Rites for hero Graciano Lopez Jaena turn into call for justice (tags)
The Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC) News learned today that the annual rites commemorating the 153rd birth anniversary of Ilonggo patriot Graciano Lopez Jaena in Iloilo City, in the island of Panay echoed a call for justice for 31 journalists who were murdered in Ampatuan, Maguindanao. Graciano Lopez Jaena was known to be an orator but he was also a writer. “If he were alive today, Graciano Lopez Jaena would be part of the ‘endangered species’—journalists being killed with impunity,” said Demy Sonza, former Iloilo vice governor and head of the Dr. Graciano Lopez Jaena Foundation Inc. “But he would have fought hard, uncowed by threats,” said Sonza. Sonza said Lopez Jaena offered an inspiration for Filipino journalists “to remain vigilant, stand up for what is right and expose what is wrong” like what the patriot did in his lifetime.
Filipino Veterans Commemorate 64th Year of the Leyte Landing at HPMC in LA (tags)
–Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) and the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center (HPMC) commemorated the 64th Year of the Leyte landing, October 20, 1944- the start of the Liberation of the Philippines with the proper rites at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center (HPMC) in Vermont and Fountain St in Los Angeles on Oct. 22, 2008. Scores of World War II veterans, community advocates and the Philippine Consul General Mary Jo Aragon, Vice Consul Daniel Espiritu, Errol Santos of HPMC and hospital personnel led the simple rites held at the HPMC auditorium. A Filipino mass was officiated by Fr. George Florendo to pay tribute to both living and departed veterans who fought in World War II in the Philippines.