HISTORY OF DUBAI PCG

Before establishing the Philippine Consulate General (PCG) in Dubai in 2004, the Philippine Government’s presence in Dubai was through the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi, which formally opened on 17 June 1980. The Migrant Workers Office (MWