PH Consul General Reaffirmed as Dean of San Francisco Consular Corps

SAN FRANCISCO 21 September 2020 – The San Francisco Consular Corps (SFCC) virtually convened its first meeting for the 2020-2021 year on 15 September 2020 via Zoom and re-affirmed, through a vote of acclamation, Philippine Consul General to San Francisco Henry S. Bensurto, Jr. as Dean.  Other officers affirmed for the year 2019-2020 were the following: Austrian Consul General Martin Rauchbauer as Vice-Dean; Austrian Honorary Consul General Peter Fredericks as Vice-Dean; and Slovakian Honorary Consul Barbara Pivnicka as Secretary/Treasurer.

This is the fourth time that Consul General Bensurto has been elected as Dean, having been first elected as such on 13 September 2017.

Consul General Bensurto presided over the meeting and facilitated the discussion with the guest speaker, Director of the Office of International Trade and Commerce of the City and County of San Francisco Mark Chandler.

During his talk, Director Chandler shared that San Francisco did “as well as could be expected” in responding to the pandemic. He noted that San Francisco was the first city in the United States to declare a state of emergency (as early as February) and was also the first city to declare a shelter-in-place in March. While the city has registered 91 deaths (including two deaths on 15 September), he assessed that it has “done a great job” thus far. He cautioned, however, that the city remains on alert since COVID-19 indicators have not yet stabilized.

The SFCC is a gathering of all consular officials represented in the Bay Area, and constitutes one of the largest diplomatic communities in the United States. The SFCC holds regular monthly meetings to discuss topics of mutual concern and interest. The next meeting of SFCC is scheduled in October 2020. END

For more information, visit https://www.sanfranciscopcg.dfa.gov.ph, https://www.philippinessanfrancisco.org, or https://www.facebook.com/PHinSF/.