04 January 2016 – Officials of the Philippine Embassy in Berne got together on 29 December 2015 for a simple program to remember the heroism of our national hero. In his message, Philippine Ambassador to Switzerland Joselito A. Jimeno called on all Filipino public servants to emulate the teachings of Dr. Rizal on freedom, love and service for the country. 

Jose Rizal visited Switzerland in June 1887 and visited the cities of Schaffhausen, Basel, Berne, Lausanne and Geneva.  Rizal markers are to be found in Schaffhausen, Berne and Geneva.  During his stay in Switzerland, Rizal took a keen interest in the exploits of the Swiss legendary hero William Tell and translated the novel of Wolfgang von Schiller on William Tell into Tagalog.

On 30 December 2015, the Embassy supported the showing of a video presentation by the Tambayan Pinoy Swiss Channel on the close ties with Switzerland of the Rizal Monument in Luneta.

The Rizal Monument in Luneta was sculpted by Swiss sculptor Richard Kissling in Wassen, Gotthard region. The city was home to Rieswald quarry where the Gotthard granite used for the obelisk and shaft of the Rizal monument that now stands proud in Rizal Park in Manila came from.

The Luneta monument was briefly exhibited in Wassen before it was shipped to the Philippines in 1912.

In 2014, the first ever Rizal Memorial site in Switzerland was inaugurated in Wassen.  The Rizal bust therein was donated by the Philippine National Commission for Culture and the Arts.

The video can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/tambayanpinoyswisschannel/.

The Tambayan Pinoy-Swiss (TPS) Channel is an Internet-based channel formed by a group of Filipino volunteers in Switzerland whose desire is to serve the Filipino diaspora and to create a platform wherein members of the Filipino diaspora community could interact and express their views and opinions about issues that affect them.

Ambassador Jimeno encourages all Filipinos in Switzerland to remember and emulate Dr. Jose Rizal’s keen interest and love of learning, his service to the people, and his patriotism. END