Philippine Consulate General, Houston Konsulado Panlahat ng Pilipinas sa Houston | |
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Location | Houston, Texas |
Address | 9990 Richmond Avenue, Suite 100N |
Coordinates | 29°43′48.0″N95°32′55.1″W / 29.730000°N 95.548639°W Coordinates: 29°43′48.0″N95°32′55.1″W / 29.730000°N 95.548639°W |
Consul General | Jerril G. Santos |
Website | houstonpcg |
The Philippine Consulate General in Houston is a diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines in the United States, representing the country's interests in Texas. It is located at the first floor of 9990 Richmond Avenue in the Westchase neighborhood of west Houston.
The current Philippine Consulate General in Houston was opened on September 24, 2018, 25 years after the first consulate was closed in September 1993. [1] That first consulate was closed ostensibly due to budget issues, [2] as well as the low number of Filipinos in the area at the time. [3] Closing the first consulate was ordered during the administration of President Corazon Aquino, with holdover consuls heading the post until it was finally closed by her successor, Fidel V. Ramos. [4]
During the existence of the first consulate, Consul General Rodolfo Severino Jr. and other officers called on President Ferdinand Marcos to resign in the run-up to the People Power Revolution that would lead to his ouster. [5] After that consulate was closed, relations were conducted through an honorary consulate, led most recently by Ethel R. Mercado. [4] However, the city's rapidly-growing Filipino community continued to pressure for its reopening, [3] and in January 2018, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano announced that the Consulate would reopen, alongside the future opening of three other missions. [6] Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez, writing in The Philippine Star , particularly credited Senator Loren Legarda with pushing to allocate more funds for the opening of new Philippine diplomatic missions, including in Houston. [7]
The Consulate reopened out of a temporary space until finally moving to its permanent location, one floor below in the same building, [1] on March 21, 2019. [8]
The Philippine Consulate General in Houston is headed by Consul General Jerril G. Santos. Prior to his current post, he served as Assistant Secretary and Chief of Protocol at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila, and before that was posted at the Philippine Embassy in Hanoi as the Ambassador to Vietnam. [9] In addition to Santos, there are eleven other staffers deployed to the Consulate. [10]
Currently, the consulate general's jurisdiction covers Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, and also exercises jurisdiction over the honorary consulates in Dallas and New Orleans, with former honorary consul Ethel R. Mercado being appointed to head the Dallas consulate. [11] Prior to its reopening the various states were under the jurisdiction of other missions: Texas and New Mexico were under the jurisdiction of the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles, which in partnership with local organizations conducted monthly outreach visits in Houston, [4] while Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma were under the Philippine Consulate General in Chicago. Since its reopening, the consulate general has conducted outreach missions in major cities within its jurisdiction, including in Little Rock, [12] Albuquerque, [13] Jackson, [14] and Oklahoma City, [15] as well as within Texas. [16]
The consulate is a diplomatic mission, the office of a consul and is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country, usually an embassy or – between Commonwealth countries – high commission. Like the terms embassy or high commission, consulate may refer not only to the office of consul, but also to the building occupied by the consul and the consul's staff. The consulate may share premises with the embassy itself.
There are 123 diplomatic missions in Hong Kong, of which 62 are consulates-general and 61 are consulates and six officially recognised bodies in Hong Kong. As Hong Kong has the status of a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, some consuls-general in Hong Kong report directly to their respective foreign ministries, rather than to their Embassies in Beijing.
Jerril G. Santos is the current Consul general at the Philippine Consulate General, Houston. Previously, he was the Chief of Mission of the Philippine Embassy in Vietnam which he assumed in 2009. He has been with the Department of Foreign Affairs since the 1980s and is a recipient of the Gawad Mabini, with a rank of Dakilang Kasugo (2007) and the Order of Sikatuna, with a rank of Datu (2009). He was among the Outstanding Fernandino Award honorees in 2012.
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The Embassy of the Philippines in Madrid is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines to the Kingdom of Spain. Opened in 1951, it is located at the corner of Calle Eresma and Calle Guadalquivir in the ward (barrio) of El Viso, part of the district of Chamartín in northern Madrid, where it has been since 1998.
The Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco is a diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines in the United States, representing the country's interests in northern California. It is located in the San Francisco building of the Philippine Center at 447 Sutter Street in central San Francisco, a couple of blocks north of Union Square.
The Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles is a diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines in the United States, representing the country's interests in southern California. It is located on the fifth floor of the Equitable Life Building at 3435 Wilshire Boulevard in the Koreatown neighborhood of central Los Angeles, a couple of blocks north of the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools.
The Embassy of the Philippines in Stockholm is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines to the Kingdom of Sweden. It is located on the fourth floor of 29 Olof Palme Street in the central Stockholm district of Norrmalm, across from Norra Bantorget. Although the current embassy dates from 2020, the Philippines also maintained a previous resident embassy in Sweden between 1978 and 2012.
The Embassy of the Philippines in Santiago is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines to the Republic of Chile. Opened in 1981, it is currently located at Calle Félix de Amesti 367 in the city of Las Condes, Santiago Province.
The Embassy of the Philippines in Canberra is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines to the Commonwealth of Australia. It is currently located at 1 Moonah Place in the Yarralumla suburb of south Canberra, just beyond the periphery of Parliament House.
The Embassy of the Philippines in Copenhagen is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines to the Kingdom of Denmark. Opened in 2019, it is located at the first floor of 13 Arne Jacobsen Avenue in the Ørestad district of Copenhagen, near Ørestad Station and opposite the Field's shopping mall.
The Embassy of the Philippines in Oslo is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines to the Kingdom of Norway. Opened in 2007, it is currently located along Nedre Vollgate in central Oslo, near Kontraskjæret and the Akershus Fortress.
The Embassy of the Philippines in Cairo is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines to the Arab Republic of Egypt. Opened in 1960, it is currently located in the southern Maadi district of Cairo, near the Cairo American College.
The Philippine Consulate General in Barcelona is a diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines in Spain, representing the country's interests in Catalonia. It is located on the first floor of the Casa Juncadella along the Rambla de Catalunya in the Eixample district of Barcelona, near major landmarks like the Galeria Mayoral and the Coliseum. Although the current consulate dates from 2020, the Philippines also maintained a previous consulate in Barcelona between 2008 and 2012.
The Embassy of the Philippines in Berlin is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines to the Federal Republic of Germany. First opened in 1955 as the mission to West Germany, it is currently located in the Tiergarten locality of central Berlin, just beyond the periphery of the Reichstag complex and near the Charité.
The Philippine Consulate General in Frankfurt is a diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines in Germany, representing the country's interests in Hesse. It is located on the first floor of the Westend Carree complex along Grüneburgweg in the Westend-Nord district of Frankfurt, near the main campus of the Goethe University Frankfurt. Although the current consulate dates from 2019, the Philippines also maintained a previous consulate in Frankfurt between 2009 and 2012.