Philippine Center New York | |
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Location | New York, New York 10036, United States |
Address | 556 Fifth Avenue |
Coordinates | 40°45′21.28″N73°58′45.74″W / 40.7559111°N 73.9793722°W |
Website | http://philippinecenterny.com |
Philippine Center San Francisco | |
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Location | San Francisco, California, 94108, United States |
Address | 447 Sutter Street |
Website | https://philippinecentersanfrancisco.com/ |
The Philippine Center is an agency of the Philippine Government in New York City and San Francisco in the United States. The New York City structure houses the Philippine Mission to the United Nations, the Philippine Consulate General, and the overseas offices of the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Tourism. The Philippine Center Management (PCMB) manages the building and its properties. It is committed to "nurture, promote, and propagate Philippine culture, encourage foreign tourists to visit the Philippines, expand foreign markets of Philippine products, and enhance the image of the Philippines."
On May 10, 1973, the first Philippine Center was established in New York by the then President Ferdinand Marcos on the Presidential Decree No. 188 with the aim of integrating and coordinating activities of the Philippine government offices in the United States. It is located at 556 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, three blocks south of Rockefeller Center and north of the New York Public Library Main Branch in Bryant Park. [1] It was purchased by the Philippine Government from the Knights of Columbus on October 29, 1973. After the purchase, extensive renovations were done and the interior of the building was redesigned. It became famous for "the only building on Fifth Avenue with no windows".
The second establishment was placed in San Francisco during 1974, and the third was placed in Sydney, Australia.
After Marcos' death in 1989, the Philippine Center continued under the Presidential Decree No. 188. It has become to many Filipinos overseas as an international landmark representing the cultural identity of the Philippines or what some may call, "a home away from home".
On September 15, 2005, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo made a historic official visit to the Philippine Center New York, the first by a ruling Filipino head of state. [1] [2]
During the 1920s to the 1950s, the present edifice was the flagship site of the defunct Schrafft's which was also a chocolate candy company. Carrere & Hastings, the renowned beaux-arts architectural firm originally designed the building for the Knoedler and Company Art Gallery in 1912. Carrere & Hastings were the architects of the New York Public Library, and the Frick Mansion.
The Philippine Center has seven floors, two mezzanines, and a basement. The Kalayaan Hall (Freedom Hall), an auditorium which seats one hundred fifty, is the main reception hall. It also houses an Annex room, an art exhibit area (Philippine Center Gallery) located at the lobby. The upper floors are rented by offices belonging to the Government of the Republic of the Philippines. [1]
The Philippine Center in San Francisco was built in 1911 by Architect Fred Meyer. and encompasses a total floor area of 88,443 square feet (8,216.6 m2). It is composed of two adjoining buildings located on Sutter Street, a block away from the prestigious Union Square and within a mile of San Francisco's financial district. It has 8 floors with a north and south penthouse.
The Philippine Center was created to: [1]
The following government offices are housed in the New York Philippine Center: [1]
The following government offices are housed in the San Francisco Philippine Center.
From June 3–15, 2007, the Philippine Consulate-General and the Philippine Center Management Board exhibited the building's art collection for the first time in its 34 years of existence. The collection includes works by National Artists such as Hernando R. Ocampo, Vicente Manansala, Cesar Legaspi, Arturo Luz, Ang Kiukok and Jose Joya.
The works of Manuel Rodriguez, the Father of Philippine Printmaking, Venancio C. Igarta, Hugo C. Yonzon II, Malang, Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, Angelito Antonio, Norma Belleza, Eduardo Castrillo and Juvenal Sanso were also displayed. The art collecting project of the New York Philippine Center begun since its opening on November 14, 1974. Some art masterpieces were donated by the artists themselves. The public exhibit was officially presented as Pamana: Modernong Sining (A Heritage of Modern Art), to celebrate the 109th anniversary of the Philippine Declaration of Independence. [3]
Malacañang Palace, officially known as Malacañan Palace, is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the Philippines. It is located in the Manila district of San Miguel, along Jose P. Laurel Street though it is commonly associated with Mendiola Street nearby. The term Malacañang is often used as a metonym for the president, their advisers, and the Office of the President of the Philippines. The sprawling Malacañang Palace complex includes numerous mansions and office buildings designed and built largely in the bahay na bato and neoclassical styles. Among the presidents of the present Fifth Republic, only Gloria Macapagal Arroyo actually lived in the main palace as both her office and her residence, with all others residing in nearby properties that form part of the larger palace complex. The palace has been seized several times as a result of protests starting with the People Power Revolution of 1986, the 1989 coup attempt, the 2001 Manila riots, and the EDSA III riots.
Philippine Republic Day, also known as Philippine–American Friendship Day, is a commemoration in the Philippines held annually on July 4. It was formerly an official holiday designated as Independence Day, celebrating the signing of the Treaty of Manila, which granted Philippine independence from the United States of America in 1946.
