Neriza Sarmiento - Saito's
On the Road to
C marks the Spot for Connection, Community and Camaraderie with CONSUL-GENERAL VOLTAIRE D. MAURICIO Philippine Consulate General OSAKA - KOBE
“T’was the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a.... but alas, someone... so jolly and bright comes out from the kitchen with a chopping board laden with holiday delights!!” Oh.... Christmas is a time to fantasize and a time to get-together and I was only trying to put our featured personality as a parallel to St. Nicholas or Santa Claus, who can bring a smile to any child and to any other person of any age. Consul-General Voltaire D. Mauricio, his wife, Bell and their family arrived in 2021 for his new post at the Philippine Consulate General in Osaka-Kobe. When the officers of the Philippine Community Coordinating Council paid him a courtesy call on June 10, they were in the middle of moving to their new residence and their road bikes were still unpacked. “Our family likes to go cycling together that’s why we brought our bikes here from the UK. That’s my wife’s passion. We hope to see as many places in Japan where we can meet more Filipinos,” he said. Despite his magnanimous presence, Congen has a way of putting anyone at ease by simply asking about where one is from and amazingly, he would know the specialty of that place. That’s another passion of the Mauricio family - good food. For instance, he knew where to eat the best “Serkele“ in Baliuag or the best “Bagnet” in the Ilocos region or the most famous place to have “Sisig” in Pampanga. There’s a special way
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by which he makes his listeners savor the taste and aroma of any dish through words. A big fan of the late writer on Philippine theater, cultural historian and food critic Doreen Fernandez, Congen Voltaire brings anyone to a journey beyond Epicurean delights and the process of partaking of the meal. It’s more than “pagtikim” (tasting) that later turns into a memorable experience when the food is not simply “masarap” (delicious) but also “malinamnam” (delectable). That meeting was the beginning of more memorable experiences with Congen Mauricio and his family and staff at the
Philcongen for meetings with other Filipino communities in other parts of Japan. He explained several issues commonly asked by Filipinos in Japan clearly and simply such as Dual Citizenship,
Absentee Voting and judicial jurisdiction of divorce. That can be attributed to his strong background in law and politics having graduated from the University of the Philippines in Diliman (Bachelor of Law) Ateneo de Manila University. Former Consul in Osaka, Senen Mangalile was on the same Sigma Rho fraternity in the College of Law. They belonged to the batch of young diplomats in the DFA under the tutelage of Ambassador Antonio Villamayor who was also the Consul-General in Osaka in 2003 and was the moving force in the transfer of the consulate office in the OBP. “Consul-General Senen Mangalile was my boss in the Embassy in London. I was the First Secretary and Consul, so we were on several outreach missions together. First and foremost, we must know our Filipino community in our area and respond to their needs. They should be treated with respect, as being individuals not as statistics.“ True to his word at the first exploratory meeting with the PCCC in Mie Prefecture, Congen Voltaire and Bell and their two
NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2021
