Community Pictures

Susan Pacifico, San Jose’s Fashionable Lady and Prima Ballerina, will be turning 72 years old on Sunday, July 11. Some of her relatives are coming from the Philippines and others part of the United States. The grand birthday celebration will be on August 14 with a Dinner and Dance to be held at the Grange Hall 2840 Aborn Road in San Jose at 5:30 p.m.

Actor singer Jericho Rosales, singer-dancer Gab Valenciaco and former "Pinoy Dream Academy" winner Yeng Constantino with a Welcome Dinner Party by Ben and Edna Ramos, owners of Edna’s Ichiban Library held recently. Shown at photo from L-R: Ben and Edna Ramos, Yeng Constantino, Beauty Impresario Ferdie Villar, Jericho Rosales, Daly City Councilman Dave Canepa and Gab Valenciano.

Nick Guzman’s 40th Birthday celebration with friends and family hosted by Krystal Toong.

FILCA President Julie S. Pimentel, is shown receiving a Certificate of Recognition of Senator Leeland Yee during the anniversary dinner and dance of the organization held at Buri-Buri Social hall in Arroyo Drive last June 21st. Mrs. Pimentel is celebrating her birthday on Sunday, July 11 at San Francisco Recreation Center in San Francisco at 1:00 p.m.

Riel Tanedo, eldest son of Pittsburg Community leaders Fernand and Susan Tanedo, celebrated his 21st birthday recently with a dinner and dance held at the Tanedo residence. Photo from L-R: Andres Lin Fan, June Battung, the celebrant, Bobbie Amogan, and Neville Bendiola. Riel is a member of Fusion Dance Group.

Bernadette Munoz Roco, Finance Director of Roco Medical Clinic ni Posh Street in San Francisco, and Seton Medical Center in Sullivan Avenue in Daly City, is the 1st Filipina balikbayan who attended the inauguration of the 15th President of the Philippines His Excellency Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, held last Wednesday, June 30 at Quirino Grandstand in Luneta Park, Manila. Mrs. Roco is shown at photo congratulating the new president of our country.

Joseph Goloski, program manager of the Office of International Affairs of Visa Security Program of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Washington, D.C. and his wife Charito Que Galoski gave a Graduation Party in honor of their son Sean, who graduated at Hayward University recently at Moonstar Restaurant in Geller Blvd in Daly City. Shown at photo with their son Sean.

Former Mrs. R.P.-USA Jane Tan Kellner, celebrated her 51st birthday with her family at the new Thunder Valley Hotel Resort in Sacramento, CA. She is one of the celebrity special guests for the grand opening at America the Beautiful Concert held at the night of her birthday. Shown at photo with Ms. Kellner is her favorite physician Dr. Tony Wong of Seton medical Center.

Community

From left to right: Agent Dennis Biscocho, APIASF Representative Patty LimJap, Agent Joy Cai, Scholar Michael Xie, Scholar Harriet Hu, Scholar Jenny Fang, Scholar Sophia Vu, Agent Tina Jang

San Francisco Area High School Students Awarded Scholarships from APIASF and Farmers Insurance®

SAN FRANCISCO — Farmers Insurance® and the Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF), the largest nonprofit organization in the U.S. that provides college scholarships to students of Asian and Pacific Islander American (APIA) descent, recently awarded $80,000 in scholarships to high school students from around the country. Today, several of these scholarship recipients from the San Francisco area were presented with certificates of recognition at a reception hosted by the insurance company.

Jenny Fang, Harriet Hu, Sophia Vu, Michael Xie, Julia Yu and Yipeng Yu were among the more than 32 scholars selected nationally to each receive the $2,500 Farmers/APIASF Scholarship. The students are graduates from Galileo Academy of Science and Technology, George Washington H.S., Lowell H.S., Archbishop Riordan and Philip and Sala Burton Academic H.S.
“These young, talented individuals have a bright future ahead of them,” said Farmers agent Dennis Biscocho. “We are proud to recognize these students for their academic achievements and service to our community in San Francisco and hope that this scholarship can help them accomplish their future goals and dreams.”

The APIASF/Farmers Scholarship is the result of an ongoing partnership between Farmers Insurance and APIASF. It is designed to provide direct scholarship support and student outreach initiatives aimed at increasing access to higher education in underserved communities across America.

“It’s an honor to be able to recognize deserving students for their hard work both in the classroom and in our community,” said Daniel Chang, Director of Multicultural Marketing for Farmers Insurance. “We know that investing in these future leaders like Jenny, Harriet, Sophia, Michael, Julia and Yipeng will help make our communities stronger and more vibrant. This partnership with APIASF embodies our company’s commitment to education and the Asian-American community.”

