Grand Marshall Reuben Seguritan (left), PIDCI President Fe Martinez, Consul General Mario Lopez de Leon Jr. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
NEW YORK CITY – Noted area lawyer and community leader Reuben S. Seguritan will be honored as Grand Marshal of this year’s Philippine Independence Day Parade in New York, at a dinner on Saturday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m. at Leonards Palazzo in Great Neck.
The upcoming parade will commemorate the 117th anniversary of the declaration of Philippine Independence. The Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc. (PIDCI) Grand Marshal Committee headed by Dr. Prospero Lim (2012 Parade Grand Marshal), and co-chair Board Member Angie Molina prepared the event for the honoree.
Seguritan was the founding president of PIDCI when the ad-hoc Philippine Independence Day Committee was incorporated on February 14, 2002. He is a lawyer and an activist who, has worked for many years to promote the interest and welfare of Filipino Americans.
He has distinguished himself in his profession and is known for his volunteer service to the community. Seguritan fought against the deportation of Filipino nurses and the repatriation move against our doctors in the Seventies and Eighties. He also advocated for Filipino American causes such as dual citizenship, overseas voting rights and the fight of our war veterans for citizenship and benefits.
After a White House meeting with Asian Americans in 1977, Domestic Policy Adviser Stuart Eizenstat acknowledged the “benefit of Seguritan’s views on immigration policy” and promised to “give them careful consideration.”
He currently serves as general counsel of the Association of Philippine Physicians in America (APPA), the Philippine Nurses Association of America (PNAA) and PNA New York, the Philippine Medical Association in America (PMAA) and other national and local organizations. He was formerly general counsel of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA),
He co-founded the Filipino American Human Services, Inc. (FAHSI), an organization that provides social services to disadvantaged Filipinos/ He was a board member of the Asian American Federation.
Seguritan has received awards for his leadership and community service. He was among the first batch of recipients of the highly coveted Philippine Presidential awards given by President Fidel V. Ramos in Malacanang in 1993. Earlier, he also received another award from President Ramos in California. In 1991, he was conferred an award by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) under President Corazon Aquino.
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