On 01 July 2017, the Philippine Embassy consular team headed by Atty. Amor De Asis-Del Mundo together with Ms. Cecil Estrella, Mr. Renante Estrella, Ms. Nelma Casas, Ms. Lourdes Marie Reyes and Mr. Armand Mahinay conducted its sixth consular mobile outreach services in Bonn, Germany.

The Philippine Embassy team was able to process 108 consular services, including 78 passport applications and 22 notarial/civil registration applications.  Fifty-one Filipinos also took the opportunity to register for the Overseas Voting for the upcoming 2019 mid-term elections.

The Embassy Team was ably supported by volunteers from several Filipino community organizations in North Rhine-Westphalia, namely, the Sacred Heart of Jesus Group – Bonn, Tropa ng Kabataang Pinoy, Siegburg Community, Elohim Catholic Charismatic Community and The Loved Flock Community – Bonn.  Fr. Rodel Liguid, SVD,Chaplain of the Filipino Mission,Archdiocese of Cologne was also present to check on the consular activity.

The mobile outreach is part of the Philippine Embassy’s efforts to bring its consular services closer to Filipnos residing in different parts of Germany.  The final outreach for 2017 will be conducted in Munich in the fourth quarter of 2017.  More details shall be posted at the Philippine Embassy website. –END-

Mr. Torsten Griess-Nega has been appointed Honorary Consul of the Philippines with jurisdiction over the Federal State of Hesse. This was announced by the Philippine Embassy in Berlin.

The Office of the Honorary Consul of the Philippines is now located in Frankfurter Straße 70, D-61231 Bad Nauheim with telephone number +49 6032 96 61 250. Emails may be sent to hessen@philippine-embassy.de or mail@steintreu.de .

The official reopening of the Honorary Consulate will be on Monday, 03 July 2017. Opening hours to the public will be from Monday – Friday from 09:00 – 12:00 Hours.

Honorary Consul Griess-Nega has a long standing relationship with the Republic of the Philippines. For many years he was the Chairman of a manufacturing firm in Manila. Until the present, he travels regularly to Manila from Germany and has developed a great familiarity with the Filipino people. “I know the Filipino soul…” he once said.

In Germany, Honorary Consul Griess-Nega has been an active member of civil society organizations for many years. His achievements range from co-founder of private Universities (he was the President of the INSEAD Zentrum Leipzig for over 10 years) to heading a restructuring consultancy firm for more than 20 years, which did extensive work for the Berlin Government. Today he is still Chairman or member of the Board of Directors of many companies, among them Zahnfabrik Bad Nauheim, a company with a more than 100 years history.

He holds a Diploma of the University of Hamburg (Economics) and is a MBA graduate of the elite university INSEAD. He is married to Dipl. Kff, Dipl. Volkswirtin Heike Griess-Nega and has 4 children.

Honorary Consul Griess-Nega is one of the five Philippine Honorary Consuls of the Philippines in the Federal Republic of Germany.

“I am delighted to welcome Consul Torsten Griess-Nega a.h., into our Team Philippines in Germany and look forward to the reopening of an Honorary Consulate for the State of Hesse. Our public services can now be fully rendered once more to Filipinos and Germans in the State. Mr. Griess-Nega’s sterling qualifications make him an ideal representative of the Philippines in Hesse,” remarked Ambassador Melita Sta. Maria-Thomeczek.

Mr. Griess-Nega’s predecessor, Professor Dr. Gerhard Zeidler, has retired from the position as of 01 January 2017 after 16 years as Honorary Consul and later Honorary Consul General.

The Philippine Consulate in Hesse offers civil registration services for Filipinos, issues tourist visas for Germans and does legalization and authentication of documents, to name a few. -END-