New York PCG conducts Consular Outreach Program in South New Jersey
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3 April 2009 – the Philippine Consulate General in New York conducted a consular outreach program in
Stratford, South New Jersey on 21 March.
The outreach was held at the Philippine Community Center owned by the Philippine Community of Southern
New Jersey, Inc. (PCSNJ), the largest Filipino-American organization in the area.
Aside from the PCSNJ, two Filipino-American-owned travel agencies, Santos Travel and SAF Travel World,
assisted New York PCG in organizing the outreach program.
The consular outreach team was led by Consul Zaldy B. Patron and composed of Merle Puruganan, Victoria
Saldivar, Chester Tajonera, Cristina Escobar, Tita Rebollos, Gina Martinez, Ma. Teresa Almirante, Robert Nitro,
Marilou Barrion and Tricia Santos.
During the outreach, the consular team rendered the following services: dual citizenship application
processing, passport services, legalization of documents and Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) registration.
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Washington PE conducts Consular Outreach in Florida
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3 April 2009 – The Philippine Embassy in Washington DC dispatched a team headed by Consul General
Domingo Nolasco to conduct a Consular Outreach Program in South Florida.
Held on 21-22 March, the consular mission was organized in cooperation with Philippine Honorary Consul
General Angelo Macatangay, and involved the administration of various consular services to individuals in
West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.
During the two-day event, 67 Naturalized Americans reacquired their Philippine citizenship, 71 registered for
Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV), and over 60 submissions were received for Passport Application and
Registration of Marriage.
The team also conducted OAV registration and oath-taking of dual citizens in Miami and Orlando.
Consul General Domingo Nolasco was accompanied by Consular Assistants Silverio Manguerra and Joey
Macatula.
Washington PE will also conduct consular outreach programs in Tampa, Florida on 3-5 April during the
PhilFest at the Bayanihan Arts and Events Center; and on 18 April in Virginia Beach, Virginia at the Philippine
Cultural Center. END
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PCG Barcelona conducts back-to-back Overseas Absentee Voting Field Registrations
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3 April 2009 – The Philippine Consulate General in Barcelona conducted Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV)
field registrations on two consecutive Sundays for the benefit of Filipino community members in Barcelona.
On 22 March, the Consulate conducted a whole-day OAV field registration at the Parroquia de la Inmaculada
Concepción y San Lorenzo Ruiz Roman Catholic Church, where two Filipino-language Masses are said every
Sunday by a Filipino priest.
The applications of 90 new OAV registrants were processed during this registration, along with eight requests
for transfer of OAV registration to Barcelona.
The following Sunday, 29 March, the local “Jesus is Lord” group welcomed members from the Consulate for
their own OAV field registration, conducted after their Sunday evening services.
The Consulate processed 72 OAV registrations as well as three applications for transfer of OAV registration.
After two months of the OAV registration process, the Philippine Consulate General in Barcelona remains the
third-leading foreign service post in Europe in number of total OAV registrants. London PE and Milan PCG, and
is among the top 15 Posts worldwide.
Among OFW-hosting countries, Spain is also included in the top 10 worldwide in terms of number of OAV
registrants processed so far. END
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RP Diplomat elected to UN Conference on Trade and Development body in Geneva
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3 April 2009 – The Philippines will play an even greater role in finding solutions to the current global economic
crisis with the election of a Filipino diplomat to an important post in the United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador Erlinda F. Basilio,
reported that Minister Jesus S. Domingo was elected on 27 March to serve as Vice President of UNCTAD’s
Trade and Development Board (TDB).
UNCTAD is the principal organ of the UN General Assembly dealing with trade, investment and development
issues while the TDB is UNCTAD’s management and supervisory body.
Minister Domingo is the head of the Philippine Mission’s Development, Disarmament and Humanitarian
Section, and was elected earlier this year as a member of the UNCTAD Working Party on Strategic Framework
and the Programme Budget.
He had previously served in the Philippine Mission to the UN in New York and the Philippine Embassy in
Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and as a Director and Executive Director of the DFA’s Office of UN and Other
International Organizations (UNIO).
