(Clearwisdom.net) On September 16, 2004, Falun Gong practitioners from Taiwan were invited by the City government of Naga, Philippines to participate in parade and performance of the 2004 Penafrancia Voyadores Festival. Taiwan Falun Gong practitioners' procession including waist drum troupe, traditional Chinese dance performance, Falun Gong exercise demonstration and float, was arranged by the city government to lead the entire parade that contained 17 entries. The streets were swarming with spectators and our truth-clarifying leaflets were short of supply. We went back three times to get more leaflets. Many people who learned about the facts of Falun Gong asked where they could learn the exercises. Jiang's regime has been spreading lies slandering Falun Gong for more than 5 years. Through practitioners' effort to clarify the truth, people become more and more clearheaded, and gradually learned about the facts.
  Proclamation issued by the City Government of Naga, Philippines to honor Taiwan Falun Dafa Association |
  Philippine Daily Inquirer, the most influential newspaper in Philippines reports on Falun Gong |
During the celebration, the city government officials of Naga repeatedly addressed all of the citizens and spectators to praise and express their appreciation for Falun Gong practitioners' performances. Loudspeakers were installed around each corner of the streets so that the celebration music and speeches could be heard everywhere. The city government also issued a proclamation to honor Taiwan Falun Dafa Association.
On September 18, Philippine Daily Inquirer, the most influential newspaper in Philippines positively reported on Falun Gong on its front page. This was a big breakthrough over the past more than five years during which period of time, Philippine media were afraid of positively reporting on Falun Gong under the Jiang regime's vicious pressure. Besides the large picture on the front page, the caption read, "Falun Gong practitioners participate in the Penafrancia Voyadores Festival parade. Falun Gong, a traditional Chinese self-improvement cultivation practice is unfortunately banned in China."
After the news was published, the Chinese Embassy in Philippine and local Chinese Chamber of Commerce (the Chinese Ambassador is its Honorary director) published an article full of vicious lies defaming Falun Dafa in its business newspaper on September 19. In an attempt to prevent Philippine people from believing in Dafa, and even worse, to incite hatred against Dafa, the article accused us for making troubles in their chamber of commerce. As a consequence, when we practiced Falun Gong exercises at Manila, a Chinese person came to kick our display boards and openly accused our practitioners. When some practitioners tried to introduce Falun Gong and explain the persecution facts to him, he even made the gesture to beat the practitioners. Following the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance, and trying to allow him to understand the facts, practitioners patiently clarified the truth to him. The practitioner even walked him to the park entrance. Taiwan Falun Gong practitioners expressed that in order to expose the evil lies so as to prevent people from continuously being deceived by the lies, they would reserve their legal rights to file complaints regarding this incident.
Category: April 25 Events
