Vacationing at home for all overseas-based Filipinos, specifically for those in the Middle East, means reuniting with their parents, children, relatives and friends. It means eating their favorite local dishes and street foods. It means going to their life-long doctors, dentists and barbers or hairdressers. It means updating their legal, bank or real estate documents and obligations. It means visiting their favorite church and tourist spot. It means a lot of everything.
Perfect Time to Visit the Philippines
Some of you might be reading this while vacationing already in the Philippines or about to fly in a week’s or a month’s time. It’s summer in the UAE and Middle East. Perfect time to beat the heat and splash back home.
It’s so amusing to see the FB posts of friends enjoying their well-delayed yet well-deserved holiday after two years of being ‘stuck’ in the UAE due to the Covid-19 stringent restrictions in the Philippines which were gradually lifted in the past months. One happy person is our wedding inaanak radio host ‘Maria Maldita’ of TAG 91.1 FM who has been feasting on street foods with husband Roygbiv and their two very young daughters. She celebrated her 30-something birthday on June 15 in Cabuyao, Laguna.
According to ‘Maria’, whose real name is Jonaphine, her last trip was in 2018 with her first baby who was then 8 months old. She had planned to go home again in 2019 but got pregnant. She gave birth in 2020 which was the most trying year around the world. In 2021, there was a big chance for the whole family to fly but the enforced 14-day quarantine period would have consumed whatever was left of their annual leave. It was impractical not only for them but for most of us. Last May 28, the family finally made it and will be there for almost a month.
My last trip to the Philippines was in September 2019 when I attended the two-day 26th National Congress of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. Next day I took an overnight bus trip to our hometown, Legazpi City, to visit mother Yit. I arrived past 7 am and bonded with her and my brother Steve the whole day and then took the 7 pm overnight bus trip back to Manila, actually Quezon City, where I visited our son at his dorm. In the evening I flew back to Dubai. I was in the country for six days only as I had already planned to have a longer stay with wife in May 2020, which never happened.
By the 3rd week of August or after 35 months, I will set foot again in our beloved country where a new set of elected national and local government officials would have been on their second month addressing and resolving health and economic issues. Wishing them therefore all the best – and hopefully with the support of all Filipinos.
Vacationing at home for all overseas-based Filipinos, specifically for those in the Middle East, means reuniting with their parents, children, relatives and friends. It means eating their favorite local dishes and street foods. It means going to their life-long doctors, dentists and barbers or hairdressers. It means updating their legal, bank or real estate documents and obligations. It means visiting their favorite church and tourist spot. It means a lot of everything.
My wife and I will attend the Baccalaureate Mass & Commencement Exercises for Class 2022 of our son Yuji who has completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Art Management at the Ateneo de Manila University. He will also be receiving his Magna Cum Laude award. We are really excited to witness this forthcoming event which will be the first time the school will hold an in-person graduation ceremony after 2019.
We will also go to Legazpi City. Can’t wait to see my mother who will be turning 88 this December. And also visit the tomb of my late father Jackie and other brother Raffy. Happy Father’s Day in heaven daddy.
Note: Art ‘Popoy’ Los Banos is veteran PR consultant with a combined 24-year PR experience in the Philippines and UAE. He is currently the Senior Manager for Corporate Communications of the Tristar Group and is the only Filipino in the senior management team of the Oil & Gas logistics company. He was the former 2008 Philippine Independence Day (PID) organizing committee chairman in Dubai and the Northern Emirates. In December 2019, Los Banos received the Philippine Pride Awards in Public Relations from the Philippine Business Council-Abu Dhabi chapter for his ‘exemplary leadership and tireless efforts to continuously support, boost and campaign for excellence to uplift the Filipino image.’