DFA Convenes Filipinas Ultramar, First of Series of Multi-Stakeholder Consultations on Philippine Diaspora
MANILA 08 February 2024 – The Department of Foreign Affairs successfully convened thirty-five (35) Foreign Service Posts led by Ambassadors, Consuls General, Consuls/Vice Consuls and Assistance to Nationals (ATN) officers, thirteen (13) Philippine Government agencies (including the Department of Migrant Workers, Commission on Filipinos Overseas, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Labor and Employment, and Professional Regulation Commission), fifteen (15) civil society organizations (including Philippine Migrants Rights Watch, Center for Migrant Advocacy Philippines, Inc., Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training Institute, Scalabrini Migration Center, United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Global Filipino Movement Foundation, Inc. and other religious and faith-based groups and universities), twenty-two (22) DFA Home Office officials and staff officers, and seventy-three (73) attendees from Embassies and Consulates attending online, to a first of its kind national multi-stakeholder symposium Filipinas Ultramar – Philippines Beyond Borders: Towards a National Consensus on the Philippine Diaspora on 29 January 2024 at Manila Diamond Hotel.
In his Keynote Speech (pre-recorded), Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique A. Manalo welcomed the participants. The concept of Filipinas Ultramar, or the concept of ‘Philippines Abroad’, the nation outside the nation, is an idea whose time has probably come, he said. The Secretary stated that “This symposium aims to help all Filipino migration stakeholders to validate the consensus that has emerged in recent years, namely, that the global presence of millions of Filipinos outside of the Philippines can be leveraged to benefit not just the individual family members of the overseas Filipinos, but the entire Filipino nation.”
He also urged all Ambassadors and Consuls General to deliver governance to this global diaspora. “Through our Ambassadors, Consuls General and Heads of Posts, working together with their various service attachés including from our partners the Department of Migrant Workers and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas”, the DFA will lead in delivering services through the One-Country-Team. He urged that “Each Foreign Service Post or FSP is envisioned to “act local”. Our Heads of Posts are the alter egos of the President, and therefore the primary instruments through which his strategic goals and policies are shaped and implemented abroad. Therefore, each Ambassador or Consul General must be able to rally all Filipinos under their jurisdiction towards the goals of making the Filipino diaspora an integral element of national progress and nation-building.”
Undersecretary Eduardo A. de Vega, who convened the symposium on the authority of the Secretary, said:
- “We have an estimated total of 10,854,592 Filipinos abroad. That constitutes a Philippines that exists abroad, whose population is greater than many European countries, combined. The Americas host 49.04%, Asia-Pacific 22.83% and the Middle East 21.88%. Europe, 6.03 %. Africa 1%. Filipinos are everywhere.
- Disasters and tragedies are happening everywhere.
- Filipinos can be the Rescuers, instead of needing rescue.
- DFA can organize Filipinos into a voluntary global response team.
- This will be the Philippines’ leverage and diplomatic force-multiplier.
The Department of Migrant Workers has a mandate to ensure the welfare of Overseas Filipino Workers (non-permanent migrants), while the Department of Foreign Affairs continues to take the leadership on Philippine migration and integration abroad policy.
To implement the Filipinas Ultramar concept (Philippines beyond borders or Philippines abroad), all Foreign Service Posts have been issued Circulars outlining the vision, and Posts are to submit a Master list of Filipino Community organizations and contact persons in all the countries under their jurisdiction, for the purpose of creating an international list of Filipino organizations worldwide. Ideally, each country falling within an FSP’s jurisdiction must have a national coordinating umbrella organization or ‘Council of Filipino Community organizations’.
Each Filipino Community organization’s President or Chair would be a member of that national council.”
Assistant Secretary Robert O. Ferrer, Jr., as moderator of the panel Filipinas Ultramar: Envisioning the Global Filipino Identity and Role in the 21st Century, made a reference to the launch of “Bagong Pilipinas” at the Luneta the day before, 28 January 2024, and quoted from An Ideology for Filipinos written by the father of President Ferdinand, “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos, who stated that, in the face of global crises, “As a people, true to our characteristics, we are not a nation that easily gives up when difficulties arise. We innovate and improvise…We do not, as lemmings do, rush to the sea of damnation, but we sail towards our own salvation.”
