31 May 2017, Dubai, U.A.E. Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes of the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai and the Northern Emirates launched today the Consulate’s The History Hour project, an initiative that hopes to create a greater sense of awareness of Philippine history and culture using social media and information technology. The pilot episode featured our commemoration of National Heritage Month. Guests for this episode included students from the United International Private School, a Filipino school in Dubai, and their faculty.

The concept is to produce a live feed or broadcast featuring members of the Filipino academic community in Dubai and the Northern Emirates to discuss and explain various facets of Philippine history. The account was broadcast from the Consulate’s Facebook page and that of Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes.

The project falls squarely into the Consulate’s Cultural Diplomacy objectives, to ensure effective promotion of, and widest dissemination of information about Philippine culture, arts, and history. Using the wide reach of the social media network, most particularly through Facebook and Facebook Live, the pilot episode’s live stream reached 1,468 views and around 5,000 FB feeds at the end of the hour, more than the actual physical participation through the usual venues such as that of forums and meetings with the community. END