42nd Consular Corps of the Philippines Charity Ball

The Consular Corp of the Philippines held its 42nd Annual Consular Charity Ball on Saturday, December 2, in the Rizal Ballroom of the Makati Shangri-la Hotel. Several members of the Rotary Club of Manila are members of the Consular Corps, and perhaps even more are happy to attend the event that many consider to be the best party of the year! Before we review the event and those in attendance, it might be informative to clarify what is a consul and what are the expectations and benefits.

All consuls are members of the diplomatic corps and are official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the represented country, and to facilitate trade, tourism and friendship between the people of the two countries. A consul of the highest rank is termed a consul-general, and his or her office a consulate-general. He or she typically has one or several deputy consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents working under the consul-general. Consulates-general need not have their offices in the capital city. Many are in important or appropriate cities in terms of bilateral relations (commerce, travel, etc.) In the United States, for example, most countries have a consulate-general in New York City (the home of the United Nations), and some have consulates-general in several major cities.

A consul is distinguished from an ambassador, the latter being a representative from one head of state to another. There can be only one ambassador from one country to another, representing the first country’s head of state to that of the second, and his or her duties revolve around diplomatic relations between the two countries. There are a few circumstances when there may be more than one ambassador, such as the US has an Ambassador to the Philippines, as well as an Ambassador to ADB. There may be several consuls, one in each of several main cities, providing assistance with bureaucratic issues to both the citizens of the consul’s own country traveling or living abroad and to the citizens of the country in which the consul resides who wish to travel to or trade with the consul’s country.

Consuls may also be honorary, that is, not necessarily citizens of the countries that they represent, and are not career officers of the countries that they represent. They are, however, highly regarded and respected members of a community, are in fact part of the elite diplomatic corps and, as such, come with limited privileges, protection and perks. They have some degree of diplomatic immunity (actually specified in the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations). The actual perquisites may vary substantially, depending on the host country. In some circumstances, they may fly flags of their represented country on their cars, don’t usually get parking tickets, they pass through the diplomatic fast lane at immigration, and might not be subject to real estate taxes, and their homes and offices are often off-limits to law enforcement.

One key difference between a consul and an honorary consul is that honorary consuls either do not get paid at all, or receive only a nominal salary for their work. Honorary consuls are part time positions. They provide some services on behalf of their sponsoring countries such as legalizing documents (ie notarization), and they may earn income from the issuance of certain documents, such as visas.

The consular ball is a special fund-raising event of the Manila corps. They have supported assistance to seriously ill children at Quirino Memorial Medical Center through collaboration with the Kythe Foundation, the UP-PGH Child Foundation, Fr. Shay Cullen’s PREDA Foundation in Subic, for ECPAT for livelihood training of sexually abused children, for feeding children through the Mission Hills of Grace Foundation, and more, each year.

This year, the Dean of the Consular Corps of the Philippines is our very own Rtn. Camila Sanhueza (Minister Counselor Deputy Chief of Mission, Chile), and was joined by spouse Fernanda. Ten additional members from RCM include Dir Issam Eldebs (Consul General & Secretary a.h., Syria), PVP Fausto Presyler (Costa Rica Consul General a.h. and Past Dean), PDG/PP Vicente Carlos (Cote d’Voire Consul General a.h. & Past Dean), DE/Dir. Bobby Joseph (Consul a.h. of Latvia), Dir. Joe Assad (Consul a.h. Lebanon), Dir/PE Susing Pineda (Consul a.h. Fiji), and Rtn. Dong Benedicto (Consul a.h of Albania), PP Ed Reyes (Consul a.h. Croatia), PD Mike Guerrero (Consul General a.h. Jamaica), DE Jackie Rodriguez (Consul a.h. Serbia), and Rtn Roy Zosa (Consul a.h. Honduras).

Among those who had a truly great time at the ball was Rtn. Gunter Matschuck and his wife Joanne. Gunter says he hasn’t missed this ball since his first one 26 years ago! President Jimmie Policarpio and his wife Catherine were called to the stage to draw some of the door prizes but, unfortunately, he did not draw one of our names. Rtn Joe Assad spent much of the time on stage taking video. We think that his wife Ma. Victoria Javier has forgiven him – she’s used to it. Mrs. Maritess Pineda, spouse of Dir/PE Susing, had a great hair-do and a smile that filled the room. Rtn. Johnny Chotrani seemed to be introducing so many people from India and south Asia to others that I didn’t see him eat. Rtn Noy Benedicto also seemed to know everyone. Rtn Warren So was with his wife Brenda Ang. He not only sported the niftiest tuxedo, but shared that maybe Dong and Noy’s brother Benedicto Jr. would like to join RCM! Fem Lonzaga did her best to keep AT Ner Lonzaga in rein at the same table with PD/Legal Counsel Amading Valzez, with spouse Nelly. Dir Art Lopez was at Susing’s table, and Rtn. Pardeep Bhalla was seated with Issam. PDG Alex Cureg and spouse Anna were across the room, as were PP Frank Evaristo and partner Vicky Montilla. Yours truly was fortunate to be the guest of Inner Wheel PP Marissa Fenton.

Several Ambassadors who are honorary members of RCM were in attendance, including Rtn Ambassador of Israel Effie Ben Matityau, Neil Reeder (Canada), Jan Top Christiansen (Denmark), Franz Jessen (EU), and Tom Ossowski (Germany).

If you didn’t purchase a ticket for this year’s ball, be sure to consider next year. It is bound to be THE ball of the year again.