Santiago PE officers CDA Jim Tito San Agustin and Consul Dennis Briones (upper-left photo) join festivities held at the US Embassy to commemorate the ANHPI Heritage Month.

(Santiago, 26 May 2022) As part of its Cultural and Public Diplomacy initiatives, the Philippine Embassy in Santiago participated in the celebration of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (ANHPI) Heritage Month held at the US Embassy in Las Condes on 26 May 2022.  The program featured remarks by Embassy officials, cultural presentations and samplings of Asian cuisine.  Also in attendance were members of the diplomatic corps from the Embassies of Japan, Republic of Korea, and the Economic and Cultural Office of Taiwan.

The ANHPI Heritage Month celebration was spearheaded by US Embassy Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs Ms. Mariju Boffil, an American diplomat of Filipino descent.  She was joined by her family who flew in from various parts of the US and gamely performed vocal and dance renditions of Filipino classics: Gaano Ko Ikaw Kamahal, Kuratsa, Ay Ay Kalisud and Dahil Sayo.

In his remarks, Philippine Chargé d’Affaires, a.i, Jim Tito B. San Agustin underscored the crucial role of Filipino-Americans during the labor movement in California, specifically Filipino labor leader Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz of the Asian American Movement.  For his part, Consul Dennis John Briones highlighted the small but growing number of overseas Filipinos in Chile and thereafter invited guests to partake on the lumpiang shanghai specially prepared by the Embassy’s Cultural Officer himself, Mr. Jeffry Aranda.

This ANHPI Heritage Month celebration is one of many partnerships between the Philippine Embassy and the US Embassy in Chile.  The two Embassies have a history of close collaboration in addressing ATN cases of Filipino-Americans in Chile as well as in coordinating the repatriation of stranded Filipino-Americans in South America during the height of the pandemic in 2020. END