• Follow him @MannyPacquiao • Tagalog classes for children • Wanted: cultural performers for Independence Day

Photo: mpboxing.com

He came. He saw. He Tweeted. Manny Pacquiao, the eight-division world champion and lone congressional representative from the Sarangani province in the Philippines, has returned to Twitter. Manny’s authorized user name is @MannyPacquiao.

Fans are invited to follow Manny as he trains with Freddie Roach for his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title defense against three-division world champion Sugar Shane Mosley (@SugarShaneM). Pacquiao will resume his training at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, Calif.

Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs) of General Santos City, Philippines and Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs) of Pomona, Calif., have won world titles in 11 weight divisions between them. They will go toe-to-toe on Saturday, May 7, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Named Fighter of the Decade by the Boxing Writers Association of America, Pacquiao will be making his first ring appearance in The Fight Capital of the World since 2009.
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This summer, dive into the Tagalog-speaking world of The Filipino School of New York
& New Jersey’s Ang Mundo Pilipino. Your child will learn the basics of Tagalog through
various interactive games, song, arts and crafts and other fun activities, sponsored by the Pan American Concerned Citizen Action League (PACCAL) in Jersey City. This program is for children grades 1-6.

Saturday mornings from May 14 to July 23

10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.: Grades 1-3
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.: Grades 4-6

Cost: $25 per class or $185 for the full 8-week session. Cost covers registration fee, program supplies and space rental. To register, visit the website: www.filschool-nynj.org.
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg joins the FilAm community parade with former ConGen Cecilia Rebong and community leaders Isagani Puertollano and Dan de Guzman. Photo: Elmer Cato

The Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc. (PIDCI) is inviting cultural performers to this year’s 113rd Philippine Independence anniversary to be held on Madison Avenue June 5.

This event is the “largest one-day gathering of Filipinos outside of the Philippines,” said organizer Hector Magno. Last year’s attendance was estimated to be 70,000 as reported by the NYPD. “This will be an opportunity to showcase your talent to the community.”

The cultural program that follows the parade will be held in an open-air stage at the end of Madison on 23rd Street.

If you are interested, please submit your resume / brief bio or a tape recording of past performance(s) by e-mail: magnopi@yahoo.com or hector.magno@pidci.org. You may also e-mail the PIDCI website at info@pidci.org. YouTube clips are acceptable. There will be no fee to perform. PIDCI is a non-profit organization run by volunteers.
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A rally to “End the Racist Wars at Home and Abroad” will be held April 9 from 12 noon to 4 p.m. at Union Square Park, came the press statement from Damayan/Ugnayan.

The release says: “In the last decade, the world has seen war intensified at home and abroad. Whether one considers Baghdad, Tunis, Manila, Gaza, New York, or New Orleans as one’s home, economic and political hardship has become more severe for the majority of the 6.91 billion people in the world. Since President Obama has taken into office in January 2009, little has changed from the Bush administration’s foreign policy of war and militarization. With U.S. troops in 150 countries and after spending $1.17 trillion in Iraq and Afghanistan — murdering hundreds of thousands of civilians, including innocent women and children — the U.S. government has expanded its racist-imperialist conquest and repression by heightening a call for new wars in the interest of controlling oil and natural gas reserves in Libya, Bahrain and Yemen. The quest for profit through waging war on sovereign nations renders no one safer or more secure.

“If poor, working and middle class people are going to have a future, we must collectively voice our opposition to the ongoing war at home and abroad. We must challenge the bleak circumstances that we are presented with today. This can only happen through educating, organizing and mobilizing in the streets, our neighborhoods, workplaces and wherever we experience injustices. We must do this if we expect to have a life of decency and dignity for us, our global community and generations to come.”

For more info, please visit www.ugnayan.blogspot.com.