PR-29-2023
A team from the Philippine Consulate General in Melbourne, led by Consul Jan Sherwin P. Wenceslao, visited Adelaide on 05-07 October 2023 to offer consular outreach services to the Filipinos in South Australia.
They were assisted by Carmen A. Garcia, Philippine Honorary Consul to South Australia and her team, located at Level 1, 43 Franklin Street, Adelaide as the venue of the mission.
Over the course of the three-day mission, 162 Filipinos availed themselves of various consular services, which included passport applications and renewals, civil registrations (Report of Birth), and applications for Philippine citizenship retention and reacquisition under Republic Act 9225. The attendees greatly appreciated the team’s effort, acknowledging the convenience and savings it provided them. Additionally, 41 individuals reclaimed their Filipino citizenship via Republic Act No. 9225 or the Citizenship Retention and Reacquisition Act of 2003.
Consul Wenceslao also met with Filipino Community leaders at the Filipino Settlement Coordinating Council of SA Inc. (FSCCSA) Annual General Meeting held on 07 October 2023, wherein he emphasized the community’s importance and potential collaborative opportunities. He also urged Filipinos in South Australia to apply for dual citizenship and register for absentee voting for the 2025 National and Local Elections.
As a result of the strong demand for consular services, the Consulate General in Melbourne now offers bi-annual consular mobile outreach missions to Adelaide. The next outreach mission is tentatively scheduled for May 2024. The Filipino community in South Australia boasts a strength of over twenty-five thousand residents with Filipino ancestry, or those with at least one parent born in the Philippines.
-END-
