The demand for Manitoba to finally have its own consular office was one of the primary topics discussed during the open meeting with local leaders. The Philippines currently maintains four diplomatic representative offices in Canada, the Philippine Embassy in Ottawa and the Philippine Consulate General in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver. The provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia have an honorary consul who were appointed in the absence of a full time Philippine consulate.
“As much as the Philippine government would like to establish a career consulate in Manitoba in view of the number of Filipinos in the province, limitations on budget and manpower in relation to the needs of Filipinos in other parts of the world makes this difficult in the immediate term”, according to Ronaldo Opina, Manitoba Philippine Honorary Consul.
Honorary consul Opina’s duties include supporting the consulate general in Toronto in promoting and safeguarding the interests and rights of almost 90,000 Filipinos in Manitoba, in addition to handling paperwork. He does not get a salary from the Philippine government and serves the community completely as a volunteer.
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