20 August 2014- Ambassador Victoriano M. Lecaros launched the Embassy’s Financial Literacy Education campaign for 500 Filipinos in the Czech Republic on 16 August 2014, targeting newly-arrived Filipino workers of Teleplan, a computer after-sales company based in Prague, Czech Republic.  More than 20 participants attended the Financial Literacy Seminar conducted by Consul and First Secretary Juan E. Dayang, Jr.

Ambassador Lecaros said that “financial literacy can be the first step out of poverty”. He added that the Financial Literacy Program of the Embassy has three main goals: First, to provide financial literacy education to Filipino community in Prague and particularly to newcomer population; Second, to evaluate the impact of the program; and Third, to evaluate the program and to report findings of the pre-test and post-test survey  to guide  migrant organizations in the development and evaluation of financial literacy activities.

Consul Dayang initiated the Embassy’s first Financial Literacy Program in 2013 in Prague with  the Filipino-Czech Association (FCA).  Dayang, an Masters of Business Administration (MBA) graduate, also started the first Financial Literacy Program of the Philippine Embassy in Seoul, South Korea in 2008 and evaluated the program with the Department of Political Administration, University of Oklahoma, Norman, USA.  He received SunLife’s It’s Time Award Grand Prize and Wealth Wonder Award in 2011.  In 2013, he received DEVEX’s 40 under 40 International Development Leaders Award for his financial literacy advocacy to migrant workers.

The Seminar included lecture on savings, investments, and risk management.  “If there’s something I wish you to remember, it is this: save first before you spend”, Dayang said.  He added that “OFWs, particularly Teleplan workers, who have a two-year fixed term, should focus on savings and investment and prepare themselves to return home and join their families”.

In cooperation with Teleplan Company, the Embassy will conduct two more seminars for newcomers on the 4^th quarter of the 2014 with the entry of additional 40 Teleplan workers in September 2014.

Initial reaction from participants was positive. A participant commented that they wish to have more seminars including how to put up their own business. END

20 August 2014 - The Philippine Embassy in Prague, led by Ambassador Victoriano M. Lecaros, successfully organized the celebration of Apolinario Mabini’s 150^th birth anniversary with members of the Filipino community and Czech guests on 16 August 2014 at the Multi-purpose Hall of the Philippine Embassy in Prague, Czech Republic.

 The Life and Works of Mabini and “The True Decalogue” were narrated by Cultural Officer and Attaché Ramon Gaspar, a Gawad Mabini Awardee (Kasugo) of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

 Ambassador Lecaros recited Mabini’s “The True Decalogue” and gave a talk on the importance of “The True Decalogue” in the lives of contemporary Filipino migrants. He stressed the importance of Mabini in the Philippine revolution and his role as first Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the Philippines under President Emilio Aguinaldo. Ambassador Lecaros challenged Filipino migrant workers to live with higher ideals and emphasized love of country. He said that despite Mabini’s condition as a polio survivor, he stood strong in the face of challenges and detractors to be one of the foremost national heroes of the Philippines.

After the talk, the Ambassador invited a member of the Filipino community, Sigrid de Mesa-Castillo, to cut the ribbon and open the Mabini photo exhibit in the newly-installed “Mabini Corner” at the Multi-purpose Hall of the Embassy together with Ambassador Lecaros, Consul Juan E. Dayang, Jr., and Cultural Officer Gaspar.

Consul Dayang expressed to the Filipino community that the Philippine motto of “love of God, country, people, and the environment” can be lived through the example of Mabini’s life of service and his principles summarized in the “The True Decalogue”.

More than 30 Filipinos and foreign guests attended the celebration of Mabini’s 150^th anniversary and the launching of the Embassy’s Financial Literacy Education campaign, the Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) registration and luncheon that followed the event.

END.