CELEBRATION: Philippine Ambassador Wilfredo C Santos with members of Filipino community organisations at the Appreciation Night last week.
By Anand Holla
The Philippine Independence Day celebration held last month in Doha was truly grand. To express their gratitude to all the people who made the year’s biggest event of the community such a spectacular affair, the United Filipino Organisations in Qatar (UFOQ) hosted Appreciation Night 2015 with much fanfare, at the Royal Riviera Hotel last week.
Attended by more than 100 guests, the Appreciation Night programme for the celebrations of 117th anniversary of the Declaration of the Philippine Independence was flagged off by a prayer, followed by Qatar and Philippine national anthems. Frank Jamandre, Chairman of UFOQ, gave a cheery opening speech, appreciating the community’s enthusiasm and thanking the sponsors.
After a video clip on the Philippine Independence Day was played, Wilfredo C Santos, Ambassador of the Philippines to Qatar, took to the podium to convey his message to the Filipinos to stay united, dedicated and to remain an active member of the Filipino community that is working overseas.
This was followed by the awarding of plaques and certificates to winners of photography and singing competitions. After a round of community singing, it was time for the guests to head for a scrumptious dinner featuring Filipino cuisine.
Ambassador Santos, who took charge three months ago, told Community, “Since I am new in Qatar, I am very much impressed by the unity of our Filipino community here.”
Having celebrated the day for the first time in Qatar, Santos said, “Under the umbrella organisation UFOQ, the community held a very successful Independence Day celebration. The success of this celebration is proof of their unity and their commitment in coming together for the cause of the country and the community.”
For the Independence Day held on July 12, the grand celebrations had begun with the hoisting of the national flag at the Philippine Embassy by the Ambassador, followed by the traditional ‘almusal ng bayan’ or community breakfast and a motorcade to the Sheraton Doha Hotel where the day saw a series of interesting activities such as cultural shows, trade fair, singing and photography competitions, chess and dart tournaments, food exhibition, live rock music acts, car show, fashion show, and so on.
“Ours is a very large community,” said Santos, “We number 200,000 in Qatar, right after India and Nepal. The 165 Filipino organisations here are involved in various activities that benefit the members of the community. The Philippines Embassy supports these activities and supports the cause of our Filipino community in Qatar. I would also like to thank the Qatari government for allowing us to hold these events, to keep Filipinos together, to bring all our families together. It’s not possible without their support.”
It’s interesting to trace back the origins of the Philippine Independence Day celebrations in Qatar. As per the information available with UFOQ, the day was observed in Qatar for the first time in 1986 by Filipino expats working here. They had celebrated it at various places across the country in their own way. Soon, the desire to celebrate it in a bigger and more organised fashion caught steam and Filipino organisations such as Perlas ng Filipinas spearheaded the annual affair.
In 1988, when the Filipino community’s population had swelled to 9,000, the Filipinos brought in the Independence Day with a small get-together organised by the staff of Hamad Medical Corporation. The nearest Friday to June 12 would since become the day of hearty Independence Day celebrations for the Filipino community.
That was until the first Philippine Ambassador to Qatar, Antonio Magtibay, took charge in 1994. From then on, the fanfare assumed newfound vigour, which has only grown in intensity and fervour with each passing year.
