Philippine Embassy Convenes the 2022 Planning Conference for Philippine Foreign Service Posts in the U.S.

Ambassador Romualdez opens the planning conference, and provided updates and guidance on plans and programs to be implemented by Philippine Foreign Service Posts in the United States.

WASHINGTON D.C. – Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel G. Romualdez convened the bi-annual Planning Conference for Philippine Foreign Service Posts in the United States in Washington, D.C. on November 8-9, 2022. 

The conference discussed the recent positive developments in Philippines-US bilateral security and economic relations and came up with strategies and programs to sustain and reinforce the said developments. It also crafted strategies to further improve the delivery of consular and ATN services throughout the United States, as well as to promote Filipino culture, cuisine, and people-to-people ties, among others things. 

The Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. hosted colleagues from across the United States for the 2022 year-end Planning Conference for Philippine Foreign Service Posts in the U.S. (L-R seated): Deputy Chief of Mission (DC) Jaime Ramon T. Ascalon, Jr., Consul General (Agana) Patrick John U. Hilado, Consul General (Chicago) J. Susana Paez, Consul General (Honolulu) Emil T. Fernandez, Consul General (Houston) Jerril G. Santos, Ambassador Jose Manuel G. Romualdez, DFA Assistant Secretary Jose Victor Chan-Gonzaga, Consul General (Los Angeles) Edgar B. Badajos, Consul General (New York) Elmer G. Cato, Consul General (San Francisco) Neil Frank R. Ferrer, Consul General (DC) Iric Cruz Arribas.

Ambassador Romualdez emphasized that economic security is at the top of the list of the President Ferdinand R. Marcos’s priorities, especially as Philippine economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. He recalled the President’s successful economic engagements in New York last September, including the meeting with US President Joseph R. Biden, and welcomed the plans jointly prepared by the Consuls General, the US FSPs economic officers and representatives from partner agencies to follow up the leads and interests that were generated from the said engagements. 

The conference was attended by DFA Assistant Secretary for American Affairs Jose Victor Chan-Gonzaga, Consuls General and other officers from all Foreign Service Posts in the United States, and US-based representatives from the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Agriculture, Department of Tourism, Department of National Defense, Department of Labor and the Philippine National Police.

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