05 December 2013 - The Philippine Consulate General in Sydney sent a team composed of Consul Marford Angeles and Consular Assistant Jessie Llaneta on a mobile consular mission to New Caledonia, a French territory 1,230 miles from Sydney on November 21.

Around 80 Filipino-French nationals are residing in Noumea, the capital city of New Caledonia.

The Consular Team extended consular services such as processing of applications for passport, civil registry documents and dual citizenship. Consul Angeles administered the oath to eight (8) Filipino-French nationals who reacquired Filipino citizenship.

Consul Angeles congratulated Mr. Henry Valle, President of Amicale de Philippins de la Nouvelle Caledonie et Symphatisant (APNCS), the Filipino community association in Noumea, for keeping the Filipino spirit alive in Noumea by regularly organising events such as the Philippine Independence Day celebration every June 12, to bring Filipinos together. According to Mr. Valle, through the help of the people of New Caledonia, the fund-raising efforts of APNCS for the victims of typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) raised a total amount of US$16,000.00 which the group will send to UNICEF to help rebuild the lives of those devastated by the typhoon.

On November 24, the team undertook a three-hour travel by land to the site of the Koniambo Nickel SAS (KNS) mining project to meet with Filipino workers. The team joined the Filipino workers for lunch and discussed their concerns.

During the visit, Consul Angeles also called on officials of New Caledonia who expressed solidarity with the Philippines as it recovers from the devastating effects of typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan). Consul Angeles and the officials discussed deeper cooperation between the Philippines and New Caledonia. END