Philippine Consul General in Manado Jose D.R. Burgos paid a call courtesy to the Head of the Regional Office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights of North Sulawesi, Drs. Juliasman Purba, M.Si, in his office in Manado City last February 28.
The Consul General highlighted the great strides achieved over the past year in the Philippines-Indonesia (PH-RI) Border Area, particularly on the protection and facilitation of services to Filipinos within the Indonesia border. Likewise, the Consul General also took the opportunity to discuss developments during the 32nd PH-RI Border Crossing Committee Chairmen’s Conference which was held on 5 February 2014 in Davao City, as well as the 6th PH-RI Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) held in Jakarta on 24 February 2014, wherein the Philippines and Indonesia signed the Agreement on Mandatory Consular Notification and Assistance, which provides a mechanism to facilitate the protection of the rights of nationals who are detained, arrested, deprived of freedom or undergoing judicial process before national courts, or who have died while in custody of the receiving state.
In addition, the Consul General informed of developments in regional interconnectivity projects, in particular the development of Manado-Davao Direct Flights and Davao/General Santos-Bitung-Manado shipping route, projected to commence sometime in mid-2014.
In the wake of the courtesy call, the Consul General informed of his plans to visit Tahuna, Sangihe Regency on March 6 to 7, as well as his intent to visit other border areas (in Melonguane and Ternate) also this March 2014.