By Kris Crismundo/PNA
BEIJING – Filipinos residing in China’s capital celebrated on Sunday the first founding anniversary of their organization with a host of events aimed at strengthening further the ties that bind.
Machelle Ramos, a core member of the Filipino Community in Beijing or FilComBei, said the group was established to bring together Beijing-based Filipinos for social gatherings and also to serve as a platform to help countrymen in need.
Other core members of FilComBei are Bibian Pacayra, Cherelyn Lom, and Zun Wu.
Ramos recalled that FilComBei began in 2018 with a fundraising luncheon attended by 30 Filipino expats to help an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who suffered a stroke.
To date, FilComBei has grown to 220 members.
FilComBei also helped victims of Typhoon Ompong that hit the Philippines in September 2018.
Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana graced the first anniversary celebration of FilComBei.
Sta. Romana assured the FilComBei that the Philippine embassy in Beijing will support its charity program and other projects aimed at helping Filipinos in need.
Attending the FilComBei anniversary is Li Lin, a 90-year old Filipino-Chinese born in Iloilo in the central islands of the Philippines.
Li, who has a Filipino (Felipe Gonzales Ty), stayed in the Philippines for more than 30 years before migrating to Beijing, where he established in 1965 the first Filipino radio broadcast in China – Radyo Beijing.
Radyo Beijing is broadcasting through China’s state-owned radio network China Radio International (CRI).
Meanwhile, the core members of FilComBei said they will continue organizing charity events to help fellow OFWs and needy Filipinos back home.
