Philippine history to be presented in a musical in Dubai

A landmark in Philippine history will be presented in a musical at Sheikh Rashid Auditorium of the Indian High School in Oud Metha, Dubai, on Thursday.
Titled 'Limasawa', the free-to-the-public song and dance production retells the history of the place where the purported first Catholic mass was celebrated prior to onset of Christianity in Asia and the Spanish colonisation of the islands. It also recounts the legendary tale of Rajah Kolambo and his five wives (limang asawa, in Filipino)

According to historical accounts, on Easter Sunday of March 31, 1521, Father Pedro de Valderrama, the Andalusian chaplain in Ferdinand Magellan's crew, was given the task of celebrating the first holy mass on the shores of Limasawa, an island at the tip of Southern Leyte, in the Eastern Visayan region.
Rajah Kolambo was one the first natives of the archipelago, which was not yet named 'Philippines' until the expedition of Ruy Lopez de Villalobos in 1543, to attend the mass which marked the birth of Catholicism in the Philippines.
The island of Leyte, 930km away from the Philippine capital of Manila, is also one of the early Pacific Ocean route contact sites between the East and the West. Limasawa is currently a municipality with over 6,000 residents.
A production crew of around 80 faculty members and students of the Leyte National University will fly in from the Philippines for the musical, which is part of the cultural diplomacy of the Philippine Consulate-General in Dubai. The event is held in collaboration with the DJMC Events-Dubai.
"The show is an element of the consulate's cultural diplomacy strategy as a means to build the image of the nation and re-establish our uniqueness as a people," Philippine Consul-General Paul Raymund Cortes said.
"We hope this activity encapsulates the essence of the Filipinos and how the global overseas Filipino community remains a relevant player in our nation-building," he added.
Cortes said that other forthcoming socio-cultural and economic events by the Philippine consulate include: A photo and drawing exhibition, Dubai Musikahan 3, financial literacy awareness programme, ConGen's Cup 2, Inter-School Debate Tournament, tourism promotion and Bayanihan 2018, among other events.

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