Danes open consulate amid embassy closures

Even as other embassies have closed, Denmark has opened a consulate in Manila.

The Royal Danish Embassy in Manila closed earlier this year, but, in its place, the Danish government announced the opening of the Royal Danish Honorary Consulate General in Manila under the jurisdiction of Ambassador Leif Morgens Reimann, Denmark’s soon-to-be-accredited non-resident ambassador to the Philippines.

The Royal Danish Honorary Consulate General in Manila is formally headed by Honorary Consul General Ricardo Romulo, senior partner of the Romulo, Mabanta, Buenaventura Sayoc and De los Angeles law office.

Honorary Consul Pierre Michel Deleuran, president of Maersk-Filipinas Inc., will supervise the daily operations of the consulate, assisted by Honorary Vice Consul Poul Pedersen and consular officer Letty Franco and consular assistant Ana Tolosa. Pedersen is the corporate technical director of JG Summit Holdings Inc.

The Danish consulate in Manila is located at the ground floor of the Tabacalera Building, 900 Romualdez street, Ermita, Manila. It is open from Mondays to Fridays from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. For more information, call 525-96-32 or fax 525-96-33 or visit www.danishembassies.dk/philippines/.

The Danish consulate in Manila will undertake a number of consular tasks, but visa and work/resident permit applications will be handled by the Royal Norwegian Embassy at Petron Mega Plaza Building, Sen. Gil Puyat avenue, Makati City. For more information on the Royal Norwegian Embassy, visit www.norway.ph.

Since the new Danish consulate in Manila does not have a commercial section, some tasks will be referred to the Royal Danish Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Royal Danish Honorary Consulate in Cebu will also remain open and continue with its functions, covering the Visayas and Mindanao.

Meanwhile, the closure of two embassies in Manila may strain the Philippines’ bilateral relations with Australia and Canada, as these two countries’ decision to close their diplomatic missions here has damaged the Philippines’ image, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Lauro Baja said yesterday.

"We, of course, would welcome the reopening of the embassies of Australia, Canada and the European Commission that will stabilize the relations between the Philippines and their countries. But we are not begging them to do so.

"We are not on bended knees for them to reopen," Baja said, "the damage is more on us than on them."

"If there is a positive move," Baja added, "it should start from them. They started it. They caused this whole thing in the first place."

Baja said the Philippine government has been fulfilling its obligations under the Vienna conventions on diplomatic relations, especially with regard to providing security to the diplomatic community here.

He added that Australia and Canada may not be compelled to share the "specific and credible threat" they said was their basis for closing their respective embassies. However, Baja said, the Philippines has given all diplomatic missions and diplomats ample security.

He said Philippine Ambassador to Ottawa Francisco Benedicto reported that Canada is still unable to share information on the threats its Manila embassy received with the Philippine government.

Baja said "the comment (of the Canadian government) is ‘please trust us on this.’ So, I replied bluntly: Why can’t they trust us on the evidence that led to the closure (of their embassy) and why (justify that) what they did was necessary?"

"The genie is out of the bottle. The damage has been done to the Philippines, though, perhaps unintended. So I think the least we talk about it, the better," Baja said.

According to Baja, Australian Ambassador to Manila Ruth Pearce assured him that they are satisfied with the physical security of their embassy, but would want to achieve a "comfort level" among embassy staff and personnel.

"I don’t understand what that comfort level is and how (to) attain that comfort level," Baja said.

At the same time, Baja said the country-members of the European Union did not give any indication that they would follow the move of Australia and Canada.

Baja said the office of the European Commission, the only administrative arm of the EU in the Philippines, merely closed down because it is housed in the same building as the Australian embassy.

"Generally, I got the feeling that they are satisfied with their security here. There are some suggestions as far as their residences are concerned and insofar as coordination with our law enforcement agencies and private security agencies of the villages," Baja said, after meeting with the ambassadors from the EU countries at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).