DFA Raises Awareness on Ocean Concerns Among Young Filipinos With MANA Mo 2022 “Your Heritage” Classroom Activities

Madame Pamela Louise Manalo, DFALF Overall Chairperson (sixth from right), MOAO Assistant Secretary Maria Angela A. Ponce (fifth from fifth), Human Resources Management Office Assistant Secretary Christopher B. Montero (fourth from right), HRMO Deputy Assistant Secretary Mersole J. Mellejor, Office of Protocol Deputy Assistant Secretary and Executive Director Mary Jennifer Dingal (fifth from left), and members of the the DFA Ladies Foundation (DFALF). (DFA-OPCD Camille Barizo photo)

PASAY CITY 13 September 2022 – In celebration of the Maritime and Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month (MANA Mo) this September, the Department of Foreign Affairs organized, through the Maritime and Ocean Affairs Office (MOAO), the DFA Ladies Foundation (DFALF), the Office of Public and Cultural Diplomacy (OPCD), and the DFA-Day Care Center; in cooperation with the Japan Foundation Manila (JFM), the MANA Mo 2022 “Your Heritage” classroom activities. This involved a story-telling session on marine life and a workshop on folding paper boats and sea creatures to build the archipelagic consciousness in the minds of young Filipinos, particularly, the children at the DFA-Day Care Center. 

Madame Pamela Louise Manalo, DFALF Overall Chairperson and spouse of DFA Secretary Enrique A. Manalo, welcomed the guests and participants, and led the DFALF donation of 50 copies of the book “Bayan ng Basura” to the event. 

With permission from Adarna House, author Augie Rivera and illustrator Jill Arteche, “Bayan ng Basura” was featured during the story-telling as it touches on the environmental effects of the growing plastic problem. Representatives from JFM and the Origami Artists of the Philippines, Deputy Director Tanaka Yojiro and Mr. Romie Halabaso (co-founder of Origami Artists of the Philippines), also led an origami workshop in making paper boats, fish and other sea animals mentioned during the story-telling. 

MOAO Assistant Secretary Maria Angela A. Ponce, in her remarks, highlighted the importance of raising awareness among the youth about marine plastic pollution in order to inculcate a sense of protectiveness for the marine environment and ecosystem, and in order to raise a generation of responsible citizens who care for the oceans and seas. END

Office of Protocol Deputy Assistant Secretary and Executive Director Mary Jennifer Dingal reads out a story to the DFA Day Care kids. (DFA-OPCD Camille Barizo photo)

Mr. Romie Halabaso (leftmost), the co-founder of Origami Artists of the Philippines, teaches the kids how to create an origami figure of a whale. (DFA-OPCD Camille Barizo photo)

An exhibit of origami figures showcasing different kinds of sea creatures. (DFA-OPCD Camille Barizo photo)