UNCTAD is currently focusing on providing support to developing countries in weathering the effects of the
global economic crisis. It is examining the crisis’ impact on the developing world’s trade and investment, and
has offered an array of strategic and operational solutions including reinvigorating South-South Cooperation,
enhancing the agricultural sector and bolstering small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
UNCTAD had gained prominence in the 1980s as the proponent of the “New International Economic Order”
(N1EO) and is seen as a “balancer” to the World Trade Organization (WTO) also based in Geneva. It is also
noted that UNCTAD had forewarned of a major world financial meltdown in studies issued earlier this decade.
END
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PCG New York conducts Consular Outreach Activity in AlbanyHK Writer apologizes to
Philippine Consulate and Filipino Community in Hong Kong
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3 April 2009 – The New York Philippine Consulate General outreach team traveled 300 miles north of New
York City to Albany, the capital of the State of New York to conduct mobile consular services for Filipinos living
in the area.
As has been done in the past two years, the outreach activity was done in cooperation with the Albany Medical
Center which co-hosted the event. The Albany Medical Center employs about 200 Filipina nurses and their
spouses.
Held last March 14, the outreach was also visited by the greater Filipino community of the Albany region
through the invitation of various Filipino community associations in the area.
The outreach team, led by Deputy Consul General Melita Sta. Maria Thomeczek, included Merle Puruganan,
Victoria Saldivar, Celesty Cornejo, Cristina Escobar, William Tan, Tita Rebollos, Cristina Quizon, Gina
Martinez, Felix Ybardolaza, and Teresa Resurreccion.
They rendered the following services: dual citizenship application processing, passport services, legalization
of documents and Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) registration.
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Bangko Sentral brings its Financial Learning Campaign to South Korea
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3 April 2009 – Amidst the financial crunch that puts the South Korean economy at risk of a four percent
contraction, overseas Filipinos in South Korea gathered to enhance their knowledge on money matters and
skills in managing finances.
This was made possible by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) Financial Learning Campaign to Seoul
held last March 28.
According to Philippine Ambassador to Seoul Luis T. Cruz, BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo conducted
a well-received seminar to more than 70 people. The seminar focused on the importance of remittances, the
significance of financial planning, various types of financial instruments, and available microfinance and credit
surety fund program for micro, small and medium enterprises.
The seminar is part of the Embassy’s own Financial Education Campaign which started in March 2008 to
assist overseas Filipinos who, according to a study, retain a low savings rate as the families they left behind
tend to rely solely on remittances and stagnate from diminished productivity.
“Filipinos must plan, then save, then invest in order to achieve financial freedom,” said Guinigundo. Once a
person has saved, the next step is to determine the most appropriate method of maximizing the benefits of
savings. This is where knowledge of financial instruments or entrepreneurial skills will come in handy, he
explained.
The seminar introduced and evaluated the risk factors of various financial instruments, from time deposit
accounts and retail treasury bonds to mutual funds and stocks. It also detailed the programs implemented by
the BSP to support start-up businesses.
The BSP’s lecture kick-starts the Embassy’s four-weekend course on the Fundamentals of Financial and
Business Management launched by the Embassy as a follow-up to its earlier seminars on financial
education. Topics include introductions to business planning, feasibility studies, marketing and advertising,
and book-keeping.
“Because South Korea is hard-hit by the global financial crisis, it is important for Filipinos here to continuously
hone their skills,” stated Ambassador Cruz. “The knowledge and skills they will acquire will help them better
traverse a global economy that has become harder to navigate. Their aptitude will give them options,” he
expounded.
“Crisis or not, we must actively participate in ensuring the financial soundness of our families. Financial
planning involves both the overseas workers and the families they may have been forced to leave behind
because of economic reasons,” added Cruz.
The seminar also explained, in layman’s terms, the sub-prime crisis that precipitated the global financial
crisis, the market forces at work behind the Korean Won’s rapid depreciation, and get-rich-quick schemes that
recently led to the closure of a bank in the Philippines.
“The program is very useful and informative,” claimed Fe Kim, President of the Filipino Korean Spouses
Association. “I hope the Embassy is able to conduct the lecture again to those who were not able to make it
this time,” she requested in Tagalog.
