GOVPH

• Print

PR 44-2020

24 August 2020, Toronto, Ontario – Continuing its celebration of Buwan ng Wikang Pambansa, Sentro Rizal Toronto held a Poetry Reading activity for the Philippine Consulate General personnel on 19 August 2020. Consul General Orontes Castro organized the activity to coincide with the commemoration of the 142nd birth anniversary of the second Philippine president Manuel Luis Quezon (1935-1944), after Emilio Aguinaldo (1899-1901). President Quezon was also regarded as the Ama ng Wikang Pambansa (Father of the National Language), hence the Buwan ng Wika being celebrated in August, his birth month.

Mas Matalino ang Tubig, a poem by National Artist and former Chairman of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), was chosen as the literacy piece to be read during the Poetry Reading activity for the Consulate General personnel.

Mr. John Dan Elijah S. Fajardo, Post’s Protocol & Security Officer and Consular Assistant in-charge of Dual Citizenship, read the original Filipino version of the poem. On the other hand, the English version entitled “Water is Wiser” was read by Ms. Mildred Decena, Consular Assistant in-charge of Civil Registry.

The literary activity is one of the projects by Post, under the Sentro Rizal program, to promote appreciation for Philippine culture, heritage, and arts among the Consulate personnel, as well as for their self-development. END

• Print

PR 42-2020

17 Aug 2020 –Consul General Orontes Castro and PCG Toronto personnel conducted a virtual meeting with Brampton City Councillor Rowena Santos, her staff, and officials of the Federation of Filipino Canadians of Brampton led by its President, Mitchell Arrojado on 12 August 2020.
Consul General Castro welcomed the participants and stated that there is interest to enhance cultural and economic relations between the Cities of Marikina and Brampton and an opportunity for more engagements between the two cities, based on their twinning agreement in 2005, through visits of government officials, trade and business missions, to strengthen economic linkages through business forums, and cultural exchanges. Consul General Castro also invited Councillor Santos and her business delegation to visit the Philippines, including New Clark City, in the future.
Councillor Santos said that the Filipino community is one of the fastest growing communities in the Peel region (including Brampton City). She supports initiatives for more engagements between the cities of Brampton and Marikina and she will actively work with the Brampton City Council to push for activities that would promote such stronger ties, including the revival of the two cities’ twinning agreement. There is also demand for strengthening relations between Brampton and the Philippines due to the increasing Filipino diaspora in the area. Mr. Arrojado expressed his support for and cooperation with Councillor Santos’ initiatives. -END

• Print

PR 45-2020

19 August 2020, Toronto, Ontario – Sentro Rizal Toronto of the Philippine Consulate General, led by Consul General Orontes Castro, staged the first of its series of activities in celebration of Buwan ng Wikang Pambansa - the special screening of the film by Dr. Patrick Alcedo, Dancing Manilenyos. The premiere screening was held on 15 August 2020 at 8:00 pm, via the Consulate General’s official website and Facebook page, and will be shown until 19 August 2020, the Araw ng Wikang Pambansa. It will again be available for viewing for another week, from 30 August 2020 until 5 September 2020.

In his remarks, Consul General Castro emphasized that we should love our national language because it is a means by which people are united and understand one another. He also highlighted the sacrifices of all frontline workers during these unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the hope that people, especially the youth will take inspiration from them. He also thanked Dr. Alcedo for sharing his film with Sentro Rizal Toronto and hopes that the lessons learned from the film will inspire the viewers to continue supporting our kababayans and our country.
Dancing Manilenyos is a multi-awarded documentary film about the dreams of young Filipinos in Manila of making it big in the ballet world. It also talks about the hope and sacrifices of a ballet teacher, Luther Perez, who wishes to help lift his students, Victor Maguad among others, out of poverty, through the artistic and life skills that can be learned from dancing. The film also shows that students come together, help and respect one another, despite their disparate social class.

