Page 2 - 2017 JUL -DEC KAAKBAY

2 July to December
2017
Secretary Cayetano Calls on Fil-Ams to Unite on Key Issues
Secretary Cayetano and Consul General Dizon-De Vega (Center) pose for a group photo with members of the Filipino
Community (photos by Boyet Loverita)
A capacity crowd and an overflow audience took
part in the Townhall Meeting with Foreign Secretary Alan
Peter Cayetano on 29 September 2017 at the Philippine
Center in New York.
Over 230 Filipinos joined the activity, which took
place for nearly three hours, to discuss issues of concern for
the Filipino overseas community in the US Northeast.
Participants came from as far as Philadelphia, Connecticut,
and the New England States to listen to updates on
Philippine developments and matters affecting Filipinos and
Filipino-Americans.
The subjects covered the an frank and candid
exchange between Secretary Cayetano and Filipino
community members included changes in the delivery of
frontline, consular and assistance-to-nationals services to
Filipinos overseas, the need for more Filipinos overseas to
be active in politics in their adopted countries, the ongoing
government campaign against drugs, developments in the
fight against terrorist elements in Marawi, new
Secretary Cayetano addresses the Community members at the Townhall. Secretary Cayetano with Consul General Dizon-De Vega respond to questions
Philippine passport processing and delivery improvements,
the existing Balikbayan box requirements of the Bureau of
Customs, streamlining requirements and procedures for
Overseas Absentee Voting and Citizenship Re-Acquisition,
Economic updates in the country, job and business
opportunities in the Philippines, the state of the Philippine
healthcare system, resources for the ageing population, and
the Philippine Government’s commitment to address human
and labor trafficking.
Secretary Cayetano likewise provided data on the
campaign against drugs, advising the Community members
to also examine the situation on the ground and the realities
of the drug problem facing the Philippines.
He likewise exhorted Filipinos overseas to unite on
key issues affecting their countrymen overseas. While he
said everyone is free to subscribe to certain beliefs of
political preferences, Filipinos should do their best to work
for policies and laws which will benefit the overseas Filipino
Community in the US as a whole.
Secretary Cayetano was joined at the Townhall
event by Consul General Theresa Dizon-De Vega, Assistant
Secretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Reynaldo A.
Catapang , and other officials.
from the audience.