PHILIPPINE Consulate, NEW YORK and TRADE AND TOURISM OFFICES 
showcase Philippines ' best ON 5^th Avenue  

16 February 2007 – Consul General Cecilia B. Rebong of the Philippine Consulate in New York reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that the Consulate together with the Philippine Trade and Tourism Offices in New York formally launched its full utilization of the Philippine Center and its glass facade which faces Fifth Avenue as display area of the best of the Philippine Islands.  

Consul General Rebong said that the project to fully utilize the Philippine Center display window for economic diplomacy is “unprecedented," to extensively promote Philippine trade, culture, and tourism to the American mainstream. This is one of the flagship programs identified by the one-country team consisting of the Philippine Consulate General, the Philippine Trade Office and the Philippine Tourism Office.  

A seven-storey building strategically located on Fifth Avenue between 45^th and 46^th Streets, the Philippine Center boasts a two-storey-high glass window. While the Center hosts art exhibits by local artists all year round, its glass window has hardly been utilized in spite of its obvious advertising potential.  

"It is time that we took advantage of our prime location to promote the best of Philippine trade, tourism, and culture. The Philippine Center is within walking distance from major points of interest in New York City such as the Empire State Building, Times Square, St. Patrick's Cathedral, The Rockefeller Center, Central Park, and, of course, signature stores like Gucci, Prada, Lacoste, Fendi, Tiffany & Co., and Piaget lining Fifth Avenue from the Southeastern tip of Central Park down to 34^th Avenue," she noted.  

Currently on display at the Philippine Center are beautiful furniture and home furnishings as part of a two-month special exhibit called "Celebrating Philippine Design at 5^th Avenue ." For the whole months of January and February, the best of Philippine furniture and home furnishings from the collection of the country's top furniture manufacturers and designers will be displayed at the Philippine Center.  

Aside from featuring a world-class collection of Philippine furniture and home furnishings, the exhibition will serve as advance promotion of the three biggest Philippine furniture exhibitions in the country this year, namely, the Cebu International Furniture and Furnishings Exhibition from 26 February to 1 March 2007; the Philippine International Furniture Exhibition from 27 February to 2 March 2007; and Manila F.A.M.E. International on 18-21 April 2007 and 17-20 October 2007.  

Consul General Rebong also reported that other big impact projects are in the pipeline, including a Philippine outsourcing portal which is set for official launching by March 2007. “The backlit Dura-trans display by the Philippine Tourism Office will soon be replaced by a big flat-screen television that will show moving images of top Philippine tourism, cultural, and other interesting sites on a twenty-hour basis,” she stated.  

Throughout the year 2006, the Philippine Center's glass façade was used by various Philippine organizations and centers.  

From January to February 2006, the Philippine Trade Office utilized the glass façade to announce the 6th Outsourcing Conference and Exhibition that was held in EDSA Shangri-La later this year.  

From March to June, collections from Tama Gallery in Tribeca , New York , consisting of custom-made rare tropical Philippine hardwood tables, contemporary art and Philippine antiques graced the window display area of the Philippine Center.  

In June, the Consulate General in collaboration with the Filipino Designers Association of the Philippines (FDAP), mounted Habi Filipina, a fashion show and window display of Philippine fashion wear that utilized indigenous woven fabric like pina, tinalak, inabel, and malong.  

In July 2006, the Trade Office, in cooperation with the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions and Material Conexion, a New York-based resource and consultancy company that offers ideas on new and innovative materials for designers, artists and architects, mounted "Transformations: Nature and Beyond." The exhibit showcased prototype building and decorative materials using indigenous Philip pine natural resources such as capiz, coconut, seagrass, abaca, and even lahar or volcanic mud.  

In November, the Trade Office mounted "Flavors of the Philippines ," a display of Philippine food and food ingredients, while Philippine Holiday decorations were featured in December 2006. END

/jay

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