2 December 2022, ROME – A seven-member team from the Philippine Embassy in Rome conducted a consular outreach mission in Lecce from 10 to 11 December 2022, serving more than 460 Filipinos from Lecce and neighboring cities such as Bari, Taranto, and Brindisi. Lecce is more than 500 kilometers from Rome where the Embassy is located.
The team processed 72 passport applications, 6 Reports of Birth (ROB), 1 Report of Marriage (ROM), and 60 applications for notarizations. The team also delivered 125 other services, which includes consultation for overseas Filipinos with consular concerns and assistance-to-nationals. Third Secretary and Vice Consul Ma. Claribel Ochoa administered the oath of one overseas Filipino who retained his Filipino citizenship under Republic Act No. 9225. Overseas Filipino nationals were encouraged to register as overseas voters in connection with the resumption of the continuing overseas voter’s registration.
The Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) also joined the mission and processed a total of 185 transactions.
While in the area and for purposes of information-sharing on best practices, the team also visited the Stazione Satellitare Italiana COSPAS-SARSAT in Bari. C.F (CP) Giuseppe Pasquino, the director of the Italian satellite station COSPAS-SARSAT, briefed the team on the mission of COSPAS SARSAT, its operations, and current activities to enable search and rescue operations.
COSPAS-SARSAT, an intergovernmental humanitarian constellation of search and rescue satellites, is a cooperative program of 45 nations that began in 1979. COSPAS-SARSAT relays emergency location data to authorities in each of the 45 signatory nations for purposes of carrying out search and rescue operations. Italy joined the COSPAS-SARSAT International Organization in 1988.
Lecce is a city in Italy’s southern Apulia region, and the easternmost provincial capital of Italy located more than 500 kilometers away from Rome where the Embassy is situated. Lecce is home to an estimated 1,814 Filipinos. This is the first outreach of the Embassy in Lecce since the pandemic. END
