The Philippine Consulate General in Nagoya was opened on December 1, 2020,[2] taking over from a previous honorary consulate.[3] Although a resident mission had been requested for many years by members of the local Filipino community,[2] planning for the consulate only began in 2019, when funds for the mission, on the initiative of Senator Loren Legarda, were allocated for its opening.[4]
On February 18, 2019, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. announced during the inauguration of the Philippine Embassy in Berlin's new chancery that a mission in Nagoya was set to open as part of an expansion of the Philippines' diplomatic presence under President Rodrigo Duterte.[5] The Japanese government gave its approval later that year,[6] and in December 2019, the DFA started looking for locations where the Consulate could be based.[2]
The Consulate initially opened for passport and civil registry procedures, with visa application processing starting in 2021.[2]
Staff and activities
The Philippine Consulate General in Nagoya is provisionally headed by an acting head of post (equal to a chargé d'affaires for missions that are not embassies), pending the naming of a new consul general. The current acting head of post is Jerome John O. Castro, while the last Consul General was Celeste V. Balatbat, who assumed her position with the mission's opening on December 1, 2020.[7] Prior to becoming Consul General, Balatbat, a career diplomat who has been with the Philippine foreign service since 1995,[7] was the officer-in-charge of the Foreign Service Institute.[8]
Currently, the Consulate's jurisdiction extends over Aichi, Fukui, Gifu, Ishikawa, Nagano, Niigata, Shizuoka, Toyama and Yamanashi prefectures, covering the entire Chūbu region.[2] Before its opening, jurisdiction over the Chūbu region was split, with the western half (Aichi, Fukui, Gifu, Ishikawa and Toyama) falling under the jurisdiction of the Philippine Consulate General in Osaka,[9] and the eastern half (Nagano, Niigata, Shizuoka and Yamanashi) falling under the jurisdiction of the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo.[10]
Since its opening, the Consulate has undertaken a number of initiatives to promote economic and cultural ties between the Philippines and the Chūbu region, with its goal being to serve as a bridge between the Philippines and Japan in the area.[2] These including paying a courtesy call to Chukeiren (the Central Japan Economic Federation),[11] and strengthening ties with the local governments under its consular area.[12]
^ abcdefOkada, Kaoru (December 5, 2020). "在名古屋フィリピン総領事館が１日開設され、一部業務を開始" [The Philippine Consulate General in Nagoya opened on the 1st and started some operations]. Manila Shimbun (in Japanese). Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
^"在名古屋フィリピン総領事 表敬訪問(12/13)" [Courtesy call of the Consul General of the Philippines in Nagoya (12/13)] (Press release) (in Japanese). Central Japan Economic Federation. February 14, 2022. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
1 The Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei is the representative office of the Philippines in Taiwan, which functions as an informal diplomatic mission.
