Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

Students enrolled in all the five Philippine schools in Dubai and the Northern Emirates will support and lend their talents, this time to make the 121st celebration of their homeland’s independence from Spain—observed every June 12—joyful and memorable.

According to 121st Philippine Independence Day Celebration-Dubai and the Northern Emirates Organizing Committee (PID2019) chairman Josie Conlu-Romulo, the participating students are from the Al Alfiah Private School, Far Eastern Private School and the New Filipino Private School—all in Sharjah—and The Philippine School and the United International Private School in Dubai.

They are part of the celebrations scheduled from 9:00am on June 14, Friday, at the Zabeel Hall of the Dubai World Trade Centre.

The schools normally provide the additional pomp and pageantry at the yearly PID celebrations by way of the display of their respective Drum-Bugle-Lyre corps’s expertise in varied versions of musical pieces with the use of percussion instruments combined with well-choreographed drill and marching techniques in every Parade of Colours.

For this year, students from the five schools “are prepped up to showcase festive cultural dances from the various regions of our country through the Mga Sayaw Natin (Our Dances) segment.”

“We want to focus on the togetherness of the community from the family which is the heart of the society to larger groups such as corporate teams and various organisations (like the) schools.”

In contrast to the traditional provincial dances by the students—an excellent way for them to get rooted with their home country since a big number of them were born in the UAE—come the “Indak,” (dance or jiggle).

“Indak” is the performance by Filipinos who have made a mark across the UAE for their various interpretations and choreographies of hiphop and modern dance. Calendared throughout the whole day affair include the debut performance of the “old school Pinoy rockband, Aswang de Makina,” (Monster Machine).

“Aswang de Makina” was adjudged the champions of the “Bandigmaan: Musika para sa Kalayaan 2019” (Battle of the Bands: Music for Freedom 2019), one of the previously-held sidelights of the PID celebrations for Filipinos in Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujeirah.

Other PID celebrations this year in Dubai is “the uniquely customized IMAGINE show” that will be held every evening at the Festival Bay of the Dubai Festival City on June 12 (every hour from 9:00pm) and on June 13 to 15 (every hour from 7:00pm).

Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes will inaugurate the first-ever free show on June 12.

Meanwhile, from June 12 to June 15, Filipinos are given discounts for entry at the Motiongate Dubai, Bollywood Park Dubai, and Legoland Dubai which form the Dubai Parks and Resorts.

Over in Abu Dhabi and specifically from 6:00pm to 11:00pm on June 14 and at the Yas Waterworld, is the “Kabayan Fiesta” (Countryman Feast) wherein “guests are in for an action-packed evening featuring live music, delectable dining and an all-you-can-eat Filipino-themed buffet and access to all the rides and entertainment” at special prices. A four-minute music video about “Tagumpay” (“Success”) was released a fortnight back, in time for the 121st commemoration of the Philippine independence from Spain  on June 12, 1898.

With 100 people cast and shot for two days by Dubai-based Filipino filmmaker/commercial director Patrick Fronda, the music video scales on the lyrics, rhythm, and harmony set forth by Dubai-based Exekiel Nunez Jr. Nunez was the grand winner at the “Dubai Dubai Musikahan-Season 3” song writing composition organized by the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai (PCGDXB).

Ralph Jay Cabusay in the Central Philippines’s Cebu City is the musical arranger.

Nunez explained his choice for “Tagumpay” even as the PID 2019 “official theme” as per Manila’s Department of Foreign Affairs is “Tapang ng Bayan, Malasakit sa Mamamayan” (“The Courage of the People, the People’s Concern”).