September 2009

CONSULATE MISSION TO NEW CALEDONIA

The Philippine Consulate General in Sydney conducted a mission to New Caledonia on 21 to 24 August to provide consular services and to register Filipino overseas absentee voters (OAV) residing in this island.

New Caledonia is an island territory of France, located 2000 kilometers east of the coast of Queensland. The island has an area of 18,575 square kilometers and a population of about 245,000. There is a small community of French-Filipinos in the capital city of Nouméa and an additional 620 Filipino expatriate workers in the Goro Nickel Project in Yate.

Consul General Eva G. Betita, who headed the consular delegation, said that the mission was successful. “We were able to register a good number of the remaining Filipinos who were not included in the previous OAV registration period, which was held in 2006,” said Consul General Betita. In addition, there were many Filipinos who renewed their Philippine passports, as well as a number of former Filipinos who reacquired their Philippine citizenship.

The Consul General also said that the mission had a fact-finding component to assess the situation of the Filipinos in the territory. “There are about 50 French-Filipinos in Nouméa, who arrived here in the 1980s and early 1990s. They are professionals and are well-integrated into New Caledonian society and are respected in their areas,” the Consul General said.

There are about 620 Filipino expatriates employed in the construction of the French Government-funded Goro Nickel Project. “These Filipino workers are well-treated and well-paid. They are housed in a facility which provides decent housing, and recreational and leisure amenities. They are the remaining OFWs of the 3000-strong Filipino work force who constructed the project. However, the construction is almost completed and most of that work force has been repatriated to the Philippines. Those who remain are involved in the commissioning of the facility,” Consul General Betita said.

Consul General Eva G. Betita speaks to the assembly of OFWs employed at the Goro Nickel Project in Yate, New Caledonia about the overseas absentee voters (OAV) registration for the 2010 elections.

Consular Assistant Raymond Salvaña registers a long queue of OFWs in the French territory of New Caledonia as voters for the 2010 elections, following the standard procedure followed by all Philippine embassies and consulates throughout the world and COMELEC voter registration posts all over the Philippines.