{"id":72519,"date":"2025-12-16T19:25:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T19:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/72519\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T19:25:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T19:25:07","slug":"elected-officials-filipino-community-celebrate-co-naming-of-woodside-street-in-honor-of-dr-jose-rizal-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/72519\/","title":{"rendered":"Elected officials, Filipino community celebrate co-naming of Woodside street in honor of Dr. Jos\u00e9 Rizal \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"799\" height=\"558\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/54980455978_5ff6e1fc3b_c.jpg\" class=\"crop-center wp-post-image\" alt=\"Elected officias and community members celebrating the co-naming of Woodside Avenue as the &quot;Dr. Jos\u00e9 P. Rizal Way&quot; in a ceremony last Friday. Photo by Gerard Romo\/NYC Council Media Unit.\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Elected officias and community members celebrating the co-naming of Woodside Avenue as the \u201cDr. Jos\u00e9 P. Rizal Way\u201d in a ceremony last Friday. Photo by Gerard Romo\/NYC Council Media Unit.<\/p>\n<p>A host of elected officials joined representatives from New York\u2019s Filipino community in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/qns.com\/neighborhoods\/woodside\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Woodside<\/a> on Dec. 12 to celebrate the co-naming of a section of Woodside Avenue as the \u201cDr. Jos\u00e9 P. Rizal Way,\u201d honoring the legacy of a Filipino national hero whose work helped inspire Filipino independence from Spain.<\/p>\n<p>Rizal, born in Calamba in the Philippines in 1861, became a prolific writer whose work during the Filipino Propaganda Movement, which advocated for political reforms under Spanish colonial rule.\n<\/p>\n<p>Rizal was executed by the Spanish colonial government in 1896 after his writings helped inspire the Philippine Revolution, which ultimately led to independence from Spain.\n<\/p>\n<p>The Dec. 12 co-naming ceremony celebrated Rizal\u2019s legacy as well as honoring his 1888 visit to New York City, when he became one of the first documented Filipinos to visit the city.\n<\/p>\n<p>An opthamologist by profession, Rizal is considered as one of the most influential figures in the history of the Philippines, exposing Spanish oppression of the Philippines through his writing.\n<\/p>\n<p>The co-naming location \u2013 on the corner of 58th Street and Woodside Avenue \u2013 aims to honor the significant Filipino community in Woodside.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-594025\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/54980521619_4bd66c843c_c.jpg\" alt=\"Photo by Gerard Romo\/NYC Council Media Unit.\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\"  \/>Photo by Gerard Romo\/NYC Council Media Unit\n<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, Council Member Julie Won, Assembly Member Steven Raga and representatives from the office of State Sen. Michael Gianaris joined <a href=\"https:\/\/newyorkpcg.org\/pcgny\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Phillipine Consul General<\/a> Senen Mangalile and members of New York\u2019s Filipino community for the ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>Sir Joselito Jay Cayabyab, State Commander of the Knights of Rizal, a Philippines order of chivalry set up to honor Rizal\u2019s legacy and ideals, was also present at Friday\u2019s ceremony.\n<\/p>\n<p>Won, who led efforts to co-name the street in honor of Rizal, said it is an honor to name the street after one of the Philippines\u2019 most prominent national heroes.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis co-naming speaks to our ethos as a district of immigrants and honors the contributions and culture of our neighbors in the Filipino diaspora,\u201d Won said in a statement.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-594024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/54980276356_38f6b5d9f4_c.jpg\" alt=\"Meng, Won and Raga at Friday's ceremony. Photo by Gerard Romo\/NYC Council Media Unit.\" width=\"700\" height=\"487\"  \/>Meng, Won and Raga at Friday\u2019s ceremony. Photo by Gerard Romo\/NYC Council Media Unit\n<\/p>\n<p>Raga, the first Filipino-American ever elected to the New York State Assembly, said the co-naming is a \u201cpowerful recognition\u201d of the contributions that the Filipino American community has made to New York\u2019s culture and history.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs the Philippines\u2019 national hero, Dr. Rizal used his writing, intellect, and moral courage to challenge colonial injustice and inspire a global movement for dignity and self-determination,\u201d Raga said in a statement. \u201cThis co-naming reflects our shared commitment to ensuring that the stories and legacies of our communities are honored and passed on to future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gianaris, meanwhile, said it was important for the Filipino community in Queens to honor a figure as important as Rizal.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Filipino community is an integral part of Queens, and it is an honor to recognize a leader like Dr. Jose Rizal, who dedicated his life to their independence and reforming colonialist policies,\u201d Gianaris said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elected officias and community members celebrating the co-naming of Woodside Avenue as the \u201cDr. Jos\u00e9 P. Rizal Way\u201d&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[36873,36874,9099,36875,36876,36877,877,36878,36879,3947,9,11,10,2050,2615,36880],"class_list":{"0":"post-72519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-58th-street","9":"tag-assembly-member-steven-raga","10":"tag-council-member-julie-won","11":"tag-dr-jose-rizal","12":"tag-filipino","13":"tag-gianaris","14":"tag-grace-meng","15":"tag-jose-p-rizal","16":"tag-jose-rizal","17":"tag-mike-gianaris","18":"tag-new-york","19":"tag-new-york-headlines","20":"tag-new-york-news","21":"tag-street-co-naming","22":"tag-woodside","23":"tag-woodside-avenue"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}