07 June 2016 – Philippine Ambassador to Mexico Eduardo Jose A. de Vega participated in a seminar entitled “The Mexican Diaspora in the United States of America from the Viewpoint of Public Sector Experts and Academics: An Approximation Between Theory and Practice.” The seminar series was jointly hosted by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, the UNAM Institute for Social Research, and the Matías Romero Institute for Diplomatic Studies of Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The seminar, conducted entirely in Spanish, consisted of four modules the fundamentals of Mexican consular protection and its challenges; Mexican communities in the U.S.; a global comparative analysis of public policies dealing with various diasporas; and a comparative analysis of recent migration themes using different social science approaches.

Ambassador de Vega participated in the session concerning the comparison of public policies from other countries. He was joined on the panel by Ambassador Roberto Rodriguez, Mexico’s Consul General in Phoenix, Arizona.

Ambassador de Vega discussed the Philippine diaspora, tracing its historical roots and noting the shared links and cooperation between Filipino and Mexican migrant workers in the USA. He presented the current profile of OFWs and described the challenges and risks they face, as well as the Philippine government’s response to these.

The Ambassador explained the roles and interplay between government agencies directly involved in providing assistance to Filipino nationals abroad, and concluded with his observations on the similarities and differences between the Mexican and Philippine diasporas. Among the most important differences is the fact that the Filipino diaspora is more dispersed throughout the globe, whereas the overseas Mexicans are mostly concentrated in the U.S.

The Philippine presentation generated a good deal of interest from the attendant UNAM students, who asked numerous queries about Philippine government policies and ATN services, which the undersigned fielded. Among the queries raised was the issue of cultural adjustment, given the fact that many Filipinos work in non-Western countries. Ambassador de Vega explained that this was a reality that required adaptation on the part of both Filipino migrants and the Philippine Foreign Service. END