MANILA, Philippines – On Friday, Greece celebrates its National Day to commemorate the war of independence by the Greeks against the Ottoman Empire. The National Day is also a religious holiday for Greek Orthodox Christians observing the Annunciation of the Theotokos. This is the day the Archangel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would bear a child.

The Greek government organizes a yearly military parade on this day. The ceremonial hoisting of the flag is performed in Athens, Patra, and Thessaloniki. In every town and village, a school flag parade is conducted.

Greece is the birthplace of Western philosophy, drama, literature, political science, mathematics, the Olympic Games, and democracy. Greece reached the height of its glory and power in the fifth century B.C. It fell under Roman rule in the second and first centuries B.C. In the fourth century A.D., it became part of the Byzantine Empire and, after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453, of the Ottoman Empire.

There are about 20, 000 Filipinos living and/or working in Greece, mainly in the capital Athens and in Greek ships and yachts docked in the adjacent port city of Piraeus. Both Greece and the Philippines are dominantly Christian countries, with many observers saying that Filipinos and Greeks are strikingly similar in their Christian, family-centered , and life-loving values.

We congratulate the people and government of Greece led by Their Excellencies, President Karolos Papoulias and Prime Minister Giorgos Papandreou, and its Embassy in the Philippines headed by H.E., Ambassador Polyxeni Stefanidou, on the occasion of their National Day. We wish them all the best and success in all their endeavors.