Betsy von Atzigen, Editor in Chief
The 12th of June ushered the 124th Philippine Independence Day celebrations nationwide. But with over 10 million Filipinos residing overseas since 6 decades or so, the concept of ‘nationwide’ has been expanded to continent-wide and ultimately, worldwide. The sense of nationhood lives on, regardless of one’s physical residence.
The Philippine Embassy in Norway is worth mentioning here, as not one, but 3 events took place in Oslo. In Moscow, a night of Filipino classical music “Gabi ng Kundiman” festival launched the celebrations. Consul General Tess Lazaro who was once with us in Bern is now bringing a fresh perspective of diplomacy to Barcelona. She quips, “being in the foreign service is also like being an OFW. We get assigned to a particular country and live there for a certain number of years.”there for a certain number of years.”
Literally, one beautiful thing this season does is to ‘un-closet’ the Filipinianas and Barong Tagalogs. At an event in Bern earlier, I was pleased to meet up again with Pamela Gotangco who donned a self-designed ultra-modern PamPinay wearable Art. Want more headlines? Click the pages and travel to France’s Pink City, or Siquijor’s beaches and stay updated on Rawmags’ brisk social entrepreneurship projects.
One final celebration this month is Rebecca Urbančík Garcia’s promotion to Rawmags Associate Editor. Her unfaltering dedication, skills and fresh initiatives over the years have pushed our e-publication to new, exciting turns within the Filipino-European social networks.
Mabuhay ang Pilipino!