ALKHOBAR, 24 April 2003 - A team from the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh will be in Alkhobar today and tomorrow to provide consular services to the Filipinos in the Eastern Region. Vice Consul Germinia Aguilar-Usudan, who will head the team, said the team will be holding office at the Park Hotel from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday.
The Embassy on Wheels program will offer passport renewals, document authentication, and assistance to nationals. Labor-related issues will be handled by the POLO-OWWA team led Supervising Welfare Officer Sotero Tornea.
Meanwhile, Tornea said that the Philippine Society of Information and Communication Technology Practitioners - Saudi Arabia (PhilTech-SA) will be honoring its first batch of graduates on the website design training.
The graduation ceremonies will be held Friday afternoon at the Philippine Community School in Alkhobar. The first trainees include two members from each organizations which are "accredited community partners" (ACPs) of the embassy.
Headed by Tito Guevarra, PhilTech-SA is the newest member of the ACPs in the region. Vice Consul Adrian Elmer Cruz had been invited as guest speaker during the ceremonies. He is expected to discuss the current development on the Overseas Absentee Voting Act.
OFWs in this region had appealed to Secretary Heherson Alvarez, presidential adviser on Overseas Filipino Communities, during his visit two weeks ago to include Alkhobar among the registration and voting centers in the Kingdom to ensure wider participation in the Philippines' first overseas voting.
