News and Announcements
in the Filipino Community in NM

Christmas Party of Fil-Am Assn. of New Mexico will be held on Dec. 18, Saturday at 6:00 pm at the Sandia Casino. The Rondalla headed by Ernesto Quilban and the Kulintang Ensemble of Albuquerque will be performing. Ticket price is $25, available from Cora Romillo (265-4064) and Emilie Underwood (crisunderwood @hotmail.com). The proceeds will benefit the Scholarship Program for Filipino Americans.

Fil-Am Fastfood Mart opened on Nov. 6, 2004, located at 600-A Louisiana Blvd. SE corner of Trumbull (between Zuni and Southern Streets) in Albuquerque. They serve lunch (11:00 am - 2:00 pm) and dinner (4:00 - 6:00 pm) and sell some Filipino frozen and dry goods. Tel. 505-265-4064. e-mail: fil_amnm@hotmail.com. Website: fil-amnm.com. The Fil-Am Fastfood Mart is owned and operated by Ray & Imelda Pena, Cora Romillo and Ligaya White.

Pinoy-newmexico.com is a new website where you can also get news about the Filipino community in NM. It is owned and maintained by Kidstale, a company that produces CDs and Videos on Tagalog Lessons, Philippine folktales, American Fairy Tales, conducts puppet workshops and performs puppet shows. You will also find reviews of books written or movies produced/directed by Filipino Americans. This website is also coordinating the Philippine videos (for borrowing) for the Filipino American National Historical Society Rio Grande.

Albuquerque Tricentennial Celebration. The Filipino community will be participating in the Albuquerque Tricentennial Celebration Parade on April 16, 2005. One of the giant puppets from different ethnic groups will be a Filipino to be handled by Roderick Buenaventura, the main puppeteer. Arrangement for our participation was made through the Asian American Association of New Mexico. There will be a celebration every month until April 2006.

Young Filipino Professionals

The Young Filipino Professionals was recently established by Rod Ventura and Pat Teston. The first meeting was held on Sept 25, 2004, and the group currently has 20 members. It is an organization that will bring together young Filipino American adults (and others who wish to be involved) to facilitate, encourage, and nurture their cultural, personal, and professional development."

Contact Info:
Pat Teston (505) 507-5415
Rod Ventura (505) 771-8763

The Kulintang Ensemble of Albuquerque performed for the first time at the Cultural Sharing Event of the Heritage Council co-sponsored by the Arts Alliance on October 20, 2004 at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Albuquerque. The group was formed in July after members attended a 3-day workshop conducted by Kulintang master, Danongan Kalanduyan, last June through funding from the Urban Enhancement Trust Fund of the City of Albuquerque. Artistic Director is Dustin Haberman and Coordinator is Cristal Everette. They will be performing again at the Fil-Am Christmas Party in December. The group is indebted to Dely Alcantara and Ted Jojola for lending the instruments and using their building for practice and to Cora Romillo for lending them the Muslim costumes.

The Fil-Am Puppet Group performed seven shows at different venues from June to November 2004: Pista sa Nayon (at the UNM Continuing Education Building), Eubank and Mark Twain Elementary Schools (two shows per school), Hiland Senior Center, and Filipino American National Historical Society gathering (Cesar Chavez Community Center). The puppeteers are Cristal Everette, Rose Eckerman, Sima Greenfield, Josh Rowden. Instructors were Vickie Christenson and Tessie Greenfield (who were also the instructors of the Puppet Workshop on Anti-tobacco Messages for the Asian American Assn. of New Mexico and Stop Tobacco on My People for two years.) The Fil-Am puppeteers completed two 3-day workshops on puppetry and Philippine history from where they based their marionette characters from history or folktale. The puppet show is usually composed of a puppet play like Ibong Adarna (marionettes) or The Monkey and the Crocodile (shadow), Filipino People (Aeta, Muslim Boy, Gabriela Silang) and folktale (Sarimanok). The group also performed the sign language of "America, the Beautiful." The group will be taking a break from November 2004 to May 2005; however, individual puppeteers may perform on their own during this period. Fil-Am Puppet group is part of the grant obtained by Dr. Dely Alcantara, president of the Filipino American Assn. of New Mexico from the Urban Enhancement Trust Fund Capital Implementation Program City of Albuquerque. Other groups benefiting the grant are the Rondalla and Dance Groups.

Outstanding New Mexico Woman

Dr. Dely Alcantara, president of Fil-Am Assn. of NM and founding president of the Filipino American Assn. of New Mexico was one of the 20 women who received the Governor's Award for Outstanding New Mexico Women by the Commission on the Status of Women held on May 7, 2004.

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