21 June 2016 - Ambassador Victoria S. Bataclan, Philippine Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg and Head of the Philippine Mission to the European Union, speaking before attendees of the celebration of the 118th Anniversary of the Proclamation of Philippine Independence in Brugge on June 04, paid homage to the freedom-loving Filipinos in Belgium and Luxembourg and expressed her greatest admiration to the efforts that they are exerting in the name of peace and development and for everything that contributes to the welfare of our countrymen in the Philippines and around the world.
Ambassador Bataclan encouraged the Filipinos to continue the work and continue to persevere in being useful members of the society and of our country.
She also mentioned that this year is also the 70th year of Philippine-Belgian relations and we are celebrating the ties that bind (as exemplified by the presence of Fr. Carlo Magno Gano Buyayo, one Filipino CICM priest missionary priest who is already based in Congo for 11 years).
Furthermore, she reminded everyone that it is also the 125th Anniversary of the printing of El Filibusterismo in Ghent and that Filipinos in Belgium should be thankful of the fact that Belgium welcomed our National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal in those times that he was in dire need of a haven to print his novel.
The celebration is being organized by World Mission for Peace and Development (WMPD), a non-profit, non-government organization which was founded on February 14, 1995 to “bring humanitarian assistance and development to the underprivileged and impoverished sectors of the society.” Its President, Mrs. Consorcia Scholtz-de Leon is instrumental in forming such Filipino groups as the Silayan International Society, Bayanihan sa Belgium, Kulturang Pinoy Gent, Philippine Women’s Club and the different Catholic ministries in the East Flanders area. END