PAGDIRIWANG PHILIPPINE FESTIVAL 2025
Musika at Iba Pa Beyond the Years
The Fil-Am Jam was a large attraction at the Pagdiriwang Philippine Festival, with the leadership of Chito Refuerzo in 2007. With a short two-week notice, Chito took on the responsibility of managing and, essentially, ensuring that the event occurred, mustering the dozen bands needed to perform for a two-day show, and finalizing the band line-up with one week to spare. The producer of Pagdiriwang, Filipino Cultural Heritage Society of Washington, realized that this was par for the course for Chito, who was always low-key, but he made his work speak for him.
Chito’s deep knowledge of the band business, as it were, plus his extensive contacts among different Filipino and mainstream bands, showed that his wide circle of friends could be tapped in the service of Pagdiriwang Philippine Festival. Indeed, Chito’s brand of service came to be relied upon like clockwork for important events. As early as 1967, he was the lead guitarist and band leader of many rock bands in the Philippines, notably the Bad Habits, where he became part of its second generation in the mid-1980s, playing at the popular Bistro RJ before leaving for the United States. His passion for the band scene remained when he moved to the United States, as he performed with various Seattle-based bands, such as Third Eye, No Limit, Klasik & Heartlight.
CHITO REFUERZO
TEZA MENDOZA
He became lead guitarist and band leader for Chemistrange, which was formed in 1999. Chito’s leadership left its indelible mark as one of the organizers of the annual Ihaw Ihaw Jam held in conjunction with the Pista sa Nayon at Seward Park during Seattle’s SeaFair activities.
Like the foundation of a house, Chito has quietly lent his service and provides the steady support that makes an event successful with his reliable presence and prompt action. Chito passed on July 10, 2023, leaving behind a rich legacy of what quality leadership, friendship, and service mean. His two beautiful daughters, Crystal and Che, and loving wife, Aurea, provided great support for his passion. Chito was the founding President of the Greater Washington Alpha Phi Omega in 2003.
In 2016, the event name Fil-AM Jam was changed to Musika at Iba Pa, with this idea developed by Chito Refuerzo, Teza Mendoza, and JP Paredes. Teza, as an active member of the organizing team of Musika at Iba Pa, continued and took over the leadership in 2018. Teza has been a volunteer in organizing and managing the Fil-Am Jam for almost two decades. With her wide network of Filipino American performers within the Puget Sound region and the neighboring States, she is able to invite varied performers to be part of the Musika at Iba Pa event. Teza was, together with Chito Refuerzo, a co-organizer of the annual Ihaw Ihaw Jam at Seward Park during the SeaFair-sponsored Pista sa Nayon.
Teza is a performing artist herself, being a solo singer of different genres, an actress (TV, film, and on stage), a trained dancer and choreographer, a compugraphics designer, a writer, and an amateur filmmaker. She says that performing keeps her grounded. The instilled discipline from all of her trainings and experiences as a performer enables her to also do her job as a company manager/administrator. Always a stickler for professionalism, Teza inculcates this in all of the performers she features. As a performer, she espouses the triangle of Dedication, Discipline, and Professionalism.