To date, the Farmers/APIASF partnership has provided 64 students with $160,000 in much-needed scholarship funds. This year’s Farmers Scholars included students from across the country, including states such as California, Minnesota, and Texas.

“Thanks to support from Farmers Insurance, APIASF is able to help students such as these from the San Francisco area to access higher education and reach their true potential,” said Neil Horikoshi, President and Executive Director of APIASF. “This group of students has already shown a desire to give back to their community and truly represent the future leaders of this country.”

About APIASF

Based in Washington, D.C., the Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF) is the nation’s largest non-profit organization devoted solely to providing scholarships for Asian and Pacific Islander Americans (APIA). Since 2003, APIASF has provided a critical bridge to higher education for APIA students across the country by awarding more than $3 million in scholarships to deserving students. APIASF manages two scholarship programs: APIASF’s general scholarship and the Gates Millennium Scholars/Asian Pacific Islander Americans funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Corporate supporters include, but are not limited to: AT&T Inc., The Coca-Cola Company, Farmers Insurance Group of Companies, ING, Macy’s Inc., McDonald’s, Sodexo Foundation, United Health Foundation, USA Funds, Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation, Walmart, Walmart Foundation and Wells Fargo. For more information on APIASF, please visit www.apiasf.org.

About Farmers Group, Inc.

Farmers is a trade name and may refer to Farmers Group, Inc. or the Farmers Exchanges, as the case may be. Farmers Group, Inc., a management and holding company, along with its subsidiaries, is wholly owned by the Zurich Financial Services Group. The Farmers Exchanges are three reciprocal insurers (Farmers Insurance Exchange, Fire Insurance Exchange and Truck Insurance Exchange), including their subsidiaries and affiliates, owned by their policyholders, and managed by Farmers Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries. For more information about Farmers, visit our Web site at www.farmers.com.

Issue 28: July 7, 2010

Arnel Rocks Reno!
(Palm Springs, New Jersey and Canada are next)

By Bradford Adkins, Manila Mail Community Editor

Journey's Arnel Pineda showed Reno audiences how much he loves to rock, by delivering a high-powered version of "Eye of the Tiger," his opening song number.

Arnel Pineda really showed 'em how he "loves to rock" in Reno last Saturday, with (L-R) Line Producer, Nanette Labrador, Las Vegas-based Road Manager, Yul Session and Executive Producer, Archie Mendiorro. The show was a huge success, in all aspects. Congratulations, Lighthouse Entertainment!

All the stars and other heavenly bodies seemed to be aligned perfectly last Saturday night when “Arnel Pineda Loves To Rock” concert took place in Reno .

The venue ( Reno ’s Best Kept Secret these days) is the newly-expanded (at a cost of $400 Million; they added 600 more all-suite rooms, among others!) Peppermill Casino Resort – The Tuscany Events Center located on the 2nd floor (just above the casino area) with 6 giant HD screens and an in-house sound system that is every world-class singer’s dream. The iPhone generation concert-goers (their LED phone displays replaced the lit cigarettes seen during the concert of yesteryears) poured in from all places and filled the 4,000-seater venue to capacity, shortly before the show started at around 8:00 P.M.

Lighthouse Entertainment's Chief of Security San Jose's Rolan Sagmit ensured The Ultimate Champion, Rachelle Ann Go's safety last Saturday's "Arnel Pineda Loves To Rock" concert in Reno.

Journey’s Arnel Pineda opened the show with Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” that set the tone of the evening – rocking wild! And then suddenly, the place transformed into a giant ‘4th of July’ party celebration. He followed with Ewan Ko Ba, Jailhouse Rock and Hocus Pocus.

Arnel took under his wings (a promise he finally fulfilled), his original band from the Philippines - The Ammo Band, before he goes on another world tour with his mainstream band, The Journey. He sang an OPM Medley of songs that night with The Ammo Band.

Rachelle Ann Go followed with Honestly, her impersonation of Philippine Divas (Jessa Zaragoza, Jaya, etc) and Cryin’.

And then, Arnel and Rachelle performed a couple of duet numbers - Almost Paradise and I Love Rock & Roll, a vocal display of both performers’ calisthenics.

Arnel was definitely in his elements when he did the Bon Jovi Medley – Bad Name, It’s My Life, Living In A Prayer. My Sharona, Sometimes A Fantasy, Sweet Child O’Mine.

The show is for the benefit of the street school project of the APF USA, APF Inc., and the Arnel Pineda Foundation so Arnel performed a fitting tribute song next - “Imagine” by John Lennon.
Arnel’s version of Queen Medleys – Love of Mine, Bohemian Rhapsody, Another One Bites The Dust, Radio Ga Ga, Crazy Little Thing, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, sent the auditorium on a bigger fire with audiences now surging towards the stage, dancing, clapping and screaming.

