A DELEGATION from Iloilo will “invade” New York on a nine-day “Iloilo City Trade Mission and Investment Forum.”
For the first time our Iloilo City government and the Philippine Council of Management (Philcoman) have partnered with the American Chamber of Commerce of Washington DC and the Asian-American Chamber of Commerce of Virginia State to maximize Iloilo’s exposure through this trade mission and investment forum in the US from June 1 – 9, 2018.
The mission will be headed by Iloilo City mayor Jose Espinosa III, accompanied by Tourism Officer Junel Ann Divinagracia, Executive Assistant Rex Aguado and Local Economic Enterprise Office (LEEO) head Ariel Castañeda, among others.
On the other hand, participants from the private sector will be led by the city mayor’s better half, Gina Sarabia-Espinosa who promised to bring Iloilo City to New York, Washington DC and Fairfax Virginia via a roadshow that will showcase the creations of Ilonggo jewelers, fashion designers and property developers.
This will be the first time for such an extensive promotion of a Philippine city in the US, said Divinagracia.
There will be a Philippine Independence Day to be observed in advance in New York on June 3, 2018 to enable our “invading” participants to come back and catch up with our own celebration on the 12th.
The Philippine Independence Day celebration in New York will open with a noontime flag-raising ceremony at the Philippine Center on Fifth Avenue, kicking off a long parade along Madison Avenue that will lead to the site of the day-to-night cultural presentation, a Filipino Food Festival and Mini Expo.
With the parade will be Tribu Panayanhon which is the reigning champion of Iloilo City’s Dinagyang Festival and the Hubon Mangunguma of Guimaras’ Manggahan Festival. They are expected to be “wowing” the predominantly American audience in this year’s New York celebration.
We remember New York on a trip that we had to the US in September 2012 when we visited a younger brother of ours with his family in the neighboring state of New Jersey.
We passed an underwater tunnel on a car to cross to the New York side. It reminded us of the distance between Iloilo and Guimaras.
New York has a natural harbor and a river port like Iloilo. It is the most populous city in the United States and we believe the city of Iloilo made a good decision to promote there our tourism and trade, and likewise in the US capital of Washington DC and the neighboring state of Virginia.
New York’s population was placed at 8,244,210 in 2011, spread out to an area of 790 square kilometers. It is comprised by five buroughs – the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Queens, and Staten Island. It is a financial center and an important seat of international diplomacy. It has a Chinatown like Manila and Iloilo, and is the cultural capital of the world with 50 million visitors annually. We wish that Iloilo becomes like New York in the Philippines someday.
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Historical Quote of the Week
“The first and biggest molasses bulk loading plant in the country is in Jordan, Guimaras.”
(For comments or re-action, please e-mail to jnoveracompany@yahoo.com)/PN