José Tanig Joya was a Filipino abstract artist and a National Artist of the Philippines awardee. Joya was a printmaker, painter, mixed media artist, and former dean of the University of the Philippines' College of Fine Arts. He pioneered abstract expressionism in the Philippines. His canvases were characterized by "dynamic spontaneity" and "quick gestures" in action painting. He is the creator of compositions that were described as "vigorous compositions" of heavy impastoes, bold brushstrokes, controlled dips, and diagonal swipes". Joya added the brilliant tropical colors. He was awarded a grant, which enabled him to pursue a master's degree in Fine Arts in 1956–57. His works were strongly influenced by the tropical landscapes of the Philippine Islands. Among his masterpieces are the jedree (a collage rendered with Asian calligraphy and forms and patterns resembling rice paddies), the Granadean Arabesque (1958) and Biennial (1964)
The Emilio Aguinaldo Shrine is a national shrine located in Kawit, Cavite in the Philippines, where the Philippine Declaration of Independence from Spain was declared on June 12, 1898, or Independence Day. To commemorate the event, now known as Araw ng Kalayaan or Independence Day, a national holiday, the Philippine flag is raised here by top government officials on June 12 each year. The house is now a museum.
Ang Kiukok was a Filipino painter of Chinese descent and was a National Artist for Visual Arts.
Vicente Silva Manansala was a Filipino cubist painter and illustrator. One of the first Abstractionists on the Philippine art scene, Manansala is also credited with bridging the gap between the city and the suburbs, between the rural and cosmopolitan ways of life. His paintings depict a nation in transition, an allusion to the new culture brought by the Americans. Manansala, together with Fabian de la Rosa, are among the best-selling Philippine artists in the West.
José Veloso Abueva was a Filipino political scientist and public administration scholar who served as the 16th president of the University of the Philippines. A Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) awardee for political science in 1962, he has devoted much of his career in academic circles. He has been faculty member of the National College of Public Administration and Governance of the University of the Philippines Diliman and visiting professor at Brooklyn College, City University of New York and Yale University. He has also worked with the United Nations University in Tokyo. Abueva's service to the nation includes stints as secretary of the 1971 Constitutional Convention, executive director of the Legislative-Executive Local Government Reform Commission and Chairman of the Legislative-Executive Council that drew up the conversion program for former military bases. Abueva wrote a number of books, including Focus in the Barrio: The Foundation of the Philippine Community Development Program and Ang Filipino sa Siglo 21. Among the publications he has edited is the 20-volume PAMANA: The UP Anthology of Filipino Socio-Political Thought since 1872.
Michael Amper Dadap is a popular Filipino guitarist, composer, and conductor, and an influential advocate of Filipino folk music. He was influential in the creation of a world-class rondalla ensemble in the United States is also the founding music director of the Iskwelahang Rondalla of Boston, Massachusetts.
Hernando Ruiz Ocampo was a Filipino National Artist in the visual arts. He was also a fictionist, playwright and editor.
Cesar Torrente Legaspi was a Filipino National Artist in painting. He was also an art director prior to going full-time in his visual art practice in the 1960s. His early (1940s–1960s) works, alongside those of peer, Hernando Ocampo are described as depictions of anguish and dehumanization of beggars and laborers in the city. These include Man and Woman and Gadgets. Primarily because of this early period, critics have further cited Legaspi's having "reconstituted" in his paintings "cubism's unfeeling, geometric ordering of figures into a social expressionism rendered by interacting forms filled with rhythmic movement".
Arturo Rogerio Dimayuga Luz was a Filipino visual artist. He was also a known printmaker, sculptor, designer and art administrator.
Mario Parial was a multi-awarded Filipino painter, printmaker, sculptor and photographer. His works have been sold at Sotheby's.
Philippine News Agency (PNA) is the official news agency of the Philippine government. PNA is under the supervision and control of the News and Information Bureau, an attached agency of the Presidential Communications Operations Office. It was established on March 1, 1973, by President Ferdinand Marcos, and currently has its headquarters in Quezon City.
The Consulate General of the Philippines in San Francisco is a foreign mission of the Republic of the Philippines in the United States, representing the country's interests in northern California, the Pacific Northwest, the Rocky Mountains, and Alaska. It is located at the Philippine Center at 447 Sutter Street in Downtown San Francisco, just north of Union Square.
The Consulate General of the Philippines in Los Angeles is a diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines in the United States, representing the country's interests in southern California. It is located on the fifth floor of the Equitable Life Building at 3435 Wilshire Boulevard in the Koreatown neighborhood of central Los Angeles, a couple of blocks north of the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools.
The Embassy of the Philippines in Kuala Lumpur is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines to Malaysia. It is at 1 Jalan Changkat Kia Peng in central Kuala Lumpur, near significant city landmarks like the Kuala Lumpur City Centre and Bukit Bintang.
The Consulate General of the Philippines in Frankfurt is a diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines in Germany, representing the country's interests in Hesse. It is located on the first floor of the Westend Carree complex along Grüneburgweg in the Westend-Nord district of Frankfurt, near the main campus of the Goethe University Frankfurt. Although the current consulate dates from 2019, the Philippines also maintained a previous consulate in Frankfurt between 2009 and 2012.
The Consulate General of the Philippines in Honolulu is a diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines in the United States, representing the country's interests in Hawaii. Opened in 1946, it is located along Hawaii Route 61 in the Nuʻuanu neighborhood of northern Honolulu, next to the campus of the Hawaii Baptist Academy.
The Consulate General of the Philippines in Chicago is a diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines in the United States, representing the country's interests in the state of Illinois. Opened in 1948, it is currently located on the 16th floor of the Peoples Gas Building in the Historic Michigan Boulevard District, part of the Loop community area in downtown Chicago, across from the Art Institute of Chicago.