“Prudence in fiscal decision-making is something that we not only talk about, but also practice,” asserted
Amb. Cruz, explaining that the seminar coincided with a conference which the BSP attended in Seoul. “Since
the BSP team was already here, our two agencies coordinated to schedule the seminar around the
conference dates, thereby making the most of the resources we have at our disposal,” he narrated.
Both the Embassy and the BSP have active Financial Education Campaigns. The BSP has a successful
program in the Philippines that promotes financial learning among families of overseas Filipinos. It began an
international road show last year covering areas with a large concentration of overseas Filipinos.
After Hong Kong and Singapore in 2008, the BSP is targeting the Middle East this year.
“The Philippine Embassy started talks with the BSP in November last year about the possibility of the Central
Bank bringing its program to South Korea. In line with the Philippine Government’s aim of assisting and
helping improve the conditions of our overseas Filipinos, it just seems natural for the Embassy and the BSP to
cooperate on this front,” said Cruz.
Since the inception of its Financial Education Campaign last year, the Embassy has so far conducted 13
seminars, benefiting more than 500 participants in different areas of South Korea.
“We look forward to the day when Filipinos no longer need to go abroad to find work. And if they do, it is a
matter of option, not necessity,” declared Guinugundo. END
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Ambassador Maria Theresa P. Lazaro meets with Bank for International Settlements
Acting General Manager Mr. Hervé Hannoun
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3 April 2009—Philippine Ambassador to Switzerland Maria Theresa P. Lazaro met with Bank for International
Settlements (BIS) Acting General Manager Mr. Hervé Hannoun in a meeting held at the BIS Headquarters in
Basel.
The BIS was established to foster international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for
central banks. Its head office is in Basel, Switzerland, and it has two representative offices, one in Hong Kong
for Asia and the Pacific and one in Mexico City for the Americas.
Mr. Eli Remolona, a Filipino, is the Deputy Chief Representative of the Hong Kong office.
During the discussions, it was noted that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is an active member of BIS
since 2003 and has participated in its high–level meetings. BSP has also benefitted from trainings and
seminars conducted by the BIS as an institution and those jointly sponsored by Southeast Asian Central
Banks (SEACEN) in Kuala Lumpur.
Ambassador Lazaro thanked Mr. Hannoun for the BIS’ acknowledgement of the BSP’s financial policy
initiatives that have proven to be effective in addressing the global financial crisis. END
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Milan PCG conducts Mobile Consular Services in Torino
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3 April 2009—The Philippine Consulate General in Milan headed by Consul General Antonio A. Morales
conducted mobile consular services in the city of Torino last March 22.
More than 300 Filipinos based in the Piemonte region proceeded to the San Luigi Theater of the Church of
San Giovannino which served as the venue for the consular services.
The Consulate team processed 300 passport applications and accepted 97 applications for notarial and other
services. Forty-six Filipinos also applied for registration as overseas absentee voters.
Aside from Consul General Morales, the Milan consular team consisted of Vice-Consul Gerardo Abiog, Rodel
Albello, Rowel Garcia, Ma. Bibian Repuyan, Aurealinda Acosta, Connie Catbagan, Virginia Briones and Ignacio
Isio, Jr. Also included were the representatives from attached services namely OWWA, PAG-IBIG and SSS.
The consular mission was held in coordination with the Associazione Culturale Filippina del Piemonte. END
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Philippine-Japanese Musical Duo Play Hummel, Bach, Mozart and Strauss
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3 April 2009—Philippine pianist Karen Francisco and Japanese violinist Akiko Takezaki performed at the St.
Marien Church in Spandau, Berlin, on the theme “Musical Tour to Weimar” last March 9. Ms. Francisco and Ms.
Takezaki studied at the Franz Liszt Music Conservatory in Weimar where they earned their music degrees.
The performance of Hummel´s La Bella Capricciosa, Bach´s Chaconne, Mozart´s Sonata for piano and violin
and Richard Strauss´s Sonata for violin and piano was reminiscent of their academic training and
experiences in Weimar.
Ms. Francisco is an alumna of the University of the Philippines College of Music, where she majored in piano.
Her international career is highlighted by performances in Germany, Switzerland, the United States of
American, and Canada. END
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