Annabelle Borja is excited the Riverina’s Filipino community will connect with other multicultural groups at the Philippine independence event this Sunday. Photo: Chris Roe.
Wagga Wagga has seen a steady growth in recent years of the number of Filipinos settling into the city and calling it home.
An estimated 1500 people born in the Philippines have made the move to Wagga and they have brought with them a special and unique sense of community.
President of the Filipino community in Wagga Annabelle Borja and many others are hoping to share their culture at a special event at the Victory Memorial Gardens on Sunday (15 June).
To mark 127 years of independence for the Philippines from Spanish rule, the community will host a flag raising at the Victory Memorial Gardens and a special mass at St Michael’s Cathedral later in the day.
“We want this not just to be our celebration; we want our fellow mates in the Riverina to experience the Philippines through our music, through our food, through our culture and through us as Filipino people,” Ms Borja said.
“We were colonised by the Spaniards for 300 years, so that’s the reason why this date is so significant to us.
“Filipinos were free from the colonisation of the Spaniards, but then there were also the Americans and the Japanese who came later. A lot of different races colonised our country.
“Now, 127 years later, we are free and we want to celebrate that with the Wagga community.”
Ms Borja gave a brief outline of what people could expect from the event.
“It will start at nine o’clock, and because it’s winter, we will try to make it very quick,” she said.
“We start with, of course, Acknowledgement of Country from Aunty Mary. We’ll do the national anthem performed by some Filipino kids who will be wearing their traditional costumes.
“They’ll do the national anthem for Australia; we’ll then be doing the presentation of the flag, where we will have four flag bearers wearing our traditional Filipino costume.
“We will then sing the Philippines national anthem in Filipino as the flag is being raised.
“We had a beautiful wreath made that we’ll put in front of the flag. Right after that, we will be doing a pledge of our country, which will also be in Tagalog.
“We’ll also have Cr Dallas Tout do a mayoral address at the ceremony, followed by a morning tea.”
Ms Borja said the event would feature different aspects of Filipino culture, including food, music, dancing and costumes and end with a morning tea at the Wagga Council Chambers.
“We are excited for people to come and see an event that is really important to our community,” she said.
“We have a lot of different multicultural communities tell us they are looking forward to coming to the event. It’s one of the great things about Wagga, that so many different people from different places can come together.”
The official celebration of 127 years of Filipino independence will begin at 9 am on 15 June at the Victory Memorial Gardens.
