Peace be upon you all!
I wish to share some of the important events that happened this year in Metro Manila. Highlighting the beginning of the year was the celebration of the 2016 World Interfaith Harmony Week. URI hosted the Interfaith Meal for Peace as one of the 20 activities of UniHarmony Partners Manila (UPM), where URI Philippines is one of the partners that ran on February 1-7, 2016. The week-long activity has been documented both in writing and in videos. Read more in-depth about this event and see many videos here.
There are more photos and details available on the Uniharmony Partners Manila Facebook page. I also invite you to take a look at the updated page.
Ambassador Lamadrid, the keynote speaker
UPM bagged the second prize of USD15,000 of H.M. King Abdullah II Jordan Prize for WIHW 2016.
On September 17, 2016, I also participated as a speaker (among three) on the Freedom of Religion Symposium, which was sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; another Partner in UPM. See more details about this event here.
On the 2016 International Day of Peace, UPM staged a huge celebration with about 1,500 participants with the UN-defined theme, “The Sustainable Development Goals: Building Blocks for Peace” (translated into the Filipino language). UPM saw to it that our programs were inter-generational by involving and giving roles to the very young ones in the elementary grades, and to all other students up to the high school students.
At exactly 12:00 noon, pausing for a moment of shared reflection
Representing URI as a partner, I spoke on education as one of the building blocks for peace; specifically, on Peace Education. I am sharing some of the photos taken of the event.
Thank you for your time reading and/or watching.
In peace,
Potre D. Diampuan, URI Southeast Asia & the Philippines, Senior Interfaith Representative
View a video of a portion of the speech:
