DFA Consular Office Pampanga Celebrates Maritime and Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month (MANA Mo) 2020
Top photo: The digital poster of MANA Mo theme was flashed on the TV screens located at the DFA Consular Office Pampanga’s public vicinity. Bottom photo: DFA DFA Consular Office Pampanga’s personnel hold #MANAMo2020.
PAMPANGA 05 October 2020 — Through its active involvement in various activities in line with this year's theme, “Iisang Bangka Tayo: Unity During Uncertain Times”, the DFA Consular Office (CO) Pampanga successfully celebrated the Maritime and Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month (MANA Mo) 2020.
CO Pampanga kicked off the month-long celebration by utilizing traditional and digital media to raise public awareness of the event. CO Pampanga displayed the digital poster of the MANA Mo theme on TV screens and encouraged all personnel to use the official MANA Mo 2020 Facebook frame.
In the second week of September, CO Pampanga personnel actively participated in various MANA Mo webinars. The first webinar was on “Maritime Law Enforcement vis-à-vis the Philippines as a Maritime and Archipelagic Nation: The Past, Present, and Future”, hosted by the National Coast Watch System (NCWS) which gave a glimpse of our maritime system and all the pillar agencies involved. It was then followed by an online presentation conducted among the CO's personnel on 11 September 2020. The online presentation tackled MANA MO's foundation, the organizations behind it, and some significant accomplishments. This was organized with a single but important goal in mind: to grasp the whole concept of the event to further raise awareness.
During the second half of September, CO Pampanga also encouraged its personnel to participate in the special webinar entitled “The Balangay Through The Lens of Philippine Maritime History and Boat Culture”, hosted by the Maritime and Ocean Affairs Office (MOAO). The webinar provided an opportunity to go back in time and re-explore our own seafaring and boat making heritage and to amplify our national pride in the history that lies behind the rich and beautiful waters of our country.
In support of MANA Mo, the Consular Office introduced a fun and engaging trivia sharing activity where several personnel were tasked to post facts about the Philippines’ aquatic and maritime resources using their personal Facebook pages every working day from the 14th until the last day of the month, with the hashtag #MANAMo2020. They also wore blue (the official event color) shirts every Friday to show support for the Philippine maritime industry. These projects were aimed to foster nationalism relating to the waters surrounding us.
To conclude the month-long celebration of this year’s MANA Mo, CO Pampanga once again supported the webinar entitled, “Sustainable Ocean Economy Amid The COVID-19 Pandemic”, hosted by the National Coast Watch System (NCWS), to give awareness on the challenges our marine industry faces and how it will continue to flourish amidst these trying times. END
The official MANA Mo Facebook frame from the CO personnel’s Facebook accounts
MANA Mo Online Presentation conducted on 11 September 2020.