Left Photo, from left: Fr. Simon Boiser, Atty. Suzette Suarez and Consul Adrian Cruz.
Right Photo: The speakers with the Philippine Community in Hamburg.
A large gathering of Filipino community members listened attentively to the Seminar on Marriage and Family Law in the Philippines held on 09 September 2017 at the Kliener Michel Parish in Hamburg.
Close to a hundred overseas and former Filipinos and their German spouses and children attended the one-day seminar. Participants came from the Hamburg metropolitan region and outlying towns, including Kiel, Lübeck, Bremen and Itzehoe.
The seminar was co-organized by the Philippine Embassy, the UP Alumni Association in Germany e.V. (UPAA) and the Filipino Catholic Community in Hamburg. Former UPAA Germany President Atty. Suarez gave a lecture on the Philippine family code as well as pertinent laws on dual citizenship, inheritance law, marriage and divorce/annulment. She is a member of the Philippine Bar and is allowed to practice Philippine and German law in Germany.
Left Photo: Consul Cruz explains the nature of ATN and consular work done by the Philippine Embassy. Right
Photo: Atty. Suarez discusses Germany’s inheritance laws and their similarities to Philippine law.
In his welcome remarks, Minister and Consul Adrian Cruz gave a description of the work being done by the Embassy’s Consular and Assistance-to-Nationals Section. He was pleased to note that the seminar attendees came very much prepared with questions about marriage, nationality and divorce. “The discussion seminars that the Philippine Embassy undertake is very interactive. We also learn a lot from the two-way dialogue that we have with the Filipino community,” he added.
Left photo: Atty. Suarez listens to a question on inheritance asked by a Filcom member; Right photo: Filipinos with
German spouses listen to the seminar conducted by Atty. Suarez.
A similar seminar was conducted in Cologne in July 2017 with assistance from the UPAA Germany and the Filipino Catholic Community in Cologne.
The Philippine Embassy – through the leadership of H.E. Ambassador Melita Sta. Maria Thomeczek has been forging closer cooperation with the Filipino community with regard to helping overseas and migrant Filipino women. The Seminar on Marriage and Family Law in the Philippines is one of several Gender-and-Development (GAD) projects undertaken by the Embassy to educate the Filipino community on the basic concepts relating to GAD such as gender integration and helping eliminate discrimination against women. (END)
