04 September 2015 – Philippine Ambassador to the Czech Republic Victoriano M. Lecaros and First Secretary and Consul Juan E. Dayang, Jr. of the Philippine Embassy in Prague attended the 2nd European Regional Overseas Filipino Conference from August 01 to 02 at St. Paul’s Bay, Malta which was organized by the European Network of Filipino Diaspora (ENFiD). The opening day was graced by no less than Maltese President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca as special guest speaker.
Other than administering the oaths of office of the new ENFiD officers, Mr. Lecaros spoke on what Filipino communities in Europe can and cannot expect from their embassies and consulates. For his part, Mr. Dayang acted as a panel speaker on the very first day on the topic “Filipinos in Europe: Social Remittances and Cultural Diffusion.”
Other Philippine government officials in attendance included Commission on Filipino Overseas Secretary Imelda Nicolas, President and CEO of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) Alex Padilla; Philippine Consul General in London Senen Mangalile, and Philippine Consul General in Brussels Robespierre Bolivar. Mr. Mangalile made a presentation about the ongoing battle against Human Trafficking while Mr. Bolivar spoke about the situation in the West Philippine Sea/South China Sea. Messrs. Lecaros and Dayang also introduced the Rizal-Blumentritt heritage trail in Litoměřice, Czech Republic to the participants.
This latest ENFiD conference saw the presence of 108 delegates from Filipino communities in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, plus Israel. END