15 June 2018, Schaffhausen - The Philippine Embassy in Berne headed by Amb. Denis Yap Lepatan joined Mr. Rainer Schmidig, President of the City Parliament, Schaffhausen officials and members of the Filipino community, in the commemoration of the 157th birth anniversary of Dr. Jose P. Rizal.
A wreath laying ceremony took place in front of the Credit Suisse building along Bahnhofstrasse in Schaffhausen. The same building used to be Hotel Müller where Dr. Jose Rizal stayed with his friend Dr. Maximo Viola, when they visited Schaffhausen on June 2-3 1887.
Amb. Lepatan delivers his speech before the officials of Schaffhausen, (from left, Mr. Rainer Schmidig, President of the Parliament of Schaffhausen,
officials, Mr. Christian Schneider, and Mr. Christian Ritzmann) and the Filipino community
Mr. Reiner Schmidig, President of the Parliament of Schaffhausen, in his speech, mentioned that the people of Schaffhausen feel honoured that the Embassy continues the tradition of celebrating the birth anniversary of Rizal in Schaffhausen, “a personality with great courage, foresight and belief in democracy and independence”. He added that the celebration “offers an excellent occasion to deepen the contacts between our two countries and with the Filipino community in Switzerland.”
In reply, Amb. Lepatan expressed his gratitude to the Officials of Schaffhausen for keeping alive the memory of our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal. “Rizal is a very important person for leading the way towards our independence, which we have just celebrated last 12 June”, he said.
