New York Consulate Holds Townhall on Assistance to Nationals with DFA Usec. Arriola

22 February 2018 NEW YORK – The Philippine Consulate General in New York held a townhall meeting on “Delivering Assistance to Filipino Nationals Overseas” with DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Concerns Sarah Lou Y. Arriola as guest speaker on 16 February 2018 at the Kalayaan Hall of the Philippine Center in New York.

The meeting was attended by 70 community leaders and migrant concerns advocates who were eager to hear about the latest developments regarding the Philippine government’s effort to deliver service and aid to Filipinos in distress.

Usec. Arriola gave a briefing on government’s current mandate and thrusts as well as recent innovations in the utilization of the Assistance to Nationals Fund and the Legal Assistance Fund to enable the government to render more efficient and effective assistance to overseas Filipinos. She likewise shared the latest developments in the Department of Foreign Affairs’ ongoing task of helping Filipinos in distress and the repatriation efforts in Kuwait.

In response to her sharing, many community leaders in the audience promised to step up efforts within their respective communities/groups both to increase their awareness of the plight of Filipinos in other parts of the works, and in communicating any news or requests for assistance with the Philippine Consulate General in New York or with nearest Philippine diplomatic mission.

Usec. Arriola emphasized that assistance to nationals is not confined solely to Filipinos in the Middle East, but everywhere and anywhere in the world. She stated the instances where the government had provided assistance to Filipinos in crisis in the United States.

The audience was especially touched by the testimony of a Filipina who had endured domestic violence and online abuse from her American husband, but who, through the help of the Consulate and concerned organizations such as the DAMAYAN Migrant Workers’ Group has been able to survive her ordeal and is now working on the regularization of her status. END

For more information, visit www.newyorkpcg.dfa.gov.ph/ www.newyorkpcg.org or https://www.facebook.com/PHLinNY/