The public plaza was then barricaded, patrolled by building security and access denied to the parade crowd. New York City officials, in rejecting the complaints filed by witnesses, offered no explanation why the largely Filipino crowd could not sit or stand in the public plaza which is designated to be open 24 hours for public use. A smaller annual Philippine Independence Day parade is held in early June in Passaic, New Jersey. The annual Philippine-American Friendship Day Parade is held in Jersey City every fourth Sunday of June. In 2013, so many Filipino films screened across New York City as a part of the New York Asian Film Festival that, according to the "Philippine Inquirer", "it could very well have been called the New York Filipino Film Festival". In 2014, Here Lies Love, a bio-musical play about the personal and political dynamics between former Philippine first couple Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, opened off-Broadway. The majority of the cast members were of Filipino descent, and the play was set in a discotheque. The growth in the New York City metropolitan region's Filipino populace has been accompanied by growth in the number of Filipino restaurants, with the accessibility of Filipino-Chinese specialties such as siopao joining traditional Philippine cuisine, including inihaw na liempo and kare kare, snacks such as pandesal, and desserts including ensaïmada, purple ube cakes, halo-halo, and mango cake rolls. "Turo Turo"-style buffet dining has become readily available. Beginning in the mid-2010s, Filipino cuisine began to take on a more prominent place in the New York metro as well as Washington metro areas. Filipinos in New York and New Jersey, as in the United States as a whole, are highly fluent in English. However, in the largest Little Manilas in the area, including Woodside, Jersey City, and Bergenfield, Tagalog signage is commonplace. Spanish is also learned due to locale and cultural proximity to the Hispanic and Latino population as well as being commonly taught as a second language in public schools through the NYC Department of Education's bilingual programs.