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NEWS RELEASE 04-2024

PH Embassy Conducts 1st Consular Mission in 2024 in Bucharest

BUDAPEST, 29 January 2024 – The Philippine Embassy in Budapest, together with the Migrant Workers’ Office (MWO) in Milan, successfully conducted its first consular outreach mission in Bucharest on 27 and 28 January 2024, extending services to hundreds of Filipino residents in Romania with the support of volunteers from The Filipino Community in Romania (TFCR).

The consular team, which set up a pop-up office at the Mercure Bucharest City Center Hotel, processed a total of 40 passport renewals, 16 Reports of Birth (RoB), 23 Reports of Marriage (RoM), 6 applications for National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) clearance, 46 notarizations, and 1 each for a travel document and Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage (LCCM).

The Embassy team, which was composed of Consul General Roderico C. Atienza, Attaches Joselito B. Blas and Claro H. Cabuniag, and Consular Assistant Brigitta Szilágyi, also allowed 30 overseas Filipinos to have online consultations on Zoom with Manila-based Pag-IBIG Fund representatives Noela Macaspac and Ezra Guerrero.

The MWO Milan team, comprising Welfare Officer and Acting MWO Head Petrona M. Bergado, and Administrative Staff Mr. Anthony M. Allermo, were able to process 115 individual employment contract verifications, two issuances of the Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC), and 110 membership applications for Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

In all, 214 Filipinos residing in Romania – from Timișoara and Oradea in the west, near the borders with Serbia and Hungary to Constanța in the east on the coast of the Black Sea to Iași in the north – came to the two-day mobile mission, according to TFCR officers and volunteers who assisted the mission.

Apart from current TFCR members, there were also former officers who helped out in welcoming the consular team at the airport, providing lunch and dinner in order to maximize their interactions with the resident Filipinos in the country during their brief mission.

The consular outreach mission is a once annual event undertaken by the Philippine Embassy in Budapest and the MWO Milan to provide consular services to Filipino nationals in Romania. This year’s mission is likely to be its last given the expected reopening of the Philippine Embassy in Bucharest sometime in 2024.

Romania is one of the six countries under the Hungary-based Philippine Embassy’s concurrent non-resident jurisdiction, apart from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Moldova, Montenegro, and Serbia. In addition to the Embassy’s seven-country coverage, MWO Milan also covers Austria, Croatia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.-END-

 

Bucharest COM 3

Photo 1: The Philippine Embassy in Budapest and the Migrant Workers Office (MWO) in Milan conducted a successful consular outreach mission at the Mercure Bucharest City Center Hotel on 27-28 January 2024, the first for this year, together with the valuable assistance of volunteers from The Filipino Community in Romania (TFCR). The team members (seated) are (left to right) Consular Assistant Claro H. Cabuniag, Consular Staff Brigitta Szilágyi, Consul General Roderico C. Atienza, Welfare Officer and Acting MWO Head Petrona M. Bergado, Administrative Staff Anthony M. Allermo and Administrative Officer Joselito B. Blas. They were assisted by The Filipino Community in Romania (TFCR) members and officers, namely (standing, from left to right) Daphne Villanueva, Marilyn Bracamonte, Daisy Arellano, Ann Tomasa, and Maricor Tomas.

 

Bucharest COM 1

Photo 2: The Philippine Embassy in Budapest, together with the Migrant Workers’ Office (MWO) in Milan, successfully conducted its first consular outreach mission at the Mercure Bucharest City Center Hotel on 27 and 28 January 2024, extending services to hundreds of Filipino residents in Romania with the support of volunteers from The Filipino Community in Romania (TFCR).