09 December 2013 - Senator Loren Legarda and Congresswoman Henedina Abad met with the Filipino community in Belgium, and Luxembourg on November 29 at the Philippine Embassy’s “Bulwagan ng mga Pangulo.”

Over 40 community leaders attended the event dubbed “Bayanihan Para Sa Yolanda victims”, where the community leaders announced their pledges of financial and in-kind assistance for the victims of typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan). Senator Legarda and Congresswoman Abad shared the government’s relief and rehabilitation efforts for the affected areas and thanked the community for its generous contributions towards these efforts.

On behalf of the Filipino community in Belgium and Luxembourg, Charge d’Affaires Mr. Robespierre Bolivar presented the visiting parliamentarians with a list of all the community’s monetary and in-kind donations sent to the victims of the typhoon.

Senator Legarda and Congresswoman Abad were in Brussels to attend the first Women in Parliaments (WIP) Global Summit organized by the European Parliament. During the Summit, the Philippines was honored with the inaugural WIP Award for “Best Performance in Closing the Gender Gap in South and Southeast Asia”, which Senator Legarda accepted on behalf of the Philippine government.

This “Bayanihan” marks the Fourth Assembly of Community Leaders the Embassy hosted for 2013. The Embassy hosts an Assembly of Community Leaders once every quarter.

The first Assembly, organized by the Embassy in February 2013, coincided with the launch of Pinoy Radio BENELUX, a 24-hour internet-based all-Filipino radio station catering to Filipino communities in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

The second Assembly was held during the visit of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario to Belgium and Luxembourg ih July 2013.

The third Assembly was held in September 2013, where the Embassy and community leaders planned for community-wide activities for the end of 2013 and the first half of 2014. END