PHILIPPINES – Despite the non-stop rains, the 2018 Metro Manila Film Festival Parade of Stars (MMFF Parade of Stars) still pushed through last December 23, with the Filipino crowd lining up the streets of Sucat, Parañaque City going to ASEANA City.
The excitement of the crowd was contagious, which added to the excitement of Carson City, California Mayor Albert Robles and Carson City, California Mayor Pro Tem Emeritus Elito Santarina who were two of the guests of Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez.
“Last year we forged a Sister City between Carson City and Paranaque, and their scheduled visit here in Parañaque City was in time with us hosting the 2018 Metro Manila Film Festival. They are very excited,” Mayor Olivarez related, adding that it took one year for them to prepare for the parade.
Meantime, the cities of Parañaque and Carson City, California recently renewed their Sister City relationship—a relationship wherein two different cities exchange activities, cultural backgrounds, projects and best practices that will benefit the growth of both cities.
In their renewed Sister City relationship, Mayor Robles shared some of the projects that their townspeople could look forward to.
“We are hoping to have significant culture exchange of students from Parañaque coming to Carson, and students of Carson coming to Parañaque, and officials of Parañaque coming next year and have this continued cultural exchange which will lead to better economic prosperity and better dialogue among all peoples,” said Mayor Robles.
He also noted the value of establishing such kind of relationships at this time. He explained: “In this time in geopolitics where people are looking for ways to divide and bring up differences. Here, we all come together to celebrate what we all have in common, a message that I think should resonate around the world, to everybody.”
Mayor Pro Tem Emeritus Santarina also noted that this relationship will be significant for the Filipino Community in Carson City, California, especially to the young Filipino-American population. “This is an opportunity for the Filipino community to be able to really say that the FilAm community in Carson is still very much communicated to the country of origin,” he said.
Aside from the Sister City relationship with the cities in the Philippines, Mayor Pro Tem Emeritus Santarina recognized The Filipino Channel’s (TFC) contributions in bridging the young Fil-Am population to their Filipino roots.
“ABS-CBN, the TFC talents, actors and actresses are very much looked up to. The FilAm community enjoys seeing and watching them. Our FilAm Community there loves their programming,” he noted.
TFC has been part of Carson City, California’s several events for years now such as this year’s Independence Day celebration which TFC sponsored for the first time and the FilAm history month activities.