On Saturday, 7 February 2015, Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Antonio A. Morales presided the first meeting of Filipino community (Filcom) leaders in Singapore for the year 2015 at the Philippine chancery along Nassim Road, Singapore.
Minister and Consul General Victorio Mario M. Dimagiba Jr. and the officers and staff of the Philippine Embassy and attached agencies joined Ambassador Morales in welcoming more than a hundred leaders and representatives of Filipino community organizations and guests who came to participate in the meeting.
The regular Filcom leaders’ meeting is held once every two months alternating with the post-arrival orientation seminar (PAOS) conducted by the Philippine Overseas Labour Office (POLO) for newly-arrived overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
In his welcome remarks, Ambassador Morales thanked the participants for their support to the Philippine Embassy in 2014 even as he expressed his hope for an even stronger collaboration between the Embassy and the community this year.
Embassy officials updated the participants on positive developments in Philippine-Singapore relations particularly in the economic front, ongoing initiatives spearheaded by the Philippine Embassy to further enhance bilateral ties and people-to-people relations with Singapore as well as measures undertaken to improve the delivery of services to the public.
The participants were urged to assist the Embassy in encouraging their members register as overseas absentee voters (OAVs) for national elections to be held in May 2016. Currently, the Philippine Embassy in Singapore tops the Asia-Pacific region in terms of the number of newly-registered OAVs.
Filcom leaders and representatives of various groups particularly those organizing events and those offering skills development programs were given the opportunity to promote their activities, initiatives and services for the Filipino community in Singapore.
Also during the meeting, Ambassador Morales congratulated the Singapore-based OFW Pinoy Star magazine for winning the Best Print Award of the 2014 Migration Advocacy and Social Media Awards sponsored by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas in November 2014.
The meeting was preceded by a “Kapihan” organized by PNB Singapore and was followed by lunch courtesy of POLO/OWWA. The next Filcom leaders’ meeting will be held on 11 April 2015.
