Dagupan City to participate in the ASEAN 50th anniversary celeb

• Source: http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/411501211084/dagupan-city-to-participate-in-the-asean-50th-anniversary-celeb
• Monday, July 31, 2017

By VENUS MAY H. SARMIENTO (JNPD/VHS/PIA-1,Pangasinan)

DAGUPAN CITY (PIA) - As the Philippines prepares for the 50th grand anniversary celebration of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), several local government units are also gearing up to participate in the golden event.

“As part of the grand celebration of ASEAN’s 50th Anniversary, the participating LGUs will be staging their own landmark activities aside from the main event at the Cultural Center of the Philippines,” said Usec. Noel George Puyat of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) and Chair of the ASEAN 2017 Committee on Media Affairs and Strategic Communications.

The City Government of Dagupan is one of the LGUs that will participate in the simultaneous Landmark Lighting Activity on August 8.

Mayor Belen Fernandez of Dagupan City has convened a committee to stage a memorable and meaningful ASEAN anniversary celebration for Dagupeños and Pangasinenses.

“Six lanterns bearing the ASEAN emblem will be lit up for the event with the main lantern at the City Plaza. The signature Dagupan product, bangus, will also be mounted alongside the lantern and the seal of Balon Dagupan,” Fernandez said.

The Dagupan City Schools Division of the Department of Education, which was tasked to co-chair the activity, has enjoined all public and private schools in the city to participate in the historic event.

A parade will commence at 4 p.m. of August 8 at Burgos Street with students of each instructional districts carrying flaglets of the ASEAN countries assigned to them. Selected teachers will also be dressed in traditional costumes of the ASEAN member-countries.

The parade will end at the City Plaza in time for the program and the simultaneous lighting of the ASEAN lanterns at 7 p.m. The Dagupan City event will be aired by PTV-4 as part of the national celebration with the main event in Metro Manila.

The ASEAN was established on August 8, 1967 with the end view of pursuing lasting peace and development in the entire region to provide a better quality of life for people in South East Asia.

Aside from the Philippines, other member-countries of ASEAN are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.