CANADA PHILIPPINE FASHION WEEK TO BENEFIT KOL HOPE FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN 

Toronto, ON (February 21 2013) – Kol Hope Foundation for Children will serve as the beneficiary of the spectacular, inaugural launch of Canada Philippine Fashion Week, to be held from June 10-15, 2013 in Toronto Canada.

This dazzling week of Filipino fashion, culture, entertainment, and philanthropy, founded by Jeff Rustia, will feature a series of high impact events spread over five days, across a range of incredible venues in Toronto. The week-long event will feature headline fashion shows by top Filipino Fashion Designers from Canada and the Philippines, legendary exhibits ranging from the Fashion Statement of Jose Rizal, to a special Mangyan Tribes Exhibit, to Francis Libiran’s Famous 100 Dress Collection. It will also feature a spectacular array of Filipino performances, film screenings, live music, entertainment, culture, art and food.

“2013 will be an incredible year for Filipino fashion, as we present the very first Canada Philippine Fashion Week showcasing the best in haute couture, style, innovation, culture and creativity of Filipino designers in Canada and in the Philippines! And the best part is that it’s all for a great cause. We are partnering with the Kol Hope Foundation for Children, a charitable organization that reaches out to help and support children with disabilities in Canada and the Philippines. It’s truly fashion with a heart. We are truly blessed to have the help and support of friends and talented people from the Philippine and Canadian fashion industry, as well as the loyalty and commitment of our sponsors and benefactors, and the creative brilliance of an army of international designers, models, makeup and hair professionals all coming together with a single goal in mind. – to make a real difference in the lives of children through the Kol Hope Foundation for Children,” says Jeff Rustia, Executive Director and Founder of Canada Philippine Fashion Week.

“We are very honoured and touched to have the loving support of Canada Philippine Fashion Week and everyone involved.  This event will assist us in our mission to help and support children in Canada and the Philippines, ” says Melinda Rustia, President of Kol Hope Foundation for Children. “We are extremely grateful and we are waiting with bated breath for this pioneering event.”

Tickets for the event will be on sale beginning April 2013 with a complete list of fashion designers and performers to be announced.

About Kol Hope Foundation for Children

Kol Hope Foundation for Children was established in 2002 as a registered Canadian charitable organization that helps children born with Trisomy-related disabilities in Canada and the Philippines. Kol Hope Foundation for Children is named after Kol, a Filipino-Canadian boy, who was born with Trisomy 13, a fatal genetic syndrome. Kol was diagnosed to live only 3 months, but against all odds, he lived for 14 years. He was fed by g-tube, required life support, 24 hour nursing care, and was unable to walk or talk. He passed away on Oct 9, 2011, and has left behind an incredible legacy of love, courage and hope. He is the story and inspiration behind Kol Hope Foundation for Children.

Since its inception, to date, Kol Hope Foundation has raised over $500,000 CDN dollars and has donated a total of 1.85 million Pesos to the Philippines. The Kol Hope Fund at Easter Seals Canada helps children attend Summer Camps and has provided basic needs such as wheelchairs and respite care.  The Kol Hope Fund at Hospital for Sick Kids has helped fund the genetics clinic, which has provided children with the best care and treatment. In the Philippines, Kol Hope Foundation has provided financial support to the Bacolod Boys Home and the Holy Infant Home, two special homes that care for children, many of whom suffer from disabilities. www.kolhope.com

About Canada Philippine Fashion Week

Canada Philippine Fashion Week Inc. is a non-profit organization aimed at showcasing the fashion, culture, creativity and artistry of Filipinos in Canada and the Philippines.

Canada Philippine Fashion Week aims to enhance public awareness, image, and the rise of Filipino fashion on the world stage and open up the fashion trade between Canada and the Philippines.  It celebrates leading Filipino fashion icons in addition to supporting both young and emerging designers. Canada Philippine Fashion Week is committed to creating fundraising events that will help children in Canada and the Philippines.

www.canadaphilippinefashionweek.com

Saturday, May 7 · 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Our Lady of the Assumption Church
2565 Bathurst Street
Toronto, ON M6B 2Z3

A host of talents in one uplifting evening of inspiring songs, dances, and great youthful energy for everyone’s enjoyment. Featuring soprano Lilac Caña; tenor Emilio Zarris; the Singing Filipino Priests; the OLA Youth Ministry; the OLA AFCM Choir; and pianist Ronnie Pasajol. Proceeds to help 19 Youth go to Madrid, Spain for WYD 2011 (August 11th to 21st).

Tickets: $25.00 Contact: OLA Parish Office (416.787.4547) or Joey Abrenilla (647.830.5639)

Vallehermoso, with a population of 40,000, is a fourth class municipality in the northernmost part of Negros Oriental. Its name befits the rustic beauty and serenity which characterizes this “beautiful valley.” The VHHF was founded in 2008 to transform Vallehermoso into a center for learning and historical research, a provincial hub for culture and the arts and a progressive municipality with fully developed potentials in the hands of educated, cultured, nationalistic and capable citizens and a technically skilled populace.

To this end, the VHHF has started to bolster and complement the existing educational system of Vallehermoso, by establishing a library and a day care center, thereby improving the learning opportunities of children, youth including those out of school, teachers and illiterate townsfolk. The Foundation will fund publications, updated learning materials for teachers and students, livelihood and other skills development workshops, cultural performances and exhibits.

