ROCKINGHAM, North Carolina—The New York chapter of the PDP-Laban International confirmed on Wednesday that it will ‘turn Times Square green’ in time for the March 28 birthday of detained former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte.
Marygene Espinosa, a New York-based PDP Laban member, said every member chipped in to pay for the birthday greetings to be flashed on large screens at Times Square between 6 pm to 7 pm (US time) on March 28.
‘It is very expensive to have a picture shown on the big screen but the PDP Laban International New York chapter paid for it,’ Espinosa said. Espinosa was very active during the time of the late senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., the PDP-Laban founder.
The PDP Laban International New York chapter is headed by its president Evangeline Bombeo Legaspi, a native of Naawan town in Misamis Oriental province. The PDP-Laban New York chapter is supported by Filipino-Americans living in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
Espinosa said there was a sizable number of Filipino-Americans both young and old who were upset by the arrest and detention of Duterte in the Hague, Netherlands on charges of allegedly ordering the extrajudicial killings of at least over 6,000 Filipino drug suspects.
A New York source said boxes of green T-shirts were printed by volunteers and ready for shipping in time for the March 28 birthday of Duterte that his followers are staging in various countries worldwide.
Former president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested in Manila two weeks ago by the PNP by virtue of an arrest warrant issued by Interpol and is now detained under custody by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague in Netherlands. The PNP is under security alert in anticipation of rallies to be held by Duterte followers in time for the president’s March 28 birthday.
