The transport of the remains of the six Filipino crewmembers of the ill-fated Aegean Wind to Athens enroute to Manila is currently being arranged, Ambassador Rigoberto Tiglao reported.

The ordeal of 12 Filipino officers and seamen, as well as of the Ukranian and Montenegrin crew, manning the problematic Cayman Islands-registered Aetea Sierra will soon end with lawyers of the International Transport Federation (ITF) and the Philippine Embassy succeeding in convincing a Piraeus court to immediately settle the unpaid salaries of the ship’s crew and to undertake arrangements for the crew to leave the ship and return home.
Philippine Ambassador to Athens Rigoberto Tiglao had formally and strongly urged Greek authorities to allow the Filipino crewmen to immediately return home, with only a skeletal crew to remain on the ship.

With songs, laughter and food, the Filipino Community in Athens celebrated its version of “Paskong Pinoy” last December 13, 2009 at the Philippine Embassy premises in Paleo Psychico, Athens, Greece. Philippine Ambassador to Greece Rigoberto D. Tiglao and his wife Getsy Tiglao attended the festivities as well and enjoyed the full-day program prepared by the Filipino community and the Philippine Embassy staff members. Welfare Officer Atty. Venus Bravo was the Embassy and POLO’s lead officer, together with cultural attache Joan David, for undertaking the event together with leaders of the Filipino Community.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde died Tuesday following a heart attack. He was 51. Cerge served in various capacities in President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration from its start in 2001. “I and my wife Getsy are deeply saddened by Cerge’s passing away, “ Ambassador Rigoberto Tiglao, his former colleague in the Cabinet said. “He was one of my closest friends and comrades in government. Cerge and I went through many crisis-periods in government together, and he always maintained his cheerfulness and equanimity. He is the kind of person who almost always assumed the best in men.” “We deeply honor Cerge, for serving in the Republic for nearly nine years, and for serving the people most of his working life as a journalist,” Tiglao said. “We will miss him,as a friend and as a comrade, ” he said.

Ambassador Rigoberto D. Tiglao met with Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris P. Droutsas to discuss Philippine-Greece bilateral relations.

Photos by Philippine Embassy staff member  Mr. Bryon Villanueva ©
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Video and text of the President’s New Year’s message.

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.

The Philippine School in Greece, formerly the Katipunan Philippines Cultural Academy (KAPHILCA), was off to a good start during the current school year 2009-2010 with an enrollment of  214 children in all three levels of its curricular offerings.  This is more than double its initial enrollment of 106 when it started in 2006.
Enrollment officially started [...]

Mrs. Anastasia Manolopoulou is the Philippines’ newest Honorary Consul with jurisdiction over Patras, Greece’s third largest city and port as well as the department of Achaia.