Since Arnel can’t contractually perform Journey music on his own tours, he sang “Faithfully” A Capella, to the huge delight of the audience where time seemed to have banished altogether (it was almost midnight, folks!) with their voices (it’s good there was no work the next day).
To summarize it all, this is The Concert we are all waiting for. If you can only afford one concert (due to recession) to go to this summer, make it this one. Do not miss (there is a double-dip recession coming up) the rest of the tour’s high-octane performances at the following cities:
* Rancho Mirage Casino Resort in Palm Springs , Southern CA on Saturday, July 10 at 8:00 PM (by RONGI Enterprises, Inc. & TEN The Entertainment Network)
* Edmonton, Alberta on Saturday, July 17 at Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
* Vancouver, BC • Sunday, July 18 at the Center for Performing Arts
* Calgary, Alberta • Friday, July 23 at Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
* Atlantic City, NJ Sunday, July 25, 2:00 PM at Boardwalk Hall's Adrian Phillips Ballroom (produced by MPG Global Productions, LLC in cooperation with Topnotch Electronics)
* Toronto • Friday, July 30, 7:30PM at Roy Thomson Hall
Again, congratulations to Lighthouse Entertainment (Archie Mendiorro and Nanette Labrador) and Bercee Enterprises (Lerma Cailles) for another successful partnership! Kachiiiing!!!

The De La Salle Alumni Association (DLSAA) reunion committee members: Seated (L - R): Irvin Sevilla (Co-Secretary), Portia Santos, Emma Magbitang, Peachie Herman, Yo Aquino (Treasurer). Standing (L - R): Willie Salgado, Caloy Narciso (Co-Secretary), Nani Ramirez, Art Dancel, Matt Hizon, Jojo Flores and Arnold Mercado.

DD Pena, owner of Coffee Adventure in Milpitas presents to the world his Pandesal Adobo ala Panini. His coffee shop's reviews posted on Yelp are all raving - "There's free Wi-Fi and very comfortable seating - like walking into the lobby of a 5-star hotel (great ambiance)...Not your ordinary coffee shop, this is one place to visit. The coffee latte is fantastic and menu selection is awesome. Great ambiance! " Coffee Adventure is located at 1535 Landess Ave Ste 141. Milpitas, CA 95035 Phone (408) 956-1706.

TO-BE-SEEN IN THE CITY
Free Workshop on Importing & Exporting Business
The Filipino Business Assistance program of the Bayanihan Community Center, together with the Southeast Asian Community Center, is offering an appropriate workshop for entrepreneurs and business-oriented individuals on Basics of Importing and Exporting, scheduled on Thursday, July 15, 2010, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Southeast Asian Community Center at 875 O’Farrell Street , between Polk and Larkin, in San Francisco .

Pinoy Dream Academy Grand Champion, Yeng Constantino, right, poses with noted Peninsula Photographer, Von Cruz during her recent stint at Edna's Ichiban Library in South San Francisco.

The line between politics and entertainment blur as celebrities from rival stations ABS-CBN and GMA 7 joined forces and attended Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, III's presidential proclamation at the Quirino Grandstand last week. Photo by Ms. Juna Dalisay Sorrosa.

The workshop will cover basic information on importing and exporting products for small business entrepreneurs in California . It will also cover import/export financing and obtaining small business loans.

Invited speakers and resource persons include Don Farwell of US Customs and Border Protection and international trade specialist Daniel Giavina of US Commercial Service who will present rules and regulations for importing and exporting products. Henri Borius of Clover edition will share his experience on how to import goods from China . The letter of credit financing and other small business loans will be handled by Hector Gandhi and Mark Cyrus of Wells Fargo and Victor Hsi of SEACC’s SBA Microloan program.

The Peppermill Casino Resort's Entertainment Director, Mr. Paul (2nd left) was very happy with the Saturday "Arnel Pineda Loves To Rock" Concert's outcome and personally thanked (L-R) the Lighthouse Entertainment producers, Archie Mendiorro, Nanette Labrador and this columnist during the cast party at the hotel's The Cafe.

San Jose's Life Agent, Anthony Cabanero receives his recognition award from New York Life Managing Partner, Grace T. Dirige, for excellent production for the month of June under "New Class" category.

For those who are thinking about starting an export or import business and want to find out how to start, this is for them. The workshop is free but pre-registration is preferred. Light refreshment will be provided.

The workshop is sponsored by Southeast Asian Community Center , the Filipino American Development Foundation, the APIBIS, a city funded business assistance program which focuses on the specific language, cultural and technical needs of Asian Pacific Islander ethnic-owned small businesses, and supported by Wells Fargo and US Bank. For more information and for those who are interested to attend please contact MC Canlas at 415-574-8718 or email at mccanlast@aol.com.