Ms. Sofia Zobel-Elizalde, Director of Steps Dance Studio, said in the documentary film that kids from all walks of life come to their dance studio, "but the moment they come in to the school, everybody equalizes. And when that happens…they learn from each other and there’s a respect that grows from one to the other." Ms. Zobel-Elizalde also shared a wonderful statement, "Hard work is hard work. There is no division of where you come from and who you are. But it’s how you excel, your work ethic, your dedication, your natural talent and your passion" that applies not only to ballet but in anyone’s chosen career.

Ms. Margie Moran, President of Ballet Philippines, said on the other hand that, "Our dancers are either wealthy or they’re not. They look as dancing not as a hobby but as a career and they see a future no matter how much it pays them because they have passion. Even the rich ones… because they love what they do, it’s something that is part of their dream - to be a prima ballerina."
The film received numerous awards and recognitions. Selected from among 347 submissions from 35 countries, it was an official selection at the 2019 Diversity in Cannes Short Film Showcase. It won an Impact Doc Award, a Spotlight Documentary Film Award, a Global Shorts Award of Merit, and an Award of Recognition from the Hollywood International Independent Documentary Film Award and was premiered at the famous Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, California. It was also an official selection at the Chelsea International Film Festival in Manhattan, New York, the Ethnografilm Festival in Paris, France, and the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival in 2018.

Dr. Patrick Alcedo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Dance of the York University, the 3rd biggest university in Canada. He is the director, writer, and producer of six (6) documentary films, including Dancing Manilenyos. His other film A Piece of Paradise won both Centennial Best Canadian Film Award and the National Bank First Feature Film Award, the first film in the festival to have garnered a back-to-back win. He was also the Artistic Director of the Philippine Consulate General-Sentro Rizal Toronto’s dance production, INDAK, that was the highlight of the Philippine Independence Day and Filipino Heritage Month celebrations in June 2018.

In his remarks, Dr. Alcedo thanked the people and institution that made the film possible - the collaborative labor of love of people who shared their time, effort and pieces of their lives, and the grant from the Early Researcher Award of the Government of Ontario which he won. He also mentioned that he is honoured for Dancing Manilenyos forming part of the Philippine Consulate General's Sentro Rizal Toronto's celebration of Buwan ng Wikang Pambansa. To date, the screening of Dancing Manilenyos has already 3,800 views, 1,852 engagements, 113 likes, 9 comments and 46 shares. It has reached 7,100 people through sharing of the video and the announcement, so it is expected that there will be more views until its screening in the first week of September. - END

• Print

PR 43-2020

19 Aug 2020 – PCG Toronto, under the leadership of Consul General Orontes Castro, participated in a virtual seminar entitled “Open Work Permit for Vulnerable Workers in Canada” organized by POLO Toronto on 15 August 2020. Atty. Buenos Aires Rivera, a Filipino-Canadian regulated immigration consultant who also holds a license with the Law Society of Ontario, was the speaker of the event. Other participants included officials of OWWA Toronto and some OFWs.

Labor Officer Rachel Zozobrado-Nagayo welcomed the participants and stated that it is important to recognize and understand the issues and laws affecting vulnerable workers in Canada.

Consul General Castro, in his remarks, acknowledged the important work of POLO-Toronto in providing assistance to OFWs in Ontario. He stated that Canada has become one of the primary destinations of Filipino immigrants, workers and students, and the seminar would greatly help vulnerable OFWs, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Atty. Rivera discussed extensively the issues on open work permit for vulnerable workers in Canada, including the objectives for the issuance of such work permit by the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the fact that it provides foreign workers the opportunity to leave their abusive employers and search for new jobs. She also covered the kinds of abuses that migrant workers may experience in workplaces and the exploitations they may experience in the context of COVID-19. A description of how foreign workers can file their complaints with the IIRCC was also presented.

OWWA Toronto Welfare Officer Maria Lourdes Reyes, in her concluding remarks, thanked Atty. Rivera for her informative presentation and pointed out that migrant workers have to be aware of their rights and responsibilities in Canada. -END