City donates $100,000 to Filipino celebration

 http://starbulletin.com/2005/11/26/news/briefs.html

Hawaii's Filipino community has scheduled various eventsthroughout the coming year to celebrate the 100th anniversary of whenthe first Filipino immigrants arrived in Hawaii.

Money from the city and county will help fund those events,with an emphasis on a Filipino International Trade Exposition set forDec. 13-16, 2006, at the Hawai'i Convention Center.

This is all about demonstrating ... Honolulu's commitment toensuring a wonderful celebration because of the cultural heritage thatmany of our Filipinos are very proud of, Mayor Mufi Hannemann saidyesterday at a news conference.

Meanwhile, Hannemann was scheduled to leave today on afive-day trip to the Philippines to promote the Hawaii FilipinoCentennial and to study mass transit systems.

Hannemann and a delegation of 20 are scheduled to meet withPhilippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Manila Mayor Jose LitoAtienza Jr. and business leaders before returning home on Thursday.

The mayor led a similar delegation to Japan in October to study that country's mass transit systems.