ABS-CBN International's Starry Starry Store Teams Up with Filipino American Development Foundation During 3rd San Francisco Parol Parade & Festival; Two Groups Promote the Filipino Parol as a Christmas Icon in the U.S.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- A walk along San Francisco's South of Market today, especially at the majestic Yerba Buena Gardens, is not complete without seeing a unique Filipino symbol - the parol (lantern) - and the parol is fast becoming a city attraction during the Christmas season.

Lighting up the windows of Zeum Museum, the art and technology cornerstone of the Rooftop at Yerba Buena Gardens, are various Filipino lanterns called parols -- Filipino Christmas lanterns symbolic of the holiday season. Walking up the spiral ramp of the museum, distinctively designed as an inverted cone, introduces the visitor to the meaning and evolution in design of the parol. In the Philippines, parol parades and festivals are held all over the country throughout the holiday season. And this year, local residents can participate in the San Francisco Parol Parade on Saturday, December 10, beginning at 5 p.m. The parade will start at the Bayanihan Community Center and continues along Mission St. to the Yerba Buena Gardens.

"It gives me great pride to see that our parol, which lights up every house in the Philippines during Christmas, now lights up the streets and establishments here in San Francisco," says Bernadette Sy, executive director of the Filipino American Development Foundation (FADF). "It's the result of our 'bayanihan' or community working together to bring traditional Filipino cultural icons to San Francisco."

The FADF has organized the annual San Francisco Parol Parade and Festival since 2003. In addition to the parade, other components of the Parade and Festival include the parol-making workshops that attract young and old Filipinos as well as non-Filipinos, the post-Thanksgiving Yerba Buena Gardens Holiday Lighting Celebration, the Parol Display and Show at the Yerba Buena Gardens Esplanade, Christmas in the Philippines at San Francisco's Main Public Library, Parol Show and Concert at St. Patrick's Church on Mission Street.

ABS-CBN International, through its Starry Starry Store unit, has also been an enthusiastic promoter of the parol in the U.S.

"We started selling parols in 2001 to bring a touch of what we call 'Paskong Pinoy' or Filipino Christmas to Filipinos in the U.S," says Andrea Vergel de Dios, product manager of Starry Starry Store. "Our parols are authentic, using native capiz and crafted by master parol makers from Pampanga in The Philippines. It just made perfect sense for us to join forces with FADF because we've both been focused on sharing the meaning and the culture of the season - and the Parol Parade and Festival in the city is the 'bayanihan' way of doing it."

The Starry Starry Store's parols are on display at FADF's newly constructed Bayanihan Community Center on Mission Street. They can also be seen at the Zeum Museum, the Philippine Center's lobby and Social Hall, and soon, the Yerba Buena Gardens Esplanade, Arkipelago Bookstore and Asian Art Museum, all in San Francisco.

For a complete schedule of the San Francisco Parade and Festival activities, visit www.bayanihancc.org or call 415.348.8042. For more information on Starry Starry Store's parols, please call 1-800-227-9676 or visit www.starrystarry.com.

About ABS-CBNi

ABS-CBN International (ABS-CBNi) was created to be of service for all Filipinos 11 years ago. With the launch of TFC, the company was the first and most successful Filipino broadcaster in the U.S. The company offers telecommunication, retail, money remittance and cargo forwarding services along with philanthropic support of Filipinos and the communities they now call home. Based in Redwood City, Calif., ABS-CBNi is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ABS-CBN, the Philippines largest entertainment and broadcasting company. For more information, visit www.abs-cbni.com.