PH Embassy Marks MANAMo 2023 in a Visit to Chile’s Museo Maritimo Nacional and Casa Valle Viñamar
Philippine Embassy in Chile’s visit to Museo Maritimo Nacional in Valparaiso as part of its MANAMo 2023 P/A/Ps (Photos from Santiago PE).
VALPARAISO 26 September 2023 – As part of its line-up of activities celebrating this year’s Maritime and Archipelagic Awareness Month of September (MANAMo 2023) under the theme “Kapuluan, Kabuluhan, Kaunlaran” (Archipelago, Significance, and Development) as well as the subtheme: “Setting Sails toward Sustainability,” the Philippine Embassy in Chile organized a visit to Chile’s Museo Maritimo Nacional (MMN) in the port city of Valparaiso on 21 September 2023.
The visit was held in line with MANAMo 2023’s overarching goals of promoting maritime protection, sustainable development, and ocean awareness among Filipinos—including Embassy personnel.
Museo Maritimo Nacional showcases Chile’s rich maritime and naval history and is currently home to the temporary exhibition: “Chile en el Planeta Océano, Protegiendo Nuestra Biodiversidad en Mar Abierto” (Chile in the Planet of Oceans, Protecting Our Biodiversity in the Open Seas). The exhibition highlights the museum’s key contributions to scientific research, sea biodiversity conservation, and the protection of the oceans. It features specific sections on Chile’s archipelagic elements, maritime and coastal biodiversity and wildlife protection initiatives, the Chilean Antarctica, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), and Chile’s efforts to address intercontinental waste and pollution.
The Philippine Embassy team was received by the Military Chief of the MMN, Capt. Cristian Aroz Plaza (representing Rear Admiral Andres Rodrigo, Director of the MMN), Head of the Department of Education and Mediation Ms. Silvia Muñoz, and the Head of International Delegations of the MMN Ms. Maria Jose Milla. Ms. Milla gave the team a highly detailed 2-hour tour of all the museum’s offerings.
PH Ambassador to Chile H.E. Celeste Vinzon-Balatbat expressed her thanks to the MMN’s officials and underlined the Embassy’s “readiness to work with the museum in promoting ocean awareness and protection, and maritime patrimony in line with the MANAMo theme.”
The Ambassador also gave a framed replica of 1638 Asia Noviter Delineata Map to Rear Admiral Andres Rodrigo as a token of appreciation from the Embassy for the MMN’s hospitality.
Similarly, in line with MANAMo 2023’s theme on sustainable development, the Philippine Embassy team visited Casa Valle Viñamar in Casablanca Valley on the same day.
Casa Valle Viñamar is one of Chile’s top sustainable vineyards, which is known for utilizing the close proximity and ensuing salt breeze and ocean-atmosphere oscillations of the nearby Pacific Ocean and coast, as a key component and feature of their centuries-old viticulture and enology secrets and sustainable practices.
While being mostly a coastal nation, Chile is home to eight large islands and archipelagos—Chiloé, Hoste San Inés, Navarino, Magdalena, Tierra del Fuego, Riesco, and Wellington—representing more than half of the land territory of the country. Chile, therefore, similarly encounters many of the same challenges experienced by archipelagic countries like the Philippines, especially in the areas of combatting ocean waste and pollution, preserving coastlines, protecting ocean and coastal flora and fauna, and maximizing maritime and archipelagic assets toward sustainable development. END
Philippine Embassy in Chile’s visit to Casa Valle Viñamar, one of Chile’s top sustainable vineyards (Photos from Santiago PE).
For more information, visit https://www.santiagope.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/PHinChile.