Foreign Secretary Highlights Senator Legarda’s Role in the Philippine Posts in Germany
February 19, 201919 February 2019, Munich – In his remarks during the town hall meeting with members of the Filipino community in Munich last February 17, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. lauded Senator Loren Legarda’s role in the Philippine Government’s acquisition of the property for the new chancery of the Philippine Embassy in Berlin as well as the establishment of the Consulate General in Frankfurt.
“Tomorrow I inaugurate our new chancery in Berlin. We will also have a new permanent office for our Consulate in Frankfurt. These are proof of President Duterte’s commitment to improve our services to Filipinos abroad,” Secretary Locsin said. “We would not have accomplished these without Senator Loren Legarda, our tireless crusader for the DFA in the Senate. I thank her for always looking out for us,” he added.
Chargé d’affaires, a.i. of the Philippine Embassy, Lillibeth V. Pono, read Senator Legarda’s message during the event. The Chair of both the Committee on Foreign Relations and Committee on Finance in the Senate noted that the needs and concerns of the Foreign Service posts had been brought to her attention, including additional funding of existing consular offices and embassies, opening of new consulates, cultural diplomacy programs, training programs, and hazard pay of DFA employees in hardship posts, among others. She underscored that it is a must that these concerns be addressed to ensure that Philippine embassies and consulates would ably carry out their duty.
In addition to securing the necessary funding for the new chancery in Berlin and the re-opening of the Consulate General in Frankfurt, the Senator has also initiated programs that would benefit the country and strengthen diplomatic ties with Germany. These include the participation of the Philippines through a country pavilion at the annual Frankfurt Book Fair, funding for tourism promotion activities of the Department of Tourism office in Frankfurt, the exposition of the pineapple textile exhibit in Frankfurt, and the participation of the Philippines in Ambiente 2019, the leading international consumer goods trade fair, which was held in Frankfurt from February 8-12.
Secretary Locsin inaugurated on February 18 the new chancery in Berlin, which is located at Luisenstrasse 16, 10117 Berlin-Mitte, near the German capital’s iconic Brandenburg Tor. Among the Embassy’s guests during the ceremony was Ambassador Ina Lepel, head of the Asia-Pacific Directorate of the Federal Foreign Office. Joining the Secretary in the ribbon-cutting were DFA Undersecretary for Administration and Ambassador-designate to Germany Ma. Theresa Dizon- de Vega, former ambassadors to Germany Melita Sta. Maria-Thomeczek and Ma. Cleofe Natividad, currently ambassador to Austria, former Undersecretary for Administration Linglingay Lacanlale, who is now ambassador to Argentina, DFA Assistant Secretary for European Affairs Ma. Amelita Aquino, and Consul General Evelyn Austria-Garcia of the newly-reopened Philippine Consulate General in Frankfurt.