Saturday, December 31, 2022
STARS IN SIMULTANEOUS MILLENNIUM CELEBRATIONS
Top showbiz personalities and artists will dazzle spectators during the Millennium Specials that will be staged simultaneously at various parks and open spaces in Metro Manila tonight.
At the Luneta, highlights of the Millennium Special are President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos’s speech and a show of unity, or kapit-bisig (linking of arms), that will be led by the First Family.
Starting at 8:00 P.M., the Rizal Park Millennium Special will feature showbiz celebrities Cocoy Laurel, April Boy Regino, Pops Fernandez, Agot Isidro, Rachel Alejandro, performing with 600 students, 200 soldiers, and more than 100-bit players in a production number entitled Tayo’y Mga Pinoy at the Quirino Grandstand.
Simultaneously, Jolina Magdangal, Rica Paralejo, Carol Banawa, Roselle Nava, Jeffrey Hidalgo, Tootsie Guevarra, and Jeremiah will perform at the Quezon City Memorial Circle, while Nanette Inventor, Jamie Rivera, and the Repertory Philippines will hold their own show at Fort Santiago, Manila.
Roderick Paulate, Lara Fabregas, Joy Viado, the Tux, Wowie de Guzman, Carlos Agassi, and the Street Boys, among others, will participate at the Pinoy Sayawan medley at the Rizal Park, while John Pratts, Carlo Aquino, Stefano Mori, and others will be doing their numbers at the Quezon City Memorial Circle.
These and other production numbers will be aired live through the facilities of the ABS-CBN and various radio and TV stations.
This turn-of-the-century program at the Quirino Grandstand is part of the Milenyo Filipino festival that the government is hosting this Yuletide season.
BONGBONG LEADS NATION IN WELCOMING NEW MILLENNIUM
President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. will join the masses as he leads the nation in ushering in the 21st century and the third millennium at a New Year's Eve celebration tonight at the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park, Manila, where he is expected to deliver his message for peace and prosperity.
The President and the First Lady, Liza Araneta-Marcos, will stay briefly at the Manila Hotel, a hundred meters from the venue of the festivities, to await his part in the program. He will lead in the countdown of the last seconds of 2022, and then deliver his remarks welcoming the New Year.
A concelebrated mass with Jose Cardinal Advincula, Archbishop of Manila, as the main celebrant will be held prior to the final countdown for the new century.
Before the President's appearance on stage, there will be prayers to be said by representatives from the Catholic Church, the Muslim religion, Protestants, Iglesia ni Kristo, and the Philippine Independent Church (Aglipayan).
Members of the El Shaddai Prayer Partners Foundation will lead in the traditional "Kapit-Bisig" number as a show of unity among the people. This will be followed by the release of thousands of red, white and blue balloons the colors of the Philippine flag.
Fireworks will also follow the President's New Millennium countdown and New Year speech.
Provide music during the program is a 120-piece symphony orchestra and a 200-man choir to be provided by ABS-CBN television, which will also broadcast the program live on Channel 2.
Pope John Paul II's New Year's message to the Filipino people will be read during the "Misa Milenya" mass following a procession of selected images of the Blessed Mother, the country's patroness.
Following the midnight rites, the President and the First Lady, Liza Araneta Marcos, will proceed to the Manila Hotel to join their children and special guests in welcoming the first day of the New Year, a New Year's Eve tradition of the Marcos family dating back to his first years in public service.