Social and Diplomatic Events in Ankara

			MABUHAY! Philippines…. LONG LIVE ! Philippines! On the occasion of the 111^th Anniversary of the proclamation of Philippine Independence and of the 60^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of the Philippines and the Republic of Turkey Ambassador of Philippines Pedro O. Chan hosted a reception at the Kavaklidere Grand Ballroom of Ankara Hilton. All Heads of Missions of ASEAN countries along with many other heads of missions and deputy heads of missions were present at the event. We had the opportunity to meet the new Counsellor of Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, Ahmed Mohamed Al Mutawaa who came to the event with Charge d’Affaires of Kuwaiti Embassy Deyab Al Reshadidi who had just returned from London. Ambassador Chan and the only woman ambassador among the ASEAN countries, Ambassador Kanya Chaiman cut a nice celebration cake during the event. But the celebrations continued during the weekend and again on the occasion of 111^th Anniversary of Philippine Independence a joint celebration of the Embassy and Ankara Filipino Community took place at the beautiful premises of the Embassy. The event was not only participated by the embassy and Ankara Filipino community but many Filipinos from Istanbul and many Turkish friends of the community also were present. Also the former ambassador of Turkey who is now Chief of Protocol of the Turkish Foreign Ministry Tanju Sumer was present at the event. The event was a real feast with a lot of Filipino dishes, music and dance which went on until the late hours of the afternoon. We would like to congratulate all the embassy staff for organizing such an event but the biggest applause goes to Counsellor Alfonso Ver, to Vivian Bajarin-Laurel and to Gunny Dasmarinies who was in charge of music.