Advisories & News
Press Release
Consul General Orontes V. Castro and Officers from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office Kick-Off Filipino Heritage Month Celebration with Blood Donation
2021-06-04
PR-2021-19
Toronto, 1 June 2021 –Consul General Orontes V. Castro led the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto in its celebration of Filipino Heritage Month with blood donation at the Canadian Blood Services (CBS) in Toronto. POLO Toronto OWWA Welfare Officer Lourdes Reyes and Mr. Oliver Baranda, Driver at PCG, also donated blood to the CBS.
The Philippine Consulate General collaborated with Canadian Blood Services’ Ms. Lilet Raffiñan in this meaningful project to celebrate Filipino Heritage Month and the 123rd Philippine Independence Day, as well as in solidarity with the Quincentennial Commemorations of the Philippines.
The blood donation was one way of living the theme of the Quincentennial Commemorations of the Philippines (QCP), “Victory and Humanity”. As in our forebears who helped the starving crew of the first circumnavigators that traversed the Pacific Ocean, the officers and staff of the Philippine Consulate General and Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Toronto put into action their care and compassion for other people and save lives in the process.
The Philippine Consulate General’s blood donation project for the whole month of June comes at an opportune time as the Province of Ontario just recently also approved Bill 217, otherwise known as the “Filipino Heritage Month Act” of the Province of Ontario, in addition to the earlier Filipino Heritage Month Motions passed by the City of Toronto in November 2017 and by the House of Commons of the Parliament of Canada in October 2018 – END
