GMA stars grace New Jersey Fil-Am Day parade

MANILA, Philippines - GMA stars Kris Bernal, Mark Herras and Rhian Ramos graced the 20th Annual Philippine-American Friendship Day Parade organized by PAFCOM in Jersey City, New Jersey, last June 27.

Thousands of Filipinos from Jersey City and the East Coast US joined the celebration of 62 years of friendship between the Philippines and the USA. Engineer Danilo Pagsambugan, President of Maharlikang Pilipino Pageants-USA, invited me (being Maharlikang Pilipino’s pageant coach and consultant) to attend the parade this year to showcase our Miss Maharlikang Pilipino-USA winners who will be competing in different national pageants in the Philippines next year. The parade covered places from Lincoln Park to the Hudson Bergen Light Rail Station. A special musical variety show and cultural presentation followed soon after.

Incidentally, I would like to commend Kris Bernal for doing something most young stars today would not. After the parade, the GMA float was parked and there were several people gathered around it. As the stars were being rushed to go down the float to a nearby car waiting to take them off to a nearby restaurant for lunch, Kris saw a grandmother with her little granddaughter approaching the edge of the float to shake hands with her.

The float was a bit high and the old lady could not reach Kris’ hands. In sheer desperation, she tried to walk nearer the float and she nearly fell down the gutter and ended up even farther away from Kris who hurriedly knelt near the edge of the float, not minding that her blouse was a bit loose, and shook the hands of the old lady and her granddaughter and exchanged pleasantries with them! I saw the sparkle in the grandmother’s eyes as she left.