100 Filipino students from various age groups based in Brunei Darussalam took to the stage as part of this year’s Filipino Language and Cultural Enrichment Program (FLCEP) held at the Philippine Embassy Chancery on 10 September 2022.

With the theme “The Philippines as an Archipelagic and Maritime Nation”, this year’s program ran from 29 August to 10 September coinciding with Philippine National Heroes’ Day and Maritime and Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month or MANA Mo, which is observed every September in the Philippines to raise awareness on maritime and ocean preservation.

This year’s program adopted a blended learning approach combining virtual language, scriptwriting of the ancient FIlipino baybayin, and culture classes with face-to-face activities to provide a well-rounded experience to the participants such as the introduction of traditional Filipino children’s games and nursery songs, weekend museum excursions to the Malay Technology Museum and the Brunei Darussalam Maritime Museum that highlight the rich maritime heritage of the Sultanate and its commonalities with the Philippines as a maritime nation, and a beach clean-up drive at the Berakas Forest Reserve in collaboration with AdvocaLAW, a Brunei-based youth environmental advocacy group, to help promote eco-sustainable practices and concern for sea conservation at an early age.

Formally launched in 2009, the FLCEP is annually hosted by the Philippine Embassy’s Sentro Rizal-Brunei in collaboration with the Philippine National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) with the aim to provide Filipino language and cultural immersion classes to the children of Filipino migrant workers living in the Sultanate. It is co-organized with a group of Filipino volunteer teachers based in Brunei who help develop the curricula and conduct classes during the school break. END.