PETITION: To Urge the Philippine Embassy in Ottawa, Canada through His Excellency Rodolfo D. Robles,  The Philippine Ambassador to Canada, and the Philippine Consulate General His Excellency Orontes Castro (2021), Her Excellency Angelica C. Escalona (2023)  and DFA Secretary Teodoro Locsin to Provide Consular Services Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to serve almost 100,000 Filipino residents and migrants.

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED MIGRANT AND IMMIGRANT FILIPINOS IN CANADA, do hereby call the attention of DFA, The Ambassador, and The Philippine Consulate General to the following:

WHEREAS, one of the main problems of Filipino immigrants and Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Winnipeg, Manitoba is the lack of access to consular services. Consular services are only offered at the Philippine Embassy in Ottawa and the consulate offices in Alberta, Toronto and Vancouver. While the Philippine Embassy used to schedule consular outreach in Winnipeg, Manitoba, there has been none in the past year from July 2019 until the day of this petition due to COVID restrictions. Due to lack of consular services, many Filipinos’ passports have expired and had faced issues, travel limitations, and difficulties which seriously added to the stress brought about by this pandemic.

WHEREAS, had there been a local consular office that offers passport renewal services and issues travel documents, those Filipinos who needed to be reunited to their families when faced with emergency cases, and especially during this challenging time would have been helped.

WHEREAS, based on the 2020 Statistics, almost 100,000 Filipinos are currently residing in Manitoba. The absence of a consulate office in this province has caused significant inconvenience to the Filipino families who need to travel to other provinces to renew their passports and process other consulate-issued documents.

Most 'kababayans' have to take a few days off to travel to Alberta, Ottawa, Toronto or Vancouver to renew their passports, NBI clearance, secure travel documents, apply for dual citizenship, etc.

Statistics Sources: 

https://ottawape.dfa.gov.ph/index.php/2016-04-12-08-34-55/filipino-diaspora
https://worldpopulationreview.com/canadian-provinces/manitoba-population

THEREFORE, we urge DFA Secretary Teodoro Locsin, The Philippine Ambassador Rodolfo D. Robles, The Philippine Consulate General Orontes Castro to provide accessible and affordable consular services to all Filipinos based in Manitoba.

This petition for a Manitoba-based Consulate Office is hereby signed by thousands of Filipinos who are currently residing in Manitoba who deeply hope that their voices will be heard.