Viewing category: Political

National Defense College Conducts Study Tour in Europe

June 1, 2015

The National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP) embarked on their study trip to Germany from 10-19 May. The Philippine Embassy in Berlin facilitated the group´s courtesy calls on officials of the Federal Foreign Office, Ministry of Interior (BMI), the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI), and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Berlin. Meetings in Bonn with the Ministry of Defense (BMVg), Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) as well as a visit to the Köln City Hall.

Ambassador Melita Sta. Maria-Thomeczek hosted a dinner for visiting students and officials of the NDCP at the Embassy´s Bulwagang Rizal.

NDCP, as the premier institution for defense and security education, training, and research in the Philippines, is currently conducting the 50th Regular Course of the one-year Master in National Security Administration (MNSA) Program. The delegation was composed of 4 NDCP officials headed by the Chief of the Academic Affairs Division Prof. Charithie B Joaquin and 22 MNSA students, including one Brigadier from Sri Lankan Army.

Integral to the MNSA Program is the conduct of the annual Regional Security and Development Study (RSDS). The RSDS involves visits to a select country in a given region in order to provide an opportunity for the students to interact with key officials and stakeholders in the focus areas and identify important issues for development and national security.

More Filipino dual citizens in Germany starting 2015

December 22, 2014

Effective 20 December 2014, children born in Germany after 01 January 2000 to parents who, upon said birth, 1) were both foreigners and 2) one parent has stayed in Germany legally for 8 years, and 3) the child has grown up in Germany, can now opt for both German citizenship and the citizenship of their parent’s country when they turn twenty one (21). Previously, children born to foreign parents had to face the difficult decision of choosing only one citizenship upon reaching twenty one (21). For many who were born of Filipino parents, this meant choosing German citizenship over Filipino citizenship.

The amended German citizenship law (German Nationality Act or StAG) has now abolished the exclusivity rule that obliged children born in Germany of foreigner parents to choose one citizenship over the other citizenship (Optionspflicht). Children born of foreigner (non-German) parents in Germany after 01 January 2000 can now have both citizenships. However there is a condition that they should have grown up in Germany. This means they have been in Germany for eight (8) years or attended a school in Germany for six (6) years, or graduated from school or occupational training in Germany.

The same exemption from the obligation to choose is applicable to those children of foreign parents who were born in Germany between 01 January 1990 and 31 December 1999 and were naturalized, becoming German citizens in the year 2000. For them, they are likewise no longer obliged to choose one from both citizenships and can therefore retain their dual citizenships provided they grew up in Germany.

The changes to the citizenship law will not affect the current rule in the Philippines that children born of mixed marriages (ex. Filipino-German) are entitled to both citizenships (dual citizenship by reason of blood).

Thus, aside from the usual dual Filipino-German citizens, born of mixed Filipino and German parents and who are therefore both Filipinos and German by birth, there is now a newer group of dual Filipino-German citizens. They are those born of Filipino parents, or of a Filipino parent and a non-German parent.

Ambassador Melita Sta. Maria-Thomeczek applauded the recent amendments to the German law. Ambassador Thomeczek stated that “the changes to the immigration law are important in ensuring that Germany continues to be an open and multicultural society. It is especially important that Fil-Ger youth, many of whom continue to closely identify themselves with the Philippines, are able to stake their claim to their parent’s homeland. No difficult decisions will have to be made – the only decision they will have to think about it is when to renew their Philippine passport!”

***END

“25 YEARS AFTER THE BERLIN WALL’S FALL, A PIECE OF HISTORY BEGINS ITS JOURNEY TO MANILA”

November 28, 2014

Twenty five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a section of the famed symbol of a divided Europe will soon be making its way to Manila. Mr. Mardomel Melicor, chargé d’affaires, a.i. of the Philippine Embassy, received the section (“Mauerteil”) at the Gärten der Welt (Gardens of the World).