The Presidential Awards for Filipino Individuals and Organizations Overseas is a biennial award established by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas – an agency of the Philippine Government tasked to promote and uphold the interests of Filipino emigrants and permanent residents abroad, and preserve and strengthen ties with Filipino communities overseas. The awards are conferred on Filipino individuals and organizations that contribute to Philippine development or promote the interests of Filipino communities overseas. It is also given to Filipinos overseas who have distinguished themselves in their professions.

Among the four award categories, the Pamana Ng Pilipino Award is conferred on Filipinos overseas, who, in exemplifying the talent and industry of the Filipino, have brought the country honor and recognition through excellence and distinction in the pursuit of their work or profession.

Ms. Caña continues to play an active role in the GTA, sharing her musical talents and services not just within the Filipino-Canadian community here, but also with the wider Canadian, US, European, and Philippine audiences. She has given concerts, vocal workshops, served as music director at St. John’s Cathedral Polish Catholic Church, recorded seven CD albums, and continues to help several charities with her fundraising events and efforts.

Former awardees of this prestigious Presidential Award are: internationally reknowned concert pianist Dr. Raul Sunico (now Dean of Music at the University of Santo Thomas); former Mayor of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Arthur Viola; Jeffrey Rustia, President and CEO of Front TV; and Norma Carpio, former PIDC President and founder of Toronto’s Mabuhay Festival.

Lilac is deeply grateful and humbled by this honor bestowed on her and her family. She is to sing at the ceremonies, accompanied by the Leggiero String Ensemble, and violinist John Lesaca. Accompanying her at Malacañan Palace and at the CFO conferences for the awardees, are her proud parents: Sir Lapulapu P. Caña (Commander, Knights of Rizal), and Lady Ligaya L. Caña (Ontario State Regent, Daughters of Isabella).

ST BONIFACE CHURCH
21 Markanna Drive
Scarbourgh, Ontario
7:00pm
Musical Concert
For Tickets call 416-438-3791

You’ve read and heard the news…million-dollar fake lakes, the mounties and illegitimate imported security services, sonic sound-blasting anti-rioter machines, an armada of special services staff and media people to cover this über-expensive world get-together.

I just never imagined it could come SO uncomfortably close to home.  My backyard is the shared courtyard of the Rogers Centre Skydome, where on a good Blue Jays Game day, or rock concert evening, I can see streams of sports fans or concertgoers mingle outside of the big dome.  These days, there are platoons of OPP officers on horseback practicing their drills, or handfuls of event coordinators starting to put up metal fence posts around the perimeter of Bremner Avenue, all the way around to the south entrance of the Metro Convention Centre near Rees St. (where the bulk of the G20 summit activities will take place).  On Front Street West at the corner of Blue Jays Way, there are already cement barricades in place, I imagine to keep out the crowds a few feet away from the actual Metro Convention Centre front of building.

It’s surreal, and yes it’s history in the making, but what a spectacle!  Tomorrow I’m going to an information session for residents of this G20 summit zone, where hopefully some of our questions are going to be answered. As in, will we be able to survive this ordeal? And, what can we do, short of leaving town altogether, to live normally (as much as possible). Part of me wants to do just that: take a flight to a remote island off of Java (like the mysterious island in LOST). But another part of me refuses to be ousted out of my own home, just because the politicians decided they would use our taxpayers’ money and lavish it on our out of town guests, just to prove that we Canadians have a beautiful country.

I think I’ll stay and witness the silliness, and (hopefully) live to tell about it.

I notice more provincial police officers decked in OPP Black & White uniforms, lurking with their Vespa-like scooters — parked at most corners of this quadrant, from King St. West and Bathurst, to right at my front door. Are they extras from a film-shooting of “The Matrix — Final Attack”?  Also, I see our taxpayers’ loonies being put to use whenever I attempt to drive anywhere on the Lakeshore or Gardiner Expressway…and, there’s construction. Or Bridge work, or widening of lanes, or any other possible form of blockage or delay to anyone who has to pass on these public highways.  I can understand the necessity — Toronto needs to be prettified for our international guests. But it’s beginning to feel a little claustrophobic.

Think I’ll take the bike out more often, to get around. Bound to be some rockin’ times ahead…

The MQHM (Mary Queen of Heaven Missionary) Sisters have invited me to join them in their first-ever CD recording – an album of inspiring new songs by fresh local composers in Cebu, Philippines, which will feature the Sisters’ Choir and me as soloist on some songs.

We first met last January 2010, coming together for the fund raiser concert at the Waterfront Hotel in Lahug, Cebu City, to benefit women and children victims of prostitution. Thank God the event was successful…with the help of many generous benefactors, we were able to raise significant funds to help the rebuilding of their (recently fire-damaged) Home of Love – a rehabilitation and training center for over 50 women and children on their road to recovery.

How nice to see and work with the ever-joyful, highly-spirited Sisters again, and with amazingly talented Filipino musicians in this venture. The Sisters hope to create more awareness and to spread hope and joy with the songs on their new album, as they continue their work. This will also be my first time doing a recording outside of Canada…looking forward with gusto!

Civil unrest and discontent will always find expression among people who are unjustly treated by those in authority who abuse their power. The protests in downtown Bangkok may have been violently repressed by the Thai soldiers for now, but the people’s rage could now be channeled into guerrilla warfare. The desire for necessary justice remains unquenchable.