Philippines Independence Day Parade Hails Nation—& Knicks!

To paraphrase Rodney Dangerfield, the Philippines Independence Day Parade “don’t get no respect.” Though it’s one of the most joyous and ingratiating events on the Manhattan parade calendar, it often plays second fiddle to some other, larger spectacle happening at the same time. In 2025, it was the AAPI Parade on Sixth Avenue—never mind that Filipinos are AAPI. In 2024, it the was the Israel Day Parade, and a bracing reminder of the European Jews who fled Hitler’s Europe to and settled in the Philippines. Thanks to some calendar flukes and the New York Knicks NBA Finals run, the parade on Sunday June 7 on Madison Avenue was different—very different.

His name is Jordan Clarkson, a 34-year-old shooting guard who joined the Knicks in July of last year. Before that, he’d played for the Utah Jazz, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Philippines national team. Born in 1982 to a Black father and Filipino-American mother, while Clarkson remained a valuable bench player, he’s national hero to sports loving Filipinos. Along the parade route, which ran south from East 38th to East 27th Streets, this was evinced not just by the abundance of Knicks gear worn by men and women of all ages but by those clad in the number 6 of Clarkson’s “Pilipinas” national team jersey.

Clarkson’s eminence was recognized by the event organizers, the Philippines Independence Day Council, Inc. (PIDCI), who shouted “Go Knicks!” during the pre-parade ceremony. Interestingly, whoever wins the series (the Knicks were up 2-0 on parade morning and won the championship over the San Antonio Spurs on June 13), the Phillipines would be represented, as the Spurs’ star rookie, Dylan Harper, is the son of former NBA player Ron Harper, and Bataan, Philippines-born Maria Pizarro, herself a college basketball player and New Jersey high school basketball coach.

Another difference at this year’s parade was the politics. That didn’t mean many politicians showed up; they didn’t. The exceptions were two Bergenfield, New Jersey electeds, Mayor Arvin Amatorio and Council Member Thomas Lodato; New York State Assemblymember Steven Raag, of Queens; and an absent in body but present in spirit, Zohran Mamdani, who was represented by a Mayoral proclamation declaring June 7 as Philippines Independence Day.

If only a symbolic gesture, the announcement was made with pride, though everyone present knew the historic date of the Philippines’ independence from Spain was June 12, 1898. The proclamation also represented another data point Hizzoner’s sliding scale of inclusion, from absenting himself from the Israel Day Parade to making a little remarked appearances at the April 26 Sikh Day Parade.

With politics mostly dispensed with, it was time to march. As ever, the thousands of Filipinos and their select friends, such as the NYPD Mounted Unit, Asian Jade Society and Marching Band, the Port Richmond High School Marching Band, and the Filipino-Americao Co-splay Epic Society, didn’t disappoint. The red, white, blue and yellow of the Philippines flag was ubiquitous, even among the Knicks fans.

Special mention must be of the remarkable marchers representing Gingoog, in the province of Misamis Oriental. The indigenous people of Gingoog are called Gingoognoms and while the women wore red and white satin and multi-colored white feathered head dresses, a man in red satin held large sign reading “KALIGA”—which is the Gingoognoms’ thanksgiving festival—”GINGOOG CITY.”

Among those present at the Filipino food fair on East 26th Street was the Lower East Side restaurant Kalye, at 111 Rivington St, and the peripatetic pop-ups So Sarap and Kilig NYC. In midtown, Tradisyon at 11 50th St. is a popular Filipino comfort food spot.