PH CONSULATE RINGS IN 2025 WITH PERFORMANCE OF AWARD-WINNING LOBOC CHILDREN’S CHOIR
Consul General Neil Ferrer and Madame Miriam Ferrer, with members of the Loboc Children’s Choir and the Fil-Am Community. Among those in the photo are: Concert Tour Consultant Lutgardo Labad; Founding Conductor Alma Fernando Taldo; Current Conductor Lea Cal; Father Dennis Balakid of Loboc Church; Father Arnold Zamora of Saint Robert Catholic Church in San Bruno, California; and Bohol Circle Inc. President Myrna Cajilog. (San Francisco PCG photo)
SAN FRANCISCO, USA – To welcome the New Year, the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco hosted the award-winning Loboc Children’s Choir for a call and performance, as part of the final leg of their two-month-long concert tour of the United States and Canada.
During their visit to the Philippine Center, the Loboc Children’s Choir staged a performance before successful dual citizenship applicants, singing Filipino songs. The group also made the dual citizenship oath-taking ceremony special by performing a live rendition of the Philippine National Anthem.
Consul General Neil Ferrer and Madame Miriam Ferrer then welcomed the Loboc Children’s Choir for a call at Sentro Rizal San Francisco. Present during the call were representatives from Bay Area-based Bohol Circle Inc., Saint Robert Catholic Church in San Bruno, California, and the University of the Philippines Alumni Association of San Francisco.
In his remarks, Consul General Ferrer congratulated the Loboc Children’s Choir for the success of their USA-Canada Concert Tour, as well as for their recent recognition as Best Choral Group at the 2024 Aliw Awards in the Philippines, and the upcoming screening of “Song of the Fireflies”—a movie based on the group’s origin story—at the upcoming Manila International Film Festival in Hollywood.
“Your recent successes show that the Loboc Children’s Choir is a cultural treasure that all Filipinos should be proud of,” said Consul General Ferrer.
The Philippine Consul General also said that the mainstream American audience is starting to notice “in a big way” the world-class talent of Filipino artists, citing the successful run of the Young Voices of the Philippines at the 2023 Golden Gate International Choral Festival in the Bay Area, where the group won almost all the festival’s top prizes.
“We at the Consulate feel immense pride whenever we welcome our world-class Filipino artists to San Francisco… I hope that your USA-Canada Tour and the Hollywood screening of ‘Song of the Fireflies’ have given the Loboc Children’s Choir more exposure to be known and recognized here in the United States, home to the biggest Filipino diaspora outside the Philippines,” Consul General Ferrer said.
Meanwhile, Filipino cultural pioneer and concert tour consultant Lutgardo “Gardy” Labad expressed his gratitude to the Consulate for its warm welcome in San Francisco.
Labad reiterated the objectives of the tour, which are: to raise funds for the restoration of the Loboc Church pipe organ; to promote Bohol as a UNESCO Global Geopark; and to gather support for the scholarship program for the group’s young members.
The Loboc Children’s Choir then sang a medley of Filipino songs—including their version of Dr. Jose Rizal’s “A la Juventud Filipina” (“To the Filipino Youth”), and “Wind Beneath My Wings” by Saint Robert Catholic Church’s Fil-Am parish priest Father Arnold Zamora.
The Philippine Center visit was the first public event of the Loboc Children’s Choir in the Bay Area. The final two shows of their USA-Canada Concert Tour will take place at Saint Joachim Church in Hayward on 10 January 2025, and at Saint Robert Catholic Church in San Bruno on 11 January 2025.
Founded in 1980, the Loboc Children’s Choir began as a modest school choir composed of children aged 9 to 13 from Loboc, Bohol. Over the years, they have blossomed into one of the Philippines’ most celebrated young choral ensembles. It has won numerous accolades, including the Grand Prize at the National Music Competitions for Young Artists, and the Gold Medal at the Europe and its Songs Festival.
During their third USA-Canada Concert Tour entitled “On the Wings of Heritage,” the Loboc Children’s Choir visited major U.S. cities, and performing with their cherubic voices in venues such as the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. END
Consul General Neil Ferrer delivers his remarks at the call of Loboc Children’s Choir at Sentro Rizal, Philippine Center in San Francisco. (San Francisco PCG photo)
Filipino cultural pioneer and concert tour consultant Lutgardo Labad speaks during the call of Loboc Children’s Choir at Sentro Rizal, Philippine Center in San Francisco. (San Francisco PCG photo)
The Loboc Children’s Choir performs a medley of Filipino songs at Sentro Rizal of the Philippine Center in San Francisco. (San Francisco PCG photo)
The Loboc Children’s Choir serenades the Consulate’s successful dual citizenship applicants, prior to the latter’s oath-taking ceremony at the Kalayaan Hall of the Philippine Center in San Francisco. (San Francisco PCG photo)