Philippine Ambassador

Aquino swears in ambassadors, new government officials

Apr 092014

President Benigno S. Aquino III huddles with the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 76 women’s volleyball champion Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU) Lady Eagles, led by Season and Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) Alyssa Valdez, for a selfie shot during the group’s courtesy call at the President’s Hall of the Malacañan Palace on Thursday (April 03). (MNS photo)

MANILA (Mabuhay) – President Benigno S. Aquino III administered the oath of office of newly appointed ambassadors and government officials in a ceremony at Malacanang’s Rizal Hall on Monday.

The newly appointed ambassadors were former Foreign Affairs spokesperson Raul Hernandez as Philippine Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Petronila Garcia as Philippine Ambassador to Canada, and Joseph Gerald Angeles as Philippine Ambassador to South Africa.

Under the Department of Foreign Affairs, Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Jesus Yabes and Special Envoy of the President to the Gulf Cooperative Council Amable Aguiluz were also sworn into office.

Former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Eduardo Oban and Marciano Paynor Jr. were both sworn in as Undersecretaries under the Office of the Executive Secretary.

Other officials who took their oath of office were Jess Anthony Yu as Undersecretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office; Jose Emmanuel Reverente as Undersecretary of the Department of Finance; Edwin Carillo as Assistant Government Corporate Counsel under the Department of Justice; Victorio Mario Dimagiba as Undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry; Rodolfo Isorena as Vice Admiral of the Philippine Coast Guard under the Department of Transportation and Communications; and Luie Tito Guia as Commissioner of the Commission on Elections. (MNS)

Japan patrimonial property recovered

Economy

Jun 052013

We congratulate Ambassador Manolo Lopez for successfully recovering the Philippines’ Nampeidai property in Japan – one of the properties acquired by the Philippine government as part of the May 1956 Reparations Agreement with Japan. We also congratulate Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario for his solid support and encouragement in the efforts to win back this prime property located in Tokyo’s shopping district. We have been very vocal in opposing moves to dispose of our patrimonial properties in Japan – bought with the blood of Filipinos who gave up their lives fighting for this country during World War II. It was during the term of Gloria Arroyo that the sale of these prime properties in Roppongi, Kobe and Shibuya were initiated, with the Nampeidai property eventually sold to a Japanese consortium under a 50-year build-operate-transfer scheme. It took several years of litigation before the successful recovery of the property. The government had also wanted to sell the property located in upscale Fujimi district where the Philippine Ambassador to Japan resides to pave the way for the construction of a condominium – with plans to just make the Ambassador reside in the penthouse. While the Fujimi property was not part of the reparations agreement with Japan, it is a prime piece of property, considered a heritage site having once been the home of Baron Zenjiro Yasuda whose family founded the Fuji Group. It was then President Jose P. Laurel who bought the Fujimi property in 1944, which has since become the official Read More …

Statement of H.E. Jose L. Cuisia, Jr., Philippine Ambassador to the United States, on Fatal Shooting of Filipina-American in Costco Store in Virginia

Entertainment

May 302013

The Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines extends its deepest sympathy to the family of Mylene De Leon Scott, a member of the Filipino-American Community, who was shot dead by police officers responding to a reported disturbance inside the Costco Wholesale Store in Sterling, Virginia, on Wednesday, 29 May 2013. The Embassy stands ready […]

Envoys to visit Filipino victims of alleged human trafficking in US

News

May 042013

Envoys to visit Filipino victims of alleged human trafficking in US

Philippine Daily Inquirer 4:11 am | Sunday, May 5th, 2013 Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—Philippine officials in the United States will visit this week the two Filipino women rescued from a Saudi diplomat’s house in Virginia in a suspected human trafficking case, the Philippine embassy in Washington D.C. said on Saturday. In a statement to the Inquirer, the embassy said Consul General Ariel Peñaranda asked the “US agencies concerned” on Friday (Saturday in Manila) to allow a consular visit to the rescued women. “US authorities immediately acted on the request and arrangements are being made to allow Consul General Peñaranda, labor attaché Luzviminda Padilla and welfare officer Saul de Vries to visit the two Filipinos on Monday,” said the embassy statement. Acting on a tip, US immigration officers last Tuesday swooped down on a home in McLean, Virginia, owned by the Saudi government and took custody of the women who were reportedly working for a Saudi attaché under “circumstances that amounted to human trafficking,” a US official had said. CNN reported the women complained of maltreatment and being forced to work long hours without pay. Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia Jr. said the embassy was prepared to “extend the necessary assistance” to the two. The embassy declined to provide further details given the ongoing US investigation. It also did not say which US agency was currently looking after the women or their location. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), meanwhile, said it Read More …