Parols light up 5th Ave. in New York

MANILA, Philippines - The famous Pampanga parols are adding a special Filipino glitter to the Christmas lights of downtown Manhattan in New York City, as the Philippine Consulate in New York switched on the lanterns installed on the front window of the Philippine Center on Fifth Avenue last Tuesday.

The project to have the world-renowned lanterns take its place among the bright lights of the Big Apple began four years ago, with the original plan to install a 15-foot lantern on the facade of the Philippine Center, according to Elmer Cato, first secretary of the Philippine Mission to the United Nations based in New York.

 But restrictions on compliance with electrical, materials and other standards imposed by US building and customs codes shelved the project, under Consul General Cecilia Rebong picked up the idea with Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan when he was in New York last June on a roadshow, and again during a visit to the Clark Special Economic Zone in August.

Pamintuan then spoke to Mayor Oscar Rodriguez of San Fernando, Pampanga, where the famous lanterns are made by expert craftsmen, who last November readied seven lanterns of various sizes.

But the lanterns could not be sent to New York for lack of funds, until Jose Victor Luciano, president of the Clark International Airport Corp., stepped in and asked the giant courier service company United Parcel Service (UPS) to sponsor the project and ship the lanterns to NewYork.

The lanterns finally arrived in New York on Dec. 18 but were held up in US Customs. They were released on Tuesday evening and were installed immediately, with the switching on ceremony held on Wednesday afternoon, in time for Christmas.

The lanterns will be on display until the end of January.              – Dino Balabo