We normally would have dismissed it as one more event we had read about in the papers. But, the thought that maybe one of the 50 stalls selling native Filipino products might have ‘balut or chicharon’ made us rearrange our schedule in order to drop by at the First Filipino Expo in Qatar held at the Qatar International Exhibition Center.

The two-day exposition hosted by ABS-CBN last October 9 to 10 was the first of its kind in Qatar. It was actually the second leg of the Filipino Expo; the first one was held in Dubai in June this year. It started with a ribbon cutting ceremony by Sheikh Nawaf Nasser bin Khaled Al Thani, NBK Group Chairman, Philippine Consul General Rosario Lemque, Indonesian Ambassador Rozy Munir and Mohammad Al Kuwari, Vice-President of Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Diplomats from other Asian countries like Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Brunei and Indonesia were also present, making the event truly grand.

According to Consul General Rosario Lemque, the expo’s primary aim was to assist the Filipinos in Doha to save their hard-earned money. This should have become immediately obvious to anyone who visited the site. When we entered the hall of the gigantic exhibition center, we were reminded of Festival Mall or Alabang Town Center where real estate agents meet you at the entrance and hand you all sorts of leaflets about the house and lot or condo units they are selling. Indeed, many of the stalls in the exhibition center were occupied by big-name property developers in Philippines. In a matter of seconds, Sema and I had our hands full with leaflets which we could not decline for fear of being considered rude. Of course, when we thought nobody was looking we hastily dropped them into the bin.

If you didn’t want a house and lot, you had the option of buying pancit bihon, bibingka, bopis, higado and other Filipino dishes. There must have been three or four cubicles selling native food. Our kabayan vendors could wrap the food as take-away or you could join other kabayans enjoying their food seated on the floor. If you didn’t want food, you could rummage through the pile of jeans and other apparels in some stalls and just maybe stumble on something interesting to you. Or you could show your singing talent in a karaoke booth or sample some cosmetics. Or you could join some workshops conducted by the Philippine embassy and Medical City on consular and health issues. Then again, you could subscribe to TFC, a Filipino channel, which was advertised all over the hall, and get a chance to watch the pay-per-view Pacquiao-de la Hoya fight free.

We arrived there at 3PM on the last day. Of course, we were slightly disappointed we could not find any balut, forget about pork chicharon. But, at least, Carol was able to buy bopis, higado, biko and maja blanca which served as our dinner that night.

“Baboy, ba yan?” we overheard somebody asking in a very loud voice while we were paying at the counter. “Hindi ho, Sir. Lasang baboy lang!” Of course, it would be too much to expect real ingredients and more so original taste. Indeed, they tasted nowhere near what we were used to.

But, at least, we were able to buy something. A Filipino officemate of Carol who went there at 5 PM with the sole purpose of tasting Filipino delicacies was so mad because everything was sold out in all the food stalls. “They expected people to eat house and lot and drink aftershave? How could they not have anticipated the number of visitors?” he fumed. The expo closed at midnight and if no fresh supply of homemade dishes came later, many would have indeed attended the show with grumbling stomachs.

The show held later in the night featured Yeng Constantino, a star search winner, and Pooh, a well-known comedian. Yeng Constantino, the first Pinoy Dream Academy winner, held a much applauded 30-minute concert. The 19-year-old singer and composer sang Himig ng Pag-ibig, Salamat and Hawak Kamay among others. This, of course, was according to the papers. At about that time, we were already enjoying our bopis at home. We already found the place too crowded when we were there. One can just imagine how difficult it must have been to move around with the place jam packed.

The expo was a resounding success according to Maribel R. Hernaez, Events Manager of ABS-CBN Middle East. It surpassed all their expectations. On the first day alone, there were 13,000 visitors in Qatar compared to 8,000 in Dubai. Encouraged by this turnout, they are going to organize the event annually and will start planning for next year once they get back to their base in Dubai.

There is no promise, of course, that pork chicharon will be in the menu because it is outlawed in Qatar. For the last three years, rumors have been circulating around that the ban would be lifted. They are still circulating around. In Dubai, though, pork is available and some of our friends even take the two-hour drive to this neighboring country to feast on it. Maybe, we should just go to the Dubai expo instead.

 

 

Munting Nayon News Magazine