Bangkok, 03 July 2010 – A consular team from the Philippine Embassy in Bangkok headed by H.E. Ambassador Linglingay F. Lacanlale rendered consular extension services for the Filipino community in the city of Hat Yai in Southern Thailand on July 3. The Embassy organized the extension service in coordination with the Organization of Filipino Expatriates in the South of Thailand (OFEST).

The team also included Consular Assistants Paolo de Leon and Bernadette Dimaano, OWWA Welfare Officer Hector Cruz, Jr. and Vice Consul Randy Arquiza who also visited the lone Filipino inmate at Na Thawi Prison, Songkhla.

The team rendered passport services, legalization of documents, and on-site issuance of overseas employment documents. The extension service was held at Hat Yai hotel and ran up to 10pm to accommodate members of the Filcom who could not leave their regular daytime jobs.

Only in her first month since assuming post, Ambassador Lacanlale vigorously pursues a policy of reaching out to the Filipino community in Thailand through consular extension programs with Songkhla as the first consular outreach destination for 2010. The Ambassador held a dialogue with officers of OFEST led by its President, Mrs. Phylis Clomata, and several members of the Filcom. During the open forum, Ambassador Lacanlale discussed the need for unity among members of the Filipino community in the region.  She urged them to regularly update, and communicate with, the Embassy on major issues and concerns affecting the Filcom. The Filcom, many of whom work as English teachers in local schools, shared stories about some problems they encounter in the workplace, in particular disparities in the terms and conditions of employment.  Some inquired whether teaching units earned in Thailand could be credited in the Philippines. Ambassador Lacanlale assured the community that the Embassy will look into their concerns and try to find ways of addressing these with the help of the Royal Thai government.

Mr. Cruz briefed the community on OWWA’s package of benefits that are now available to Filipinos in Thailand, and his office’s ongoing information dissemination and membership campaigns and documentation of employment contracts.

Hat Yai is the business and economic center of the southern province of Songkhla.  It is home to a growing Filipino community and is the meeting point of Filipino teachers in the region.

OFEST was founded in 2009 in response to the myriad problems facing Filipino teachers in Southern Thailand. The group has since expanded to include Filipinos from other professions and even those residing in the neighboring provinces of Yala, Pattani, and Satun.