PRESS RELEASE
PR-078-2024
31 July 2024, Singapore – Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Medardo G. Macaraig and Embassy officials met leaders and representatives of Filipino community (FilCom) organizations in Singapore, as well as key personalities from the business, media, academic and creative sectors. This quarterly gathering, dubbed Ugnayan, Bagong Pilipinas Town Hall Meeting, aims to share the Embassy’s projects, activities and programs and disseminate information from key stakeholders.
In his welcome address, Ambassador Macaraig highlighted the Embassy’s activities and events since the last Ugnayan and expressed his gratitude to the Filipino community in Singapore for their usual support and assistance which contributed to the success of many of the Embassy’s endeavors. In particular, he thanked the Organizing Committee of the 2024 Fiesta for successfully mounting the first FilCom-led Independence Day celebration since the pandemic, and conveyed his hopes that the community makes it into a yearly tradition so that Filipinos in Singapore can gather to celebrate the birth of the Philippines’ nationhood.


In view of the closing of Overseas Voters Registration on 30 September 2024, the Embassy’s Head of Consular Section, Third Secretary and Vice Consul Renee Gayle Chua, asked the FilCom leaders to continue encouraging their members to register as overseas voters if they have not already done so. Vice Consul Chua also requested FilCom organizations to send a representative to the overseas voting training organized by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) for overseas voters in Singapore which will be held on 04 August 2024. Among other things, the COMELEC will give an overview of internet voting which the poll body approved last year as another mode for registered overseas voters to cast their ballots.
Other Embassy officers gave updates on other Embassy services, and invited the audience to upcoming cultural events and Filipino community-related activities. The representatives from the Embassy’s partner agencies also shared updates on labor-, welfare-, and Pag-IBIG-related matters. (END).