President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo became the godmother of the first ever Greek ship made in the Philippines, the C/S Argolikos, ordered by the Hellenic shipping conglomerate Dioryx Maritime Corp from Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines.

H.E. Rigoberto Tiglao, the Philippine Ambassador  to Greece, was one of three guest speakers at the launching of Steve Psinakis’ book, “A Country Not Even His Own” at the Rockwell Center in  Metropolitan Manila in July. The other two speakers were former close comrades of the hero Ninoy Aquino--   former senators  Heherzon Alvarez Jr. and Sergio Osmena III.

(DFA Press Release, 17 June 2008)

The Philippine Embassy marked the 110th anniversary of the proclamation of Philippine independence with two major, well-attended events in Athens:  a Diplomatic Reception for the corps diplomatique at prestigious Athenaeum Intercontinental and, a few days, later on 15 June 2008 a fiesta-type celebration with the Filipino community at the Fokianos basketball court at Zappeio.

Starting 01 June 2008, the new Machine Readable Passport (MRP) will be available to Filipinos overseas applying for a Philippine Passport.

It has unique features, more secure and is capable of being read by a passport machine reader at international borders. Compared to manually read passports that preceded them, it contains various security features like the IPI – Invisible Personal Information, laser perforated numbers and UV reactive laminate which are close to impossible to tamper with.