CONSULAR RANKS FOR OVERSEAS LABOR OFFICERS

CONSULAR RANKS FOR OVERSEAS LABOR OFFICERS Mr. President: Under the rules of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Labor Attaches could only be assigned to embassies and not to consulates. That is the reason why it is a violation of the rules if a Labor Attache uses that designation in a consulate, or in a labor office abroad of any kind. Before the creation of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), there were Philippine Overseas Labor Officers (POLOs) assigned in the Philippine Consulates General (PCG) abroad. I understand that when the DMW was created, their designation was changed to Migrant Workers Officers (MWOs). Upon checking with the MWO website however, I found out that these MWOs are now using the title of “Labor Attache”, even if they are only assigned to a PCG. This is being done for example in Hong Kong, Macau, Osaka and in many other PCGs. In a classic violation of another set of rules, the MWO in Taipei is using the title of “Labor Attache”, even if the Manila Economic Cooperation Office (MECO) is neither an embassy nor a consulate. As a former Press Attache and a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) myself, I can understand why the MWOs assigned in the PCGs would want to use the title “Labor Attache”, even if it is not technically correct. The reason why they are doing that, is they want to have the proper personality or stature in performing their duties. However, to avoid violating the Vienna Convention for Diplomatic Relations and avoid embarrassment among the local diplomatic communities, I suggest that they be given the title of “Vice Consul” instead. Mr. President, as far as I know, these MWOs do not have diplomatic immunity, even though they are doing difficult tasks that could border on the dangerous side. They do not have diplomatic immunity, because they do not have diplomatic ranks. With the simple move of giving them the rank of “Vice Consul” that problem would be solved. I really wonder Sir why that faux pas in using a diplomatic rank in Taipei ever happened. Perhaps the head of the MECO and the head of the MWO are not talking to each other? Perhaps that could be a minor incident, but should it not be prudent on our part to be careful about adding fire to our present tensions with China? As I recall Mr. President, we are still pursuing the legal fiction that we could not yet recognize Taiwan as a country, that is why we opted to open an “economic cooperation office” there, instead of an embassy. While we are on this subject Sir, would you consider a simple idea that I have in mind? Would you kindly think about opening “Vice Consulates” in places where there are no PCGs, and yet there are large populations of Filipinos? To do that Mr. President, there is no need to construct or rent an entire building. The “Vice Consul” could just rent a virtual office and just have one staff member who could be a consular assistant. I pilot tested such an office when I was at the DFA, consisting of a computer, a printer, a fax machine, a copier, a telephone and a filing cabinet. IKE SENERES/10-21-2024