Danke, Xie xie, Mahalo, Gracias, Arigato, Obrigado, Thank you, Salamat. There are many ways to say it but only one way to mean it – sincerely.

Spearheaded by Swiss chocolate brand Toblerone, the 2nd National Thank You Day on October 20, 2009 aims to bring people together to honor extraordinary and inspirational people in the Philippines who deserve to be shown the sincerest appreciation.

“Last time, we wanted Filipinos to express their gratitude more often and we did just that with the success of the celebration of the first National Thank You Day,” says Carlo Licuanan, Senior Brand Manager, Kraft Foods (Philippines), Inc., citing Toblerone’s first effort aimed at debunking the Reader’s Digest survey, which claimed that the Philippines is one of the least courteous nations in the world. “But for this year, we went a step further by urging Filipinos to say more meaningful thank yous.”

The National Thank You Day Awards honors individuals whose talent, leadership, and vision in their respective fields not only brought recognition to our country but touched our lives and made us grateful for being Filipino as well.

“We are giving each Filipino the chance to say his sincerest thank you by nominating or voting for the person he thinks embodies the spirit of the National Thank You Day Award,” says Licuanan.

“And to empower fellow Filipinos to say thank you prolifically, we have also set up a petition to encourage everyone to join our cause to make October 20 a national holiday,” continues Licuanan, “for a bid to make the Philippines as the Thank You Capital of the World.” This follows the previous initiative of Manila City Mayor Alfredo Lim with his declaration of October 20 as the official Thank You Day of the City of Manila, making the city the first in the country to have done so.

In line with this, I am running a Thank You Day contest, courtesy of Toblerone. Check it out here.