| CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The original plan was to wow crowds in the Big Apple with a 15-foot Christmas lantern from this capital city of Pampanga—until US building codes got in the way.Still, the seven smaller parols that now adorn the Philippine Center on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York, proved that size doesn’t matter when spreading the magic of the Filipino yuletide abroad.The lanterns—with diameters ranging from five to three feet—were all made by Ernesto Quiwa, a descendant of Francisco Estanislao, a pioneering craftsman from the province who built the Star of Bethlehem in jaw-dropping scales when not selling salt and vinegar for a living.
The idea of bringing one of the most colorful Philippine “exports” to New York began four years ago, when Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan, chair of the Subic-Clark Alliance for Development Council, visited the city.
In an Inquirer interview yesterday, Pamintuan recalled standing in front of the Philippine Center and finding it “gray and drab, with a mausoleum feel to it.”
He later requested San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez to donate a lantern to the center “por la patria,” Pamintuan said.
The original plan was quite ambitious: To light up the building with a 15-foot sparkler.
“[But] the project was complicated by a lot of restrictions ranging from compliance with US standards and building regulations to putting the actual lantern together,” said Elmer Cato, first secretary of the Philippine mission to the United Nations.
The plan was revived in June when Consul General Cecilia Rebong did a follow up with Pamintuan when they met again at an event in New York, Cato added.
Quiwa’s creations—fashioned out of paper, plastic and intricate patterns of “dancing” lights—finally made it to Manhattan the bayanihan way or through the collective efforts of various people, the diplomat said.
The city government of San Fernando donated the lanterns, while the Clark International Airport Corp. at Clark Freeport tapped one of its locators, international cargo forwarder UPS, to ship the pieces to the United States.
Coordination for the parols’ New York debut went through no less than Ambassador Hilario Davide, the country’s permanent representative to the United Nations.
The lanterns arrived in the United States two weeks ago but were released by customs only on Dec. 22. They were installed at the center the next day and would remain on display until end of January.
Mayor Rodriguez hailed the project as a source of Filipino pride and a showcase of Kapampangan craftsmanship.
Since 1908, San Fernando has been holding a giant lantern competition during the Christmas season. Entries can be as wide as 18 feet and fitted with 5,000 to 8,300 light bulbs.
The city boasts of a “year-round” parol-making industry that now employs some 10,000 people. |
