TV5 International officially kicked-off the celebrations of the much-awaited 116th Philippine Independence Day Festival recently held in New York City, USA, with over 100,000 Filipinos from all over the North American region joining the annual event that is widely regarded as the largest Philippine Independence Day festival both in the US and, more notably, outside of the Philippines.

TV5 International President and CEO Claro Carmelo Ramirez shares, “This is actually the second time TV5 International was invited to be part of this historic event, but what makes this year even more special is the fact that we were the only Philippine broadcasting network that was named by the Philippine Independence Day Council Inc. (PIDCI)—the organization hosting the said festival—as the event’s official Media Partner. For us, this milestone further validated TV5 International’s continuous growth in North America.”

Leading the TV5 International contingent in the festival was none other than the main star of the Kapatid Network’s daily tawaserye, “Confessions of a Torpe”, Ogie Alcasid. The singer-songwriter surely did not disappoint the 100,000-strong Filipino crowd as he initially made his way through the parade in TV5’s grand mardi gras-themed float and ended up on stage, treating the crowd to a mini-concert as he belted out his signature hits and a few all-time favorite songs that they gamely sang along to.

In addition to this, the crowd also had a full day of fun and entertainment in the street fair along the famed Madison Avenue, as TV5 International installed a jumbotron that aired some of TV5’s most watched programs, which included the action-packed PBA games, the channel’s longest running gag show, “Wow Mali Pa Rin”, and “Ganito Na Kami Ngayon”, which is TV5 International’s first-ever originally-produced program.

A remarkable highlight of the festival was TV5 International’s “Augmented Reality” booth, which proved to be a certified crowd-drawer, where fans got to ‘interact’ with their favorite Kapatid stars through a computer-generated sensory input.

“As the exclusive Media Partner of this celebration, we really wanted to pull out all the stops to make sure that the attendees had an enhanced TV5 experience through a different and innovative kind of entertainment. Our ‘Augmented Reality’ booth is the first of its kind by a Filipino company, and we felt that this event was the perfect occasion to introduce this to our viewers,” says TV5 International FVP and Head of Marketing Pie Basiao.

Also notably gracing the celebration was Philippine Consul General Mario de Leon Jr., President of the Philippine Independence Day Council Inc. (PIDCI) Fe Martinez, and Miss World 2013 Megan Young, who was last seen in TV5’s daily primetime series “Misibis Bay” prior to bagging the Miss World crown.

In closing, Ramirez shares, “TV5 International has had a terrific start to this year, what with the company milestone of being named as the second strongest Pinoy network in the Middle East and North Africa in just a matter of three years. And now, we are celebrating yet another milestone, this time in North America, after being named the ONLY Philippine broadcasting network to headline this year’s largest Philippine Independence Day celebration outside the country. With the momentum of our success in full-swing, our loyal Pinoy viewers and subscribers from the other parts of the world can definitely expect that TV5 International will soon make its way there, with a lot more surprises up our sleeves.”