11 November 2024, Berne - The Philippine Embassy in Berne conducted an assistance-to-nationals and consular outreach mission in Lugano in the Swiss canton of Ticino on 09 September 2024. This is the Embassy’s second and final consular outreach mission for the year 2024, following a previous outreach held in Zürich on 29 September.

A total of 17 services comprising passport, notarials, and civil registration were dispensed to applicants during the outreach. Three (3) members of the Filipino Community also took their oath of allegiance under Republic Act No. 9225 (Citizenship Retention and Reacquisition Act of 2003).

The Embassy team was also joined by the Migrant Workers Office-Geneva and the Social Security Services Representative Office in Milan, which covers Switzerland. Nineteen (19) OFWs were assisted regarding OWWA membership, issuance of Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC), and labor concerns, while 22 overseas Filipinos availed themselves of SSS services.

For the upcoming 2025 National Elections, the Embassy played to the public the COMELEC- Office for Overseas Voting’s infomercial on Online Voting and Counting for Filipino Overseas Voters to help raise awareness among the Filipino community on the online voting and counting system (OVCS). It also issued 17 digital overseas voter’s IDs to registered Filipino overseas voters.

The Embassy extends its gratitude to the DFA-Office of the Undersecretary for Migration Affairs (DFA-OUMA), the Philippine Consulate in Ticino, and the Filipino Community in Ticino Association (FCT) for their support to the outreach mission. END