By Abe N. Margallo

During the past three weeks I have completely shut myself from the blogosphere (or my virtual community, so to speak) to go EB, or eyeball-to-eyeball. For the Irigueños (natives of Iriga City, Philippines) the latter exploit is also called magbinaydan (loosely, “seeing each other”). While the tradition is traceable to a 1993 reunion in New Jersey of Iriga expatriates, magbinaydan has begun to evolve only during Magbinaydan 2002 in Virginia, USA as a concept for solidarity and socio-economic endeavor among Irigueños in diaspora.

The Vienna, Austria organizers of the Magbinaydan 2008 (composed not only of native Irigueños and their families but also of Filipino supporters from different Philippine towns and cities who believe in the magbinaydan concept) have been unequivocal at the outset about what they set out to accomplish (following the successful Magbinaydan 2005 in Toronto, Canada and a grand reunion and summitry of Irigueños in San Diego, California in 2004):

Magbinaydan . . . has become a tradition, passed on from one group to another for one purpose: for Irigueños from around the world to meet in a different place each time. This momentous event has become a venue for friends old and new, families and acquaintances to meet, share personal experiences and viewpoints, plan socio-civic projects that will be implemented in the Philippines and see and enjoy the beauty of the host country.

Magbinaydan 2008 (July 7-12, 2008) has exceeded all expectations by any measure. “A tough act to follow,” according to most participants who’ve traveled across the Atlantic -Canada and USA, the Pacific - Hawaii and Philippines, the Middle East (Dubai) and from neighboring Euroland - Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and even UK.

As a meeting place for the international community, Vienna, the city by the blue Danube, has been a fitting venue for the global gathering of the Irigueño Diaspora outside of the Americas. Wien (as the Viennese call their town), a former imperial capital somehow still proud of the historical memorials of the Habsburg monarchy and once the hub of the greatest composers of all times, also loves to be dubbed as the United Nations city in the heart of Europe. (more…)