BAGUIO CITY, Aug. 9 (PIA) — As people of this country, the Cordillerans have the obligation to promote their role in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and they can do this by allowing their children to learn and appreciate who they are as Cordillerans and by doing their best as public servants.
PCInsp. Kimberly Molitas, spokesperson of the National Capital Region Police Office, stressed this in her keynote message during the ASEAN Flotilla event at the Burnham Lake yesterday celebrating the ASEAN 50th founding anniversary
Molitas outlined that Cordillerans have culture, values and traits that are still needed to be promoted to the other people in the country so that in time there will really be one nation- no cultural divisiveness among Filipino people.
She also called on her fellow civil servants to continue doing their best in performing their work so that altogether they can assure a better, safer and progressive country for the younger generation.
“I also want to remind everyone that it is our obligation as people of Baguio, as people of the Cordillera, as people of this country to do our part in promoting our role in the ASEAN region, just by simply allowing our children to learn; by allowing ourselves to be known to people, being public servants that we are, giving our best, we are already doing our part and contribution to the ASEAN efforts of building a better region for us and for the world”, Molitas stressed.
Molitas is a proud Cordilleran who hails from Kibungan, Benguet and spent her school days in Baguio City. She is the first Filipino policewoman to complete the Hubert Humphrey Fellow in America.
The flotilla event at the Burnham Lake was an initiative of the Philippine Information Agency Cordillera and the City Government of Baguio in celebration of the 50th Foundation Day anniversary of ASEAN.
The ASEAN was founded on August 8, 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand with Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand as founding members. It is now composed of 10 members with the addition of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam.
The flotilla of boats involved 10 swan boats bearing the ASEAN logo and 10 boats representing the 10-member states. The boats were designed to represent each of the ASEAN member nations and aboard each boat was a Department of Environment and Natural Resources personnel clad in the costume of the country he/she represented. DENR Regional Director Ralph Pablo was the flag bearer for the Philippines.
At the middle of the lake was the ASEAN 50 logo with the theme “Partnering for Change, Engaging the World”.
Other Baguio visitors and participants also rode the other boats with ASEAN –member state flaglets around the lake.
The flotilla was followed by a parade of the participants that include officials and employees of the city government, regional line agencies, as well as some high school and college students for the ASEAN Landmark Symbolic Lighting Ceremony at the Baguio City Hall.
The City Government of Baguio joined more than 70 local government units in various parts of the country in the simultaneous lighting of ASEAN lantern in a landmark in their respective localities. **CCD with R. Garcia-PIA CAR/UC Intern)
