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PUBLISHER Kalatas Media
MANAGING EDITOR Maria Phillips
CONSULTING EDITOR Jaime K. Pimentel
CORRESPONDENTS
Alfredo Roces
Violi Calvert
Mitchell Badelles
Michelle Baltazar
Marco Selorio
Marilie Bomediano
Joseph Orbase
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Jim Paredes
Jessie Icao
Shiela Cabacungan
Hank Jongen
Dom Mella
Jerone Balagtas
Fe Watmore
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Marilie Bomediano
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Take us back
to a Filipino Christmas
WE enjoyed attending the 2017
Philippine Christmas Festival at
Tumbalong Park in Sydney’s central
business district.
Walking around the park meeting friends,
savouring native dishes and ‘pulutans’, and watching
our local artistic talents performing on an outdoor
stage complete with giant screen was – to me, anyway
– a perfect way to spend the day with family.
It was a great concert with a food festival thrown
in, thanks to major support from the Philippine
Tourism office, the Philippine Consulate General, and
Philippine Airlines.
A concert it was, but I had expected something
different; something that suggested a ‘Philippine
Christmas’ which, in fact, the festival touted it to be.
I would have wanted to see Christmas buntings
at the entrance of Tumbalong Park, a ‘belen’ at the
middle of Tumbalong Park, a giant Christmas tree
sparkling with lights, colourful ‘parols’ scattered
around the grounds instead of being relegated to
By JAIME K PIMENTEL
Consulting Editor
a corner stall, and Christmas music dominating the
repertoire on stage.
What an impact the Christmas festival would have
had to crowds on Saturday and Sunday nights of
November 11 and 12 had Tumbalong Park shone with
‘parols’ and echoed with Filipino Christmas carols.
The spectacle would have taken many of us
back home, where the Christmas festival season was
already in full swing.
All year round we are treated to one concert or
‘fiesta’ after another.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have these two days in the
calendar year to take us back to a celebration of a
Filipino Christmas - and for mainstream Australians
to experience how we regard and feel about
Christmas? n
AK NewsMagazine, Vol 8 No 3 | DECEMBER 2017
03