u201ca second home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saipan\u2019s Filipino community gathered to celebrate the 123rd Philippines Independence Day last Saturday, holding events&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":345943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-345942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345942","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\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}