~ Philippine Independence Day Council’s Mabuhay Philippine Festival last weekend lived up to its billing as a showcase of the best in Philippine arts, culture, food and music. With the full support of Luminus Financial – the presenting sponsor known for its “remit now, pay later” remittance service to the Philippines – the three-day festivity at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre attracted a multi-ethnic throng so large the word “success” would be an understatement. It was, in fact, a blockbuster!
“Success is simple. Do what’s right, the right way, at the right time.” – Arnold H. Glasow
TORONTO – Josie de Leon and Chiqui Pineda gracefully acknowledged the applause of the audience that formed a ring around the Red Path stage on Harbourfront Centre on Sunday, Aug. 18, the last day of the three-day Mabuhay Philippines Festival.
It wasn’t deafeaning, but loud and sustained enough to know that the people wanted more of their songs which perked them up from what should have been a leisurely weekend afternoon at home.
“More, more,” they hollered. “Bitin,” exclaimed others, meaning, their performance was like being abruptly cut off just as the audience was warming to the singers. (Video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhZ3C0_E-6c).
The ovation and the yelling were spontaneous, neither contrived nor simulated, and one could feel why Ms. De Leon and Ms. Pineda instantly captured their ears . . . and their hearts.
Their songs were the very language of a person in love. And that meant everybody, the love-struck particularly.
The day before, on Saturday, Aug. 17, Emilio Zarris charmed the audience with his soulful rendition of George Canseco’s hits. The journey of love and remembrance was particularly touching as Zarris deftly moved from one song to another, specially his interpretation of “Ikaw”, “Kastilyong Buhangin” and “Sa Dulo ng Walang Hanggan”.
(Videos at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaiaCJGJNQM; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du_KGxIUEBw; and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IhjKjNDQW0).
On another stage on the same day, a multitude craned their necks and rolled their eyeballs to see, record and experience the splendour of a fashion show by Edgar Sulit’s International Professional Entertainment Network (IPEN) models and beauty queens of Philippine Independence Day Council (PIDC).
The show’s simplicity and understated elegance appealed to the diverse audience, majority of them Filipinos, bringing back recent memories of a much-hyped but failed avant-garde extravaganza for a select crowd, which was actually a cavalcade of wannabes.
Model after model, female and male, popped out of the backstage and sauntered through the breadth of the West Jet stage in different clothes, looking formal once, then being casual next while the audience, enraptured by the sight before them, clapped, shrieked and screamed in delight. (Related video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Atl_y_PzHE).
The unceasing flash of cameras provided a romantic glow to the dark horizon as the summer sun has set an hour before. Sulit’s IPEN models, wearing creations by Renee Salud and Shannon Pamaong, literally glittered and acclaimed, as they stood out in a momentary visual peek at a part of Philippine fashion culture.
Hours earlier, Casa Manila restaurant owner Mila Cuachon and Philippine-based chief Fern Aracama sequestered a food-loving audience of at least 100, held them by their noses as the aroma of Filipino gastronomic delights floated in the Brigantine Room where they gave insights into traditional Filipino cuisine.
Nothing has been more appetizing and instructive than this workshop, a good way too, to advance the culture and call attention to the secrets of fine Filipino foods. (Video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mqfBB6wZls).
The smell that filled the room was distinctively Filipino but the racially-mixed audience was equally diverse in their tastes and culinary outlook. Even then, Cuachon and Aracama had a good time espousing the idea that Philippine cuisine could go mainstream.
PIDC’s choice of Casa Manila – a purveyor of good food and classic Filipino cuisine – was excellent as it is one of a few Filipino restaurants in Toronto that has gone beyond the system of point-point or turo-turo where customers select their food by pointing them out from a showcase of precooked dishes.
All things considered, the entertainment fare and the many other programs that shaped this year’s Mabuhay Philippines Festival ensured a smash hit, proving to all and sundry that supposedly name stars and swelled heads do not guarantee success. (Video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiKl0Vt12PM).
In terms of inflating their self importance, Karen Pascual-Binaday is no match to Lilac Cana and Jeff Rustia, the duo that handled (or is it mishandled?) Mabuhay Festival’s 2012 staging at Metro Toronto Convention Centre. (Full story at: http://www.balita.ca/2012/08/clashing-egos-spell-disaster-for-torontos-mabuhay-festival-2/).
Ms. Binaday is grounded, whereas Cana and Rustia, not content with amplifying their roles and exaggerating their alleged accomplishments, dwelt in the dizzying heights of their own hyperbole. Last year’s Mabuhay Festival was their botched ego trip.
But in her modest and unassuming ways, Ms. Binaday, as artistic director, delivered a blockbuster with her choice of program and talents.
For example, she told me in response to my queries that it was her idea to accord the late Ruben J. Cusipag, journalist, author and founder of Balita newspaper, the respect and recognition that the local press club he helped found had refused or neglected to bestow.
With the leadership there preoccupied with picnics and bootlicking socials than with media concerns, it is not a surprise that such a simple commemoration of a respected colleague would be blotted out. (Related video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4vVh6sZsPc).
Not that the Cusipags wanted it; it’s simply that Ruben J. Cusipag had been a great contributor to the cause of journalism in Canada and the Philippines and deserved to be honored. (Video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctd0G-C7i3k).
That has not escaped notice by Ms. Binaday. Belinda Corpuz’s poignant rendition of “Hindi Kita Malilimutan” as a tribute to Ruben Cusipag might as well be PIDC’s collective eulogy for him. (Video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGaxg3l3vPM).
And there’s MP Olivia Chow who narrated her experience as a new immigrant from Hongkong many years ago and looked up to Ruben Cusipag as her role model. (Video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6duLnOB4LjY).
Mabuhay Philippines Festival was a smash hit this year only because PIDC got rid of impostors with rock star egos. Ms. Binaday made sure the power trips are jettisoned. (Video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUKv1lht9Ds&feature=c4-overview&list=UUzG2O4Pcev-QgaPZwZAv8yw).