H.E. Raul S. Hernandez, Ambassador of the Philippines in Turkey and his team with Filipino Community in Izmir leader Ms. Nenita Clemente

A team from the Philippine Embassy in Ankara, Turkey served around 50 Filipinos in Izmir, Turkey on its consular outreach and overseas voting field registration mission on 31 October 2020 and 1 November 2020. The team rendered 15 ePassport renewal services; received 5 Embassy ID applications and processed 5 notarizations and 20 overseas voting transactions.

Not all of the applicants who made appointments were able to go to the consular mission due to the 6.6 magnitude earthquake, which struck in Izmir the day before. H.E. Raul S. Hernandez, Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines also met with Filipino community leaders and members to discuss the safety and wellbeing of Filipinos in Izmir in the aftermath of the earthquake. No Filipino casualties from the earthquake have been reported. The Embassy, together with the Philippine Consulate General in Izmir, had been coordinating with Izmir local government officials in monitoring developments following the earthquake to determine whether any Filipino was affected by the disaster.

It was the first consular mission conducted by the Embassy since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey. In the interest of public health and safety, both Embassy personnel and applicants all wore face masks and observed social distancing guidelines throughout the conduct of the mission. END