Historic Aristocrat to host Balangay depedida
The iconic Aristocrat Restaurant will host the sendoff program for the 48-man Balangay voyage expedition this Friday night in their Roxas Boulevard main branch.
Gracing the occasion are Kaya ng Pinoy Foundation President and Expedition leader Art Valdez, Ramon Reyes of Mama Sita Foundation, National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) Acting Executive Director Ludovico Badoy, and Project Saysay Executive Director Ian Alfonso.
Mama Sita Foundation, the NHCP, and Project Saysay will turn over to Kaya ng Pinoy in the program the cultural and historical items to be loaded on the balangays. The initiative is dubbed “Baon ng mga Balangay” (Items of the Balangays). Among these items are copies of cookbook and packs of condiments from Mama Sita, posters and bookmarks of Project Saysay, and publications and a bust of Apolinario Mabini courtesy of the NHCP for the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong.
NHCP will also turn over a Philippine Flag which will be hoisted in the sais consulate. It will be a symbolic visitation of the national flag to its birthplace in 1898. The same flag will be hoisted in Aguinaldo Shrine, Kawit, Cavite on 12 June if the expedition arrived to Manila as scheduled.
The expedition started sailing from Maibung, Sulu on 9 May 2017. It visited the cities of Zamboanga and Bacolod. The three balangays are now docked at Philippine Coast Guard Headquarters in Manila since 25 May 2017.
The next Philippine itinerary of the expedition is in Poro Point, San Fernando, La Union. It will leave for Hong Kong on Sunday.
This expedition is the second of its kind since 2009 by Kaya ng Pinoy. The said expedition is headed by former DENR Undersecretary Art Valdez. It is composed of two new balangays Sultan sin Sulu and Lahi ng Maharlika. The two were joined by balangay Sama Tawi-tawi, one of the replicas of Philippine ancient boat which sailed in 2009 throughout Southeast Asia. It has a mission to relive the 600 years of diplomatic connection of our ancestors from Sulu with ancient China.
