PCGNY.net | News Release

NY CONSULATE DELIVERS CONSULAR SERVICES TO FIL-AMS IN ROCHESTER, NEW YORK

PHILIPPINE CONSULATE - NEWS RELEASE
10 April 2006

NEW YORK --- A consular team headed by New York Consul General Cecilia Rebong delivered consular services to the Filipino-American community in Brighton Town, Rochester, New York on 8 April 2006. The New York Consulate conducted the consular outreach program in coordination with the Filipino American Association of Rochester. Rochester is some 5 to 6 hours by land Northwest of York City. It is home to approximately three hundred Fil-Am families.

The consular team rendered passporting services, accepted applications for dual citizenship and also registered applicants for overseas absentee voting. The team likewise devoted a few hours answering questions from the community. The questions pertained mostly to dual citizenship, retiring and owning properties in the Philippines.

During a simple ceremony, Ami Costello, president of the Filipino American Association of Rochester, thanked the Consul General and her team “for bringing consular services right at their doorstep.” Costello said that to her recollection, this was the first time that a Philippine consular team had reached out to the Filipino-American community in Rochester. Costello next introduced Sandra Frankel, Town Supervisor of Brighton, who also attended the ceremony. In Brighton, a town supervisor is the equivalent of mayor. Frankel commended the Filipino-American community in Brighton Town for their significant civic and economic contributions. She thanked the Consul General and her consular team for visiting, and servicing the consular needs of, the Filipino-American community in Brighton. She assured the Consul General that the Filipino-American community in Brighton and the whole of Rochester is a great source of pride to the town and their compatriots back in the Philippines. Consul General Rebong responded by thanking Frankel and Costello “for having us at Brighton and giving us the opportunity to service the consular needs of our kababayans in your beautiful town and from neighboring towns in Rochester.” She expressed hope that “this would be the beginning of a lasting and fruitful relationship between the Philippine Consulate General in New York and the Filipino-American community in Brighton, Rochester.” She gave Frankel and Costello token mementos of appreciation (coffee table books on the Philippines) for their hospitality.