Honorary consuls not honored
The honorary consul general of
In the Philippines, the Foreign Service Act of 1991 allows the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs to appoint honorary consuls in areas where there are no Philippine embassies or consulates – and these honorary consuls are “qualified private persons” that perform a number of functions (on a non-career basis) for the government but are not given fixed salaries or allowances. While there are certain benefits that honorary consuls may get from their position, more often than not, these people end up giving more than whatever benefits or perks they receive since most of the time, they are chosen because of their perceived influence and capability in putting forward the best interest of the
Depending on the country, honorary consuls can amend regular passports, issue travel documents, temporary visitors’ visas and transit visas, authenticate the validity of official acts of local authorities, conduct notarial services and even certify ships’ papers in some instances. Some Philippine honorary consuls, in cases where they are allowed by the laws of the host government, can also administer oaths and take witness depositions in cases that are pending before Philippine courts, and of course, they are also expected to extend assistance to “distressed Filipino citizens.”
But more often than not, the appointment of honorary consuls is often a cost-saving measure taken by countries, even first-world ones like
But it appears that despite the work and assistance that honorary consuls do to enhance and improve relations between the
Mike was suggesting that perhaps the DFA should consider what the other countries are doing for their honorary consuls to minimize the proliferation of diplomatic bogus plates. Instead of the usual “1000” car plate reserved for chiefs of missions, perhaps honorary consuls should be issued the “2000” plate to give them that separate distinction.
But like in most cases, there are always a few bad eggs that give honorary consuls a bad name. There are reports that some are abusive and actually use their position to smuggle in goods or even luxury cars, and lend their diplomatic plates to cars that are not supposed to be used by other people. These are of course just stories, but some of them could be true, that’s why the LTO, I understand, is now going after these people who have no authority to use diplomatic plates.
What’s worse is that these people are obviously after the position for reasons other than being “honorary.” A number of times, these people just get the title and the honorary privileges because they have the right connections. For instance, a number of these honorary consuls are not even familiar with the countries they are supposed to represent. The Consular Corps, together with the DFA, should really start cleaning up their ranks and weed out those who are not deserving of the “honorary” title. After all, if you want to be honored, you should also be “honorable.”
* * *
Speaking of honorable people, the Asean Law Association (ALA), an organization of legal practitioners in
* * *
Email: [email protected]
- Latest
- Trending