DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 19 September) – Belgium’s Honorary Consulate for Mindanao opened here on Wednesday with former Philippine Press Institute President Leonilo Claudio as Honorary Consul. This is the 22nd honorary consulate based in Davao City, which also hosts four consulate-generals: China, Indonesia, Japan and Malaysia.
Belgium’s Ambassador to the Philippines Michel Parys told reporters that they set up an honorary consulate here because “I want Belgian companies to know that doing business in the Philippines is not just doing business in Manila, they have to look for other places too.”
Belgium’s Ambassador to the Philippines Michel Parys (R) and Honorary Consul Leonilo Claudio at the unveiling of the marker of Belgium’s Honorary Consulate for Mindanao in Davao City on Wednesday, 18 September 2024. MindaNews photo by CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS
He said Belgians travel around the world and from time to time some of them figure in accident, have a medical problem, lose their money or passport “so it’s always good to have different places that can help them. And for the moment, the problem was if a person was in trouble in Mindanao, then we have to try to solve the problem from very far.”
“So Belgium is definitely not afraid of Mindanao?” Parys was asked. “No, we are actually buying cacao from Davao, so some of the Belgian chocolate is coming from Mindanao,” he said.
The Honorary Consulate, located on the second floor of the Ecoland Medical Center along Quimpo Boulevard, is the 22nd based in Davao City, 12 of them from countries in Europe.
Honorary Consul Leonilo Claudio and Belgium’s Ambassador to the Philippines Michel Parys cut the ribbon at the opening of Belgium’s Honorary Consulate for Mindanao in Davao City on Wednesday, 18 September 2024. MindaNews photo by CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS
The 22 countries with honorary consulates here are: Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Palau, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka and Switzerland. Spain also has an honorary consulate in Zamboanga City.
Tony Peralta, Finland’s Honorary Consul here, told MindaNews Romania and Sweden will open their honorary consulates here this year.
(L to R) Israel’s Honorary Consul Jorge Maquez, Japan’s Consul-General Yoshisha Ishikawa, Belgium’s Honorary Consult Leonilo Claudio, Belgium’s Ambassador to the Philippines Michel Parys, Secretary Lope Santos of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, Finland’s Honorary Consul Tony Peralta and Malaysia’s Consul-General Deddy Faisal Ahmad Salleh pose for a souvenir photo after Parys and Claudio unveiled the marker at the opening of Belgium’s Honorary Consulate for Mindanao in Davao City on 18 September 2024. MindaNews photo by CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS
Ambassador Parys cited other projects involving Belgians here, including planting coffee in Bukidnon. Another Belgian, he said, plans to establish a farm in Bukidnon while a Belgian company is promoting small hydroelectric turbines that can be put in a river without a big dam “so it’s just using the flow of the river.”
Ambassador Michel Parys of Belgium at the opening of Belgium’s Honrary Consulate for Mindanao in Davao City on 18 September 2024. MindaNews photo by CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS
“We have a company who is dealing in water pumps that work on solar energy and wind energy. So if there is wind, it will pump the water, if there is sun and no wind, it will still pump the water. So we have different things that are possible,” he said.
According to Parys, the Embassy of Belgium issues 7,000 visas every year, 5,000 of these to Filipino seafarers working in shipping lines that pass through the ports of Belgium.
Honorary Consul Leonilo Claudio answers reporters’ queries while Belgium’s Ambassador to the Philippines Michel Parys listens at the opening of Belgium’s Honorary Consulate for Mindanao in Davao City on Wednesday, 18 September 2024. MindaNews photo by CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS
Claudio, a former publisher of the San Pedro Express and former PPI President, told reporters that his office will “promote our bilateral relations between Belgium and the Philippines in general, and specifically in Mindanao.”
“By way of promoting cultural, educational, commercial, and economic ties, we will try to work out some investors coming in or export-import transactions,” he said.
He noted that Davao is the cacao capital of the Philippines and “these cacao beans are harvested here and are consolidated and brought and shipped to Belgium and when they come back, they become chocolate (bars).”
“So probably one of the things that as a consulate, we’d like to look into the possibility of a processing facility … so that the beans that will be grown and harvested here will be processed, and there will be a value-added. And that would be good for the farmers and good for the economy,” Claudio added.
Brussels in Belgium is the headquarters of the European Union. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