Ms. Margit Gehrcken of the Berlin Senate Chancellery officially turned over to Mr. Melicor the deed of donation executed by the Berlin city government that presented a section of the Berlin Wall to the citizens of Manila. The Berlin Senate conveyed that section of the Wall as part of its initiative to remember the importance of its fall. The Berlin Senate further noted “it was happy that part of the Berlin Wall would stand in Manila as a monument to remember that it was possible to successfully overcome and reunify divisions in Berlin and Europe.

Mr. Melicor and Ms. Gehrcken observed that the section allocated to the Philippines was number 22 in a series of 40 sections that were formerly located at Potsdamer Platz. Following the Wall’s fall, Sony GmbH donated portions of the Wall to the Berlin Senate. Potsdamer Platz is now a prime bustling commercial and entertainment district in Berlin, with Sony Center at its epicenter.

The piece of the Berlin Wall is expected to make its way to the Philippines in early 2015. The section stands 3.65 meters tall and 1.2 meters wide.*END

PHILIPPINE LEGISLATORS ENGAGE GERMAN MINISTRY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE, RENEWABLE ENERGY, AND LAND USE (BMUB)

October 29, 2014

A high-level delegation of senior Philippines legislators and policymakers met with technical experts of the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) earlier this month to discuss German and EU climate change and renewable energy policy.

The Philippine delegation was able to gain a keen appreciation of how Germany has developed a cohesive legal and policy framework in the last twenty-five years to address climate change, renewable energy and biodiversity conservation. The German policy mix has prioritized climate change mitigation through the aggressive adoption of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies as well as stringent land use and zoning regulations.

The Philippine side, for its part, stressed the importance of pursuing both climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, including leveraging technology to ensure that the disaster prone communities have the necessary information and tools to be prepared for natural hazards. The German Alliance for Development Works has consistently ranked the Philippines as one of the most disaster prone countries in the world.

The BMUB briefed the delegation that its climate change policy was firmly focused in pursuing ambitious mid-term and long-term targets for renewable energy and energy efficiency. Germany has targeted that by 2025, renewable energy sources should account for 40-45 percent of the energy mix and by 2050 this should reach at least 80 percent. Germany is also modernizing its energy supply system and grid infrastructure to ensure that renewable energy can be distributed throughout the country. While the Philippines already has a strong renewable energy mix, predominantly through geothermal and hydroelectric sources, both sides acknowledged the need to jointly pursue more cooperation in rationalizing climate financing to allow for the greater adoption of renewable energy technologies and related infrastructure in the Philippines.

The Philippines and Germany are currently pursuing more than ten programs funded under Germany’s International Climate Initiative (IKI). The programs are pursing innovative strategies such as harnessing indigenous knowledge and practices for natural resource management in the Agusan Marah Wildlife Sanctuary, conservation and improved management of marine protected areas, forest and climate protection in Panay, and the development of a national REDD+ mechanism.

Senators Sergio Osmeña, Loren Legarda, and Gregorio Honasan as well as Representatives Arlene Bag-Ao, Teddy Brawner Baguilat, Rufus Rodriguez, Francisco Matugas, Agapito Guanlao, and George Arnaiz led the twenty-five person delegation, which crisscrossed four German Federal States from 12-18 October 2014. The familiarization study tour is a project under the framework of the “Land Use Policy and Spatial Planning, Sustainable Forest Management, Adaptation to Climate Change and Biodiversity Conservation” program supported by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).***END

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Viewing category: Political

National Defense College Conducts Study Tour in Europe

More Filipino dual citizens in Germany starting 2015

“25 YEARS AFTER THE BERLIN WALL’S FALL, A PIECE OF HISTORY BEGINS ITS JOURNEY TO MANILA”

PHILIPPINE LEGISLATORS ENGAGE GERMAN MINISTRY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE, RENEWABLE ENERGY, AND LAND USE (BMUB)

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