San Jose's Life Agent, Anthony Cabanero receives his recognition award from New York Life Managing Partner, Grace T. Dirige, for excellent production for the month of June under "New Class" category.

PERSONAL NOTES

Congratulations & Best Wishes to Mr. Melvin Hing Lim and Ms. Grace Cruz Dirige, both of Danville, CA who flew to Kona, Hawaii Tuesday afternoon to tie the knot on July 8th and start enjoying their journey together as a couple. The wedding reception is set upon their return, at the Dynasty Seafood Restaurant in Cupertino , CA on July 24th. Oh, by the way, the couple is registered at CrateAndBarrel.com.

De La Salle Alumni Association Northern California (DLSAANC) President, Art Dancel and the Board of Directors welcome Portia Santos, VP - Chapters and Clubs of DLSAA Manila to the DLSAANC Board meeting held recently in Hayward, CA. Portia discussed the UMAEL (Lasallian Former Students) V World Renunion to be held in conjunction with the DLS 8th World Congress on October 24-28, 2011 in Manila. The Board meeting focused on their upcoming projects, such as the DLSAANC Annual Picnic on July 25, 2010, the Fi-AM Golf Tournament on September 18, 2010, and the traditional Christmas celebration with a special concert of Ms. Joey Albert scheduled on December 11, 2010.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting."- Buddha

This column also appears online at www.FilipinoVillage.com and http://sites.google.com/site/adkinsmmcevents/Home/ with readership in 82 countries now, according to the latest Google Analytics report.

Do you have any personal or community events you want announced or published? Just email them to bradford_adkins@yahoo.com

Photo from left to right: Western Union managing director and senior vice president for Asia Pacific Drina Yue, Western Union senior vice president for Pacific & Indochina Patricia Riingen, PNB director Dr. Lucio Tan, and PNB president & CEO Eugene Acevedo officiated the signing ceremony in Manila, the Philippines, on May 25, 2010.

Philippine National Bank to Offer Western Union®
Money TransferSM across Three Continents in 13 Countries

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.,— The Philippine National Bank (PNB), the Philippines' largest offshore bank network, and Western Union (NYSE: WU), a leader in global payment services, announced today an agreement to offer Western Union® Money TransferSM services at 311 PNB branches in the Philippines by July 2010 and at 87 offices across 12 countries in a phased approach.
PNB will offer Western Union Money Transfer services across three continents in 13 countries.
With an extensive urban and rural network in the Philippines, PNB's global footprint mirrors countries popular with Filipinos working and living abroad permanently, including Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Guam, Hong Kong, Japan, Italy, Spain, Singapore, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Bringing together PNB, a Philippine icon, and Western Union, a global leader in money transfer services with a heritage of 150 years is significant, said Eugene Acevedo, President and CEO of PNB.

"It gives our consumers, especially Filipinos, the added comfort of familiarity of a home-grown bank to go with Western Union's values of convenience, reliability and speed when sending money to family and loved ones.

"Our agreement with Western Union strengthens PNB as the bank of choice for both our local and global customers as we continually enhance the portfolio of financial services offered to our variety of customers," he said. "This agreement reinforces our commitment to our customers and is an important initiative to deliver sustained and enhanced value to shareholders towards PNB's goal of becoming the leading bank in facilitating in-bound and out-bound money transfer services.

To add an iconic Filipino bank to Western Union's global network of 420,000 agent locations in over 200 countries and territories is of strategic significance, particularly with the Philippines being the fourth largest remittance-receiving country in the world, according to the latest World Bank figures, said Drina Yue, managing director and senior vice president, Western Union Asia Pacific.

"Offering Western Union Money Transfer services through PNB locations across three continents in 13 countries reinforces our consumer value propositions of convenient, reliable and fast money transfer services across an unbeatable global network," said Yue. "It also expands our network in the Philippines as well as strengthens our rural presence mirroring PNB's equally weighted urban and rural footprint."

PNB is the country's fifth biggest private commercial bank in terms of assets and deposits as of December 31, 2009. Its distribution network is one of the most extensive, with 324 domestic branches, 402 ATMs, and 108 overseas branches and offices. The bank doubled its net income last year to a record P2.2 billion (USD49 million) from P1.1 billion (USD24 million) in 2008. First quarter 2010 profits were favorable by 22% to P889 million. The bank's leadership position will be bolstered by its planned merger with Allied Banking Corporation, which will bring a new set of opportunities including revenue and cost synergies, market expansion, and wider domestic and international footprint.

Western Union currently has over 6,800 Agent locations in the Philippines which enable consumers to avail money transfer services from as far north as Basco, Batanes, to as far south as Bongao in Tawi-Tawi.