11 September 2015 - The West Philippine Sea was one of the international issues discussed during the General Assembly and Regional Conference of the European Network of Filipino Diaspora (ENFID), which was held in Malta from July 31 to August 02.
Deputy Chief of Mission and Consul General Robespierre Bolivar from the Philippine Embassy in Brussels delivered the briefing on the conflicting claims in the West Philippine Sea, on the invitation of the ENFID Governing Board. His briefing focused on the bases for the conflicting claims in the region and updates on the arbitration case filed by the Philippines in The Hague.
A documentary, produced by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), was also shown during the Assembly.
Participants expressed their support for the Philippine Government’s efforts to resolve the conflicting claims, especially the filing of the arbitration case. The “ENFID Malta Conference Statement” included a call for ENFID “to function as a platform for coordinating advocacy work at the European level [to] lobby against Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea.”
Over 90 leaders of Filipino community organizations throughout Europe attended the Regional Conference, where issues affecting Filipino migrants in Europe were also discussed. END