Assistant Secretary Celia Ann Feria emphasized that many countries in the world have expressed admiration and gratitude to Filipinos for their help in making sure their governance structures and health support remain functioning – not an insignificant achievement by a country that was described by a Western academician as having a ‘damaged culture’. “Who has the damaged culture now?”, Undersecretary de Vega asked.
Assistant Secretary Maria Teresa Almojuela urged the involvement of United Nations officers and staff worldwide, and Filipino UN peacekeepers abroad to project this new image of the country as a global public good.
Undersecretary Jesus Domingo expressed optimism that the Philippines is indeed, now, a global power because of its love for the people of the world – ‘An Empire of Love’, he said. He looked forward to future iterations of the symposium or ‘a national conversation’ on the role of the diaspora, including tapping the Filipinas Ultramar as a force-multiplier for each host country’s disaster resilience and risk management agencies, if there are enough overseas Filipino volunteers. This concept, called initially as ‘brown helmets’- will need to be further fleshed out. “We need Sergeants and Non-Commissioned officers” to pull this off in the future, he said.
During the Panel on ‘The Role of the Filipino Diaspora in National Legislation’, Senator Raffy Tulfo urged the audience to look at the Indian and Mexican Diaspora and learn from them. He also urged that quality standards of Filipinos working abroad such as in Singapore “should resonate here (in the Philippines) as well”. House of Representatives Chair of the Committee on Overseas Workers, Hon. Ron Salo said legislation is “the highest articulation of foreign policy” and the reason for their engagement. Representative Marissa Magsino, also active on Filipino Diaspora issues, said “we need the (Filipino) family to remain together.” She also observes the challenge to the ability of the state to exercise jurisdiction outside its territory.
Secretary Romulo V. Arugay, DMW OIC Hans Leo Cacdac, CFO Undersecretary Valerie Joy Brion, OWWA Deputy Administrator Honey Quiño, DMW Assistant Secretary Levinson Alcantara were also active participants and shared their respective agencies’ vision of what the Filipino diaspora could be under President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos’ Bagong Pilipinas program. They either served as Panelists or Speakers.
At the Panel “Migrant integration and social cohesion of Filipinos at countries of destination”, Moderated by Undersecretary de Vega, Ms. Tristan Burnett, Chief of Mission, International Organization for Migration (IOM) Philippines and H.E. Daniel Hernández Joseph, Ambassador of Mexico to the Philippines narrated the global consensus on how outward and inward migration must be faced by each nation, consistent with the Global Compact, and Mexico’s experience in dealing with its Diaspora, who are primarily in the United States, respectively.
Among the Foreign Service Posts, the audience got to hear personally-delivered reports and insights on their respective Filipino Communities from 16 Ambassadors, 4 Consuls Generals, 2 Chargés d’Affaires, a.i., 2 Deputy Heads of Missions, 1 Deputy Consul General, and several Career Ministers and First and Second Secretaries and Consuls / Vice Consuls from thirty-four (34) Embassies and Consulates General in twenty-eight (28) countries, from Abu Dhabi to Yangon.
Their experiences ranged from organizing their Filipino Communities down to barangay (village) level, mirroring the Philippine barangay but this time abroad, which helped these Posts immensely when calamities and natural and man-made disasters overtook their respective host countries, to, on the other range, having to start engaging their Filipino Communities because of the challenges of distance, the lack of legal status of Filipino Community members, and lack of information from Assistance-to-Nationals (ATN) mapping missions funded by their respective operating expenses.
It was therefore a consensus that no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach can be adopted all across the Filipinos all over the world, because each country handles its Filipino Diaspora differently. However, it was emphasized by none other than Secretary Manalo that each Ambassador and Consul General / Head of Post is to actively engage with, and organize their respective Filipino Communities.
There were also calls from several FSPs and DFA officials for OUMWA to continue the ‘long conversation’ and the process of achieving a national consensus on the Diaspora, and to further develop the ‘brown helmets’ concept, or the idea of “Filipinos to the rescue”, instead of being constantly in need of rescue. END
