17 December 2015 – The Philippine Embassy in Buenos Aires, represented by Second Secretary and Consul Ma. Carmela Teresa A. Cabreira and Cultural Attaché Ms. Eva Lazaro, organized a Christmas party for the 60 highly-skilled Filipinos workers of the Astillero Tsuneishi Paraguay S.A. in Villeta, Paraguay on December 13.  

The tight-knit Filipino community, together with the Japanese personnel of the company, warmly received the Embassy officials. The group enjoyed the Christmas Filipino lunch of lumpia, pancit, lechon kawali, chicken adobo, and grilled beef. The Christmas raffle and the Christmas carol sing-along prepared by the Embassy enlivened the event. As a way to encourage the Filipinos to save and think of their future, the Embassy showed the “Paghahanda sa Kinabukasan,” a savings and investment information video from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) during the Christmas party. 

Astillero Tsuneishi Paraguay S.A. is a Japanese-owned company that mainly builds river transport barges. The Filipino workers in Villeta are veterans of the company’s ship-building operations in Cebu and Japan. Part of their duties in Villeta is to train their Paraguayan counterparts.  END