NATIONAL RICE AWARENESS MONTH-LONG CELEBRATION
HELD IN JEDDAH CONSULATE
01 December 2014 – Pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 524 s.2004 that seeks to make each and every Filipino “RICEponsible” and to value the hardwork of Filipino farmers, the Philippine Consulate General carried out a month-long celebration of the National Rice Awareness Month in November. The following activities highlighted the celebration: (a) weekly recitation of the Panatang Makapalay; (b) Brown Rice Day, (c) daily display of RICEponsibility banner at the Consulate’s website and FB page, and (d) “Rice Bucket Challenge” that was participated in by the Consulate’s partners in the Filipino community in Jeddah.
Underscoring the vital importance of being RICEponsible by non-wastage of rice, eating of brown rice and mixing rice with other staples, Consul General Leo Tito L. Ausan, Jr. led the fist-on-chests, weekly recitation of the Panatang Makapalay in unison in all flag-raising ceremonies of November.
On 12 November 2014, a “boodle fight” fun lunch participated in by all of the personnel aptly dubbed as “Brown Rice Day” was held. Brown rice, instead of the usual white rice was served to remind everyone of the should-be-welcome alternative of eating brown rice instead of white rice.
To culminate the “Be RICEponsible” celebration, the Consulate, in cooperation and support of Filipino organizations in Jeddah, pulled-off the “Rice Bucket Challenge” during the WOW Pinoy 2014 Annual Bowling Tournament held on 28 November 2014 at the Iceland Bowling Center. The more than forty-two (42) Filipino community organizations, who joined the bowling tournament, took the “challenge to be charitable” by bringing along with them small buckets of rice which they poured into bigger buckets. The group that brought in the biggest volume of rice during the occasion was declared winner. The Northern Samar International and JEF-Filcom were declared winners and awarded certificates of appreciation (for donating 400 and 200 kilos of rice, respectively). A portion of the more than 700 kilos of rice (or equivalent to 15 sacks) collected was given to male tenants who are temporarily housed at the Consulate, while the rest is being donated by the WOW Pinoy organizers to one of the deserving barangays in Paranaque City through the Inner Wheel Club of Paranaque City.
The BE RICEponsibility advocacy has been launched under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the DFA and the other government departments and agencies throughout the Philippines and abroad because according to PhilRice data, Filipinos waste an average of 2.5 tablespoons of rice daily (or a total of P6.2-billion rice yearly) which is enough to feed 2.6 million Filipinos every year. END.
PHOTOS TAKEN DURING THE JEDDAH PCG’S MONTH-LONG CELEBRATION
OF THE NATIONAL RICE AWARENESS MONTH
