PHILIPPINE CONSULATE GENERAL, MILAN CONDUCTS MOBILE CONSULAR SERVICES IN TURIN , ITALY  

16 February 2007 – Consul General Pedro O. Chan of the Philippine Consulate General in Milan reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that the Consulate together with representatives of its attached agencies namely, OWWA, DOLE, SSS and Pag-ibig, conducted mobile passport and related services to OFWs and Filipino migrants in Turin on 11 February 2007. Turin is the capital of Italy 's Piemonte Region, which hosts one of the highest concentrations of Filipinos in Northern Italy .  

With the assistance of the Associazione Culturale Filippina del Piemonte, a Filipino community organization based in Turin , the mobile consular services carried out same-day processing and releasing of over 200 passport applications and the receipt of documents for notarization and authentication. The services included the distribution of identification cards to registered Piemonte-based voters who had earlier registered with the Philippine Consulate General in Milan . The ID cards were issued by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Manila and were transmitted to the Consulate for distribution to concerned voters for the upcoming May 14 Philippine elections.  

After the conduct of mobile consular services, Consul General Chan engaged the Filipino community of Turin in a dialogue on community issues and concerns. He also disseminated initial information on the Comelec-approved conduct of the modified postal and personal voting system for the Filipino voters in Milan and Northern Italy . “This effort will maximize the Filipinos' participation in the month-long absentee voting exercise within this Consulate's jurisdiction from April 14 to May 14,” he stated.  

The Philippine Consulate General in Milan regularly conducts monthly mobile consular services in the outlying cities of Milan where Filipinos reside and work. Late last year, the mobile team visited the city of Bologna , where around 300 passports were issued in one day. Similar consular outreach missions were also conducted last year in the cities of Parma and Padova. END

/jay

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