18 July 2013 - Philippine Ambassador to Belgium Victoria S. Bataclan led the participation of the Philippine Embassy in Brussels in support of the first Youth Day organized by the Philippine Cultural Promotion Circle (PCPC) held on July 07 at the Bloso Domein Sports Center in Hofstade, Belgium.
In her inspirational remarks, Ambassador Bataclan highlighted the importance of the activity which was meant to impart various aspects of Philippine culture to second-generation Filipino and Filipino-Belgian youth who reside in Belgium, with the end view of rediscovering their Filipino identity. The formation of the PCPC was ably shepherded by Consul Christina Rola.
Fifty (50) young people, aged 5 to 18, were treated to a fun-filled day of knowledge about the Filipino culture. The morning activities included a one-and-a-half hour audio-visual presentation on Philippine History by Mr. Lucien Spittael, a distinguished member of the Order of the Knights of Rizal and a dedicated friend of the Philippines. The Philippine National Anthem “Lupang Hinirang” was also taught to the children along with other Filipino folk songs.
The afternoon session featured a workshop on Philippine folk dances such as tinikling, maglalatik, and sakuting to the youth participants. They were also given the chance to play Filipino street games such as patintero, tumbang preso, sipa, luksong tinik/ luksong baka/luksong lubid, piko, and pinoy baseball.
The late afternoon session on Filipino Calligraphy, also known as Alibata or Baybayin, conducted by San Francisco-based Baybayin Artist Cristian Cabuay had revitalized the already exhausted but still energetic participants. Mr. Cabuay delighted everyone with anecdotes on his life as a young Filipino rediscovering his much beloved roots. He shared his insights on the connections between Alibata and the Filipino culture of then and now. Many were quite interested in learning how their names could be written in Alibata. Mr. Cabuay flew in from the United States to various European capitals to voluntarily impart his knowledge to several Filipino audiences of different age groups, including the Belgium-based youth.
The afternoon ended with the awarding of Certificates of Participation to the youth day participants and Certificates of Appreciation to some 20 animators/facilitators who volunteered their time and effort for the day-long activity.
The Youth Day was organized by the Philippine Cultural Promotion Circle (PCPC) under its Coordinators, Ms. Haydee Holliday of Belga-Cultura Filiipina and Ms. Adela Lulu of the Council of Filipino Associations in Belgium. END