News
Pirates release cargo ship Filitsa with 19 Filipino crewmen
Nearly three months after it was hijacked, the Greek-owned cargo ship Filitsa, with 19 Filipino and three Greek seamen on board, was released by Somali pirates in the afternoon of 1 February, its manager Order Shipping Co. Ltd. reported to the labor office of the Philippine embassy in Athens. The British news website bbc.com reported that ransom was paid earlier on Monday but the ship’s owner, Order Shipping, refused to say how much was paid. The ship headed for Mombasa, Kenya where the crew will disembark. The bulk carrier, with a Marshall Islands flag, was hijacked by Somali pirates on November 11, 2009, 513 nautical miles northeast of Seychelles.
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Ambassador Tiglao at the President’s 21 January Reception
Photos of Ambassador Rigoberto Tiglao at the Greek government’s New Year’s reception 21 January 2010 at the Presidential Palace.
Facts on the Aeta Sierra case
For the Filipino community’s information, follows are the facts regarding the plight of the Aetea Sierra’s Filipino crew.
Somali piracy worsens in 2009
Hijacking of ships by Somali pirates had worsened in the last months of last year, and the Philippine Embassy and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Athens in all cases involving Filipino seamen are in close contact with the ship owners, managers, and manning agencies involved as well as with Greek authorities in order to ensure the safety of Filipino seamen in such ships. There are 53 Filipino seamen still held by pirates on three Greek-owned ships, and 22 other Filipino sailors in three other ships hijacked by Somali gangs.
Ambassador’s scholarship at UINDY Athens now in place
Philippine Ambassador’s scholarship program is now in place in the prestigious Athens Campus of the University of Indianapolis (UINDY-Athens).
Ambassador Rigoberto D. Tiglao entered recently into a Memorandum of Understanding providing for scholarships and tuition assistance for Filipinos at the university with Chancellor Vasilis Botopoulos of UINDY Athens
Philippine Sites
Features
Cyber businesses in the Philippines: Arroyo’s $7-B legacy
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said she would be turning over to the next administration a call center industry that had become the second biggest global earner and one capable of elevating the nation to First World status.
The next leadership, she said, should intensify programs that would “educate the young on the use of computers and the Internet for the next generation of BPO workers.”
The business process outsourcing (BPO) sector would be a major key for the Philippines to finally join the ranks of developed countries in two decades, Ms Arroyo Thursday said during a visit to a call center in Davao City in Mindanao.
Madame Getsy Tiglao is the incoming President Emeritus of Athens Women’s International Club
Madame Getsy S. Tiglao, the wife of Philippine Ambassador to Greece Rigoberto D. Tiglao, has been appointed as the new Honorary President of the Women’s International Club (WIC) of Athens for the incoming year 2010 by the organization’s officers
Ambassador reminds Filipinos of voting days for the 2010 National Elections
Ambassador Rigoberto D. Tiglao reminded Filipinos in Greece and Athens that the overseas absentee voting will be held at the Athens Embassy from 10 April 2010 to 10 May 2010, from 9AM to 5 PM at the premises of the Philippine Embassy at 26 Antheon St., Paleo Psychico, Athens. ” I appeal to our kababayans registered as overseas voters at the Athens embassy to exercise this democratic right, and duty, and make sure that they will be in Athens during the month-long voting period,” the Ambassador said.
Why We Are Where We Are / RP Has Turned the Corner
The ambassador’s analytical articles on the Philippine situation, originally published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 30 August 2009.
Announcements
2010 Philippine and Greek holidays (Embassy closed)
Listing of Philippine and Greek holidays when the Embassy is closed. Consular services are also not undertaken every Wednesday in order for our staff to properly process consular documents.
Embassy-FilCom Regular Meetings
The Philippine Embassy and the Filipino community, represented mainly by the embassy’s accredited comunity partners (ACP) , will have regular meetings in 2010 every 2nd Saturday of the month at the Embassy premises. While mainly a meeting of Embasy officals with the ACP, any kababayan can join the meeting.
