09 July 2014 – The Philippine Embassy in Seoul hosted an interactive lecture-workshop organized by the Pinoy Iskolars sa Korea (PIKO) on June 29 at the Multipurpose Hall of the Philippine Embassy in Seoul. The lecture was created to encourage young scholars studying in Korean universities to take the first steps in conceptualizing the Filipino dream.
Philippine Ambassador to South Korea Raul S. Hernandez addressed the 36 Filipino scholars who came from Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, Cheongju, Cheonan, and Daeguto. The students participated in the lecture entitled “Filipino Dream: A Lecture-Workshop on Filipino Nationalism” of Dr. Aileen Cabigan-Park. She is one of PIKO’s advisers and research fellow at Ehwa Womans University.
“With today’s event, I am glad to witness PIKO once again stretching its wings and expanding its scope,” Ambassador Hernandez said. “As undergraduate and graduate students, PIKO members are in the best position to gain a better conceptual and global understanding of the profile of the Filipino diaspora in Korea and how it relates to the national aspiration toward inclusive growth and development,” he added.
“While I do not expect any easy answers today, I look forward to seeing you respond to this question with the same energy, intelligence, methodology, critical and incisive analysis, knowledge and skills you apply to your individual studies and your work together,” he concluded, before being introduced to the PIKO members and officers.
PIKO President Ronel Laranjo made a detailed presentation about the organization before Dr. Aileen Park started her interactive lecture-workshop by discussing the idea of a Filipino dream and it relates in each participant’s aspirations and how it connected to a collective dream for all Filipinos.
After the lecture, participants were asked to write down their own dreams for Filipinos on a leaf-shaped piece of paper and share it with other participants. They were then asked to stick the leaves on a tree drawn on a sheet pinned to the wall to represent the collective dream that Filipinos have for their country.
The students expressed quite specific dreams that may be achievable in the short- and medium-term. For example, Laranjo, an MA student in Applied Linguistics at Korea University, said his dream was to see Filipino as "more established as a national language and to become a global language.”
PIKO Vice President Joseph Mendoza, a PhD candidate in Environmental Engineering at Dongguk University, said he was dreaming of the Philippines as a "a frontier for research and development.”
PIKO Public Relations Officer Melanie Adan, MA student in Mass Communications at Kangwon National University, said she wanted the Philippines removed from the list of the world’s most dangerous places to work for media practitioners.
At the end Dr. Park encouraged the young Filipinos to go out and keep their passion burning by sharing their experiences with one another through a follow-up event to be held on each region. END