The Consul General
Zaldy B. Patron
July 2019 to May 2024
A career diplomat since 1996. Has extensive experience in bilateral and multilateral relations, economic and political diplomacy, and consular work. Has work experiences in government, management consulting company, publicly-listed chemical company and not-for-profit organization. Well-traveled, exposed to various cultures, and accustomed to working with different nationalities. Has lived in the Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, the US, and Canada. Outside of his diplomatic postings, he has been to all 11 Southeast Asian nations, Australia, the Netherlands, and United Kingdom.
An open
Letter of Gratidude
from Consul General Zaldy Patron
Today marks the end of my six-year tour of duty at the Philippine Consulate General in Calgary, almost five years of those years I spent as Consul General.
It has been a great honor and privilege to serve our almost 217,000 Filipinos in Alberta and another 44,000 in Saskatchewan.
I am leaving Calgary with a much better and more improved Philippine Consulate General.
Consular Services
During my term, we moved to a bigger and more spacious office. We introduced new systems and process, such as the online passport and non-passport appointment systems, for the convenience of the public. We now allow cashless payment for our consular services. We conducted several consular outreach missions in various parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The long line of applicants in our office and during the consular outreach missions has become a thing of the past. From 2019, we processed more than 131,000 consular services. We provided assistance-to-national services to another 1,035 individuals, with 207 of them receiving financial assistance from the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Cultural Diplomacy
We were an active partner of our Filipino community in promoting our Filipino heritage, culture, and identity through our various projects. The Dr. Jose Rizal Monument in Nose Creek Regional Park in the City of Airdrie is now a source of pride for our community. Last year, the Philippine Consulate General led the celebration of the 125th Anniversary of the Declaration of the Philippine Independence at this Rizal Monument, which has been declared as a Philippine Historical Site by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. For three years, we promoted and mainstreamed the Filipino cuisine and helped the Filipino- owned restaurants through the Filipino Restaurant Month in Canada. We featured our Filipino artists through the one-month painting exhibits that we had for two years. We co-organized the Filipino Language and Culture Conference to train our Filipino teachers and educators in Alberta how to teach the Filipino language as a heritage language. We worked for the introduction of the Philippine
Studies Lectureship Program in the University of Alberta. We advocated for the introduction of Filipino 15, Filipino 25, and Filipino 35 elective subjects to more high schools in Alberta. We requested the National Commission for Culture and the Arts to donate a Rizal metal signature for the Airdrie Public Library. Last year, we co-sponsored a Simbang Gabi in Calgary.
Promotion of the Welfare of Filipino Nationals
We promoted the welfare and interests of the Filipino internationally educated nurses (IENs) in Alberta by lobbying for the easier recognition of their credentials. We successfully lobbied and advocated for the Philippines-Alberta Memorandum of Understanding on the Recruitment of Filipino Nurses, which has given our Filipino IENs access to a $7.8 million bursary program. There are now additional 1,847 seats in the nursing bridging programs across the province, available in ten universities and colleges, that our Filipino IENs can apply for.
After the Filipino IENs, we organized a webinar this year where the officials of the Alberta Ministry of Education taught our Filipino internationally educated teachers how to become certified teachers in the province.
Economic Diplomacy
We made education cooperation as a flagship program of the PCG. We introduced the Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to University of Alberta and University of Saskatchewan which led to the DOST’s signing of a graduate scholarship program with each of these two leading Canadian universities. Under this program, eleven scholars of the DOST have studied in University of Alberta. We have encouraged the Alberta Ministry of Education to enter into an education cooperation agreement with the Philippines. We also engaged Bow Valley College, NorQuest College, University of Lethbridge, University of Regina, and University of Calgary and connected them with potential partners in the Philippines.
We promoted cooperation on science, technology and innovation with Alberta and Saskatchewan by organizing the visit of DOST Secretary Renato Solidum to these two provinces in March 2024.
We brought eight small- and medium-sized enterprises from the Philippines to Edmonton, Calgary, and Regina through the Philippine Trade Expo that we co- organized from July to August 2022. We promoted Philippine tourism through the annual Winter Escapade travel tour to the Philippines which saw the participation of 100 participants from Alberta and Saskatchewan this year. We connected the Philippine Department of Energy and the Alberta Ministry of Energy and Minerals to each other, and they are now in the process of negotiating a Philippines-Alberta bilateral energy cooperation agreement.
Engagement with the Filipino Community
We engaged with different Filipino community organizations and not-for-profit organizations. Our partnerships with our community allowed us to play a role in the formation of the Philippine Canadian Nurses Association, the Knights of Rizal, the Filipino Academic and Cultural Educators Society, and the Philippine Folk Dance Society-Alberta Chapter.
Throughout the last six years, the Philippine Consulate General in Calgary was able to accomplish a lot to improve our delivery of our consular services, to elevate the stature of our community and highlight the Filipinos’ beautiful and unique culture and heritage, to support our Filipino entrepreneurs, and to promote a wide range of cooperation between the Philippines and the two Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The Philippine Consulate General in Calgary would not be able to realize the many projects we were able to accomplish during the last five years I was heading it without the support and cooperation of our Filipino community and our partners in the different universities, in the business sector, and in the various levels of governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
I am going back to Manila, grateful for the opportunity to serve you all.
ZALDY B. PATRON
Consul General
Calgary, 5 May 2024
