8 OFW groups in Italy petition for recall of PH envoy

MANILA, Philippines – Eight groups of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Italy are asking President Rodrigo Duterte and Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr for the “immediate recall” of Philippine ambassador there for “conduct inimical to the Filipinos in Italy.”

In a petition signed in the first week of September, the OFWs cited the following grounds against Philippine Ambassador to Italy Domingo Nolasco: 

• Failure to facilitate Filipinos’ right to suffrage 
• Failure to institute changes in consular processes
• Failure to act on crisis situation (August earthquake in central Italy) 
• Consistent refusal to dialogue

The petition was signed by representatives from OFW Watch Italy, ENFID Italy, OFW Global Movement, CGSMF-Angel, Bato-bato sa Langit 87.9 FM, Federation of Women in Italy, Migrante Milan, and the Association of Foreign Workers in Italy.

Nolasco, in a response sent to Rappler, denied the groups’ allegations. 

“These 9 organizations are entitled to their opinions. The embassy is well-aware of the over 167,000 Filipinos and the over 200 Filipino associations and organizations in Italy. We shall continue to serve and constructively engage them,” Nolasco said.

Read the full petition here:

  Petition by Rappler Philippines on Scribd

On overseas voting, Nolasco explained that the Philippine embassy in Rome was merely deputized by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), and was only following instructions from the commission.

The embassy, he said, did not conduct field voting because it did not receive authority from Comelec to do so. 

However, the ambassador said the embassy undertook several activities – including massive information dissemination, explanation of overseas voting procedures to various Filipino groups’ events, delivery of electoral mailing packets, and collection of official sealed ballot envelopes, among others – to ensure high turn-out of voters in Italy.

He also explained that he had instituted several changed ever since being assigned to Rome. These include the observance of no lunch break, reduction of document processing time, implementation of whole day document releasing, and opening of the consular section during Sundays every quarter.

On the issue of passports and service fee reductions, Nolasco said the validity of passports can only be amended through legislation while service fees can only be reduced by authorities in Manila. 

Nolasco also denied that they failed to respond immediately after the earthquake that shook central Italy in August. He said he authorized and sent the embassy’s labor attaché and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) officer to Amatrice, Norcia, and Ascoli Pisceno to ascertain the situation of the Filipinos in affected areas. 

“The embassy operates under the one-country team principle, which means that attached agencies, such as the labor attaché and OWWA officer were direct embassy representatives,” he said.

After assessing the situation of affected Filipinos, Nolasco said they requested the appropriate government assistance in addition to Italian assistance already given. 

Nolasco told Rappler that he never thought of talking with the Filipino community as a waste of time. “I, with other embassy personnel, continuously engage the more than 200 Filipino associations in Italy on various issues.”

Nolasco explained that he declined Enfid’s invitation to be a resource speaker because “Prague is outside the embassy’s jurisdiction, and the trip will entail additional unprogrammed travel costs to the embassy.”

Nolasco was assigned as ambassador to Italy in March 2015. Prior to his assignment in Italy, he was the assistant secretary at the Office of Fiscal Management at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). – Rappler.com

 Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story included Task Force OFW as one of the signatories. They’ve clarified that they did not sign the petition but supported the protests for different reasons.