PHL Embassy in Brasilia Celebrates Kalayaan 2017 with Community Day, First Katutubong Palarong Pilipino 

Chargé d’affaires ad interim Ariz Severino V. Convalecer and the officers and staff of the Philippine Embassy in Brasilia pose before the Philippine flag

23 June 2017  BRASILIA  —  The Philippine Embassy in Brasilia started its week-long celebration of the 119th Anniversary of the declaration of Philippine Independence with a Community Day on June 11 at the Embassy grounds in Brazil.

Led by Chargé d’affaires, ad interim (CDA) Ariz Severino V. Convalecer, embassy personnel, members of the Filipino Community, and special guests raised the Philippine flag accompanied by the live playing of the National Anthem by the Children’s Brass Band of Casa Azul, a Brazilian NGO whose advocacy is to equip children and adolescents from disadvantaged homes and/or have been victims of abuse or maltreatment with life skills to help them become responsible members of society.

CDA Convalecer and Second Secretary and Consul Eric P. Valenzuela read the National Day Messages of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano, respectively.

This year’s celebration held the first Katutubong Palarong Pilipino, which featured traditional Filipino games such as patintero, karera ng bao, sipa-bola, and pabitin. Thirty Casa Azul kids and their teachers joined forty Brasília-based Filipinos and their families in playing the Filipino games.

The event was the first of a series of National Day engagements, including a diplomatic reception on June 13 and local celebrations with Filipino communities in the capital cities of Florianópolis and São Paulo on June 14 and 17, respectively.

For more information, visit  www.brasiliape.dfa.gov.ph  / www.philembassybrasilia.org. END