Flores de Mayo or Flowers of May is an annual Fili­pino festival held in honor of the Virgin Mary. It is widely ob­served all over the world particularly in areas where large Filipino communi­ties subsist. In Hawaii, the tradition of offer­ing flowers to the Blessed Virgin Mary lives on as FilCom – a non-profit organiza­tion that provides cultural, social and edu­cational services to Filipinos in the area – spearheads the Flores de Mayo Festival this year. The organization has partnered with several other Filipino organizations and companies led once again by GMA Inter­national – the international business unit of Filipino broadcast giant GMA Network – for this weeklong festival. The celebration begins with a Santa­cruzan, where in beautiful ladies will pa­rade together with their escorts, on May 5 and culminates with a fiesta and parade on May 11 in Waikiki. Kapuso stars Aljur Abrenica and Kris Bernal are set to grace the event at the Kapiolani Park, where almost 10,000 spectators are expected to attend. They will also participate in a meet and greet on May 11 giving their Filipino sup­porters in the area the chance to see Aljur and Kris up close and personal.

“We are proud to partner again with FilCom in celebrat­ing the Flores de Mayo festival with our Kapuso view­ers in Hawaii,” said GMA Vice President and Head of Inter­national Operations Joseph T. Francia. “We aim to create a venue not just for cel­ebrating one of the most anticipated Pi­noy festivals, but also for building a stron­ger connection to one’s roots especially among second generation Filipinos.”

GMA’s international channels GMA Pinoy TV and GMA Life TV, and radio stations DZBB and DWLS are widely available in Hawaii through the follow­ing carriers: Oceanic Time Warner Cable
(808-643-2337, www.oceanic.com), Ha­waiian Telecom (www.hawaiiantel.com,

DirecTV 1-800-378-5191, www.directv.  com) and Dish Network (1-877-456-2609,
www. dishnetwork. com).

For more details on the festival and channel subscription info, visit the GMA International website (www.gmanetwork.com/international), Facebook page (www.facebook.com/GMAPinoyTV) or Twitter page (www.twitter.com/GMAPinoyTV)