The Filipino community will be celebrating Philippine Independence on Saturday, 12 June 2010 at Rosehill Gardens, at Rosehill.  This annual event is being organized by the peak Filipino organization, the Philippine Community Council of NSW (PCC-NSW).

To commemorate the event, a Flag raising ceremony will be held at Blacktown and the formal evening affair will be held at Rosehill, Parramatta, a sister city of Cebu City in the Philippines.

The evening affair, the Philippine National Day Ball, which starts at 6pm is an annual traditional event held over the last 20 years and is attended by Australian and Filipino dignitaries. 

“We are thrilled to hold the event in Parramatta area, which is a sister-city of Cebu, one of our thriving cities in the Philippines” says Dr. Elsa Collado, president of the PCC-NSW.   “We welcome everyone to join in our celebration of independence and democracy,” she adds.

Special guest performer for this year’s event is RJ Rosales, known for his role in the acclaimed musical, Miss Saigon for which he also clinched a Helpman Award nomination.  Rosales will also be taking the lead in the stage play, Her Son, Jose Rizal, a theatre piece on the life of Dr. Jose Rizal, the Philippines National Hero.

“Her  son, Jose Rizal”  is the production debut of Fine Artists Collaboration, a community theatre group and will be staged at Tom Mann theatre at Surry Hills from June 17-19 at 6pm and a Matinee at 2pm on June 20.

“It’ll be a time to reflect on our values and traditions and how far we Filipinos have come and have an appreciation of our chosen adopted home Australia,” says Collado.