NAT 191215 FilSoc Town Hall 1-1576396071880
Philippine Ambassador to the UAE Hjayceelin Quintana asked the Filipinos who attended the Filipino Social Club (FilSoc) Town Hall meeting last December 13 to contribute to World Expo 2020 in Dubai through the Philippine Pavilion. This was her response on what the Filipinos working and living in the UAE can still do given that the design of the pavilion and its creative contents were developed in the Philippines. “I will be making consultations with you like focus groups and try to come up with what we can do to contribute. We are a very big group here so we have to show our strong participation,” she explained. The town hall was organized by FilSoc to listen to Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez and his team on the Philippines’ participation at the six-month global event which will commence on October 20 next year.

Dubai: The Philippine Ambassador to the UAE Hjayceelin Quintana has asked the UAE’s Filipino community for ideas on how to fill the Philippine Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.

“I will be making consultations with you like focus groups and try to come up with what we can do to contribute. We are a very big group here so we have to show our strong participation,” said Quintana, speaking at the Filipino Social Club (FilSoc) Town Hall meeting on Friday, which was attended by around 300 members of the local Filipino community.

The pavilion will resemble a ‘Bangkota’, which is Tagalog for coral reef, and films would be shown there on the Philippines’ marine life, alongside an exhibition of the history of the country and its people.

Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez, said, “We will all be the ambassadors of our participation at Expo 2020 Dubai. We will come up with a communications programme so that all of us can explain the meaning of our participation, the meaning behind the Philippine Pavilion.”

The DTI is open to anyone who would like to contribute. Initially mural painters are required, as well as other volunteers. FilSoc is currently recruiting members ahead of its General Assembly on January 24, and the social club will be a channel between would-be-volunteers and the Philippine Embassy.