PAGDIRIWANG PHILIPPINE FESTIVAL 2024
The tradition of having Hermanos and Hermanas Mayores during festivals is a practice carried on from the Philippines whereby prominent citizens are chosen to be the honorary festival chairs who coordinated with the Church’s preparations for events marking the feast of the town’s Patron Saint. They usually served as hosts for after-Mass fellowship and otherwise supported other aspects of the fiesta’s operations.
NICK and CINDY PANLASIGUI
Honorary Festival Chairs
The 2016 Hermano and Hermana Mayores are the spouses Nick and Cindy Panlasigui.
Born in Gattaran, Cagayan Valley, Hermano Mayor Nick G. Panlasigui, grew up in Batac, Ilocos Norte. His ambition to be of service and to heal saw formal fruition when he Graduated Doctor of Medicine in 1977 at the Far Eastern University.
He moved to Jersey City five years later in 1982 where he continued his passion, garnered his Residency in Internal Medicine at Seton Hall Jersey City Medical Center in 1990. He moved to Washington where he established his Internal medicine outpatient practice in Federal Way (1994 – 2006), turning full time practice in Post Acute and Long Term Care (PALTC); he is currently medical Director to several PALTC Facilities in the Puget Sound area.
As a leader, he serves as Grand Princep of Beta Sigma Fraternity Northwest Chapter; served stints as President of the Filipino American Physicians of Washington (FAPWA). He also serves as Board Member of the International Drop In Center (IDIC). Dr. Nick retired in 2013 as Lt. Col. Flight Surgeon in the US Air Force Reseve (USAFR).
Cindy, this year’s Pagdiriwang Hermana Mayor is currently a Nurse Supervisor at the St. Francis Hospital. Born and raised in San Juan City, Metro Manila, Cindy possessed the same passion for healing as Nick. Having graduated Bachelors of Nursing at the University of the East (UERMMMC) in 1978, she subsequently moved to the United States in 1983. While working as an ICU nurse in the Jersey City Medical Center, Cindy met Nick - thus blossomed into a lifetime union blessed with three children Patrick, Christopher, with Neil, and Dianne and Katrina from a previous marriage.
In the finest traditions of Philippine culture, Nick and Cindy Panlasigui have been granted the honor to serve as the 2016 Pagdiriwang Hermano and Hermana Mayores, the Honorary Chairs of the 2016 Philippine art and culture festival at the Seattle Center.