[applause] commissioner claudine cheng. [applause] and all the members of our consular corps, thank you all for being here. let's all give them a warm round of applause. [applause] >> tonight, we're honoring seven milestones of the san francisco bay area's filipino american the community but these events became our communities benchmarks because of the remarkable achievements. among them, and achievements of decades of public service, if you first, and events that have significantly impacted our community. tonight, certificates of honor will be presented by honorable hydra mendoza, the council general, and executive kai rodriguez. >> one filipino-american publication has stood the test of time. 50 years of committed service by delivering the news and documenting our history. ladies and gentlemen, philippine news. [applause] ♪ >> truth, integrity, and bold journalism. in 1961, the philippine news was founded in the garage. its vision was to create a community newspaper to tell the stories of the growing filipino community in

please welcome me and joining claudine cheng for her remarks on this year's celebration. >> thank youeryone, for joining us for our celebration this year. the theme of our celebration is celebrate heritage, celebrated community voices. the community is selected this team for two reasons. one -- the community recognizes we care about this city, that we want our interest to be addressed, and how do we do that? we need our voices to be heard. the second reason -- we would like to inspire and encourage the next generation of leaders to be engaged and affected community voices. so far, this year, we have decided to dedicate our award to individuals and business organizations that have been effective community voices. there is a listing of all the finalists in the program books. they have all been magnificent. thank you on behalf of the community. i hope -- i know all of them are here tonight and i would like to ask them to stand and be recognized. all of our awards finalists, please stand and be recognized. [applause] and just like every single one of you, i look forward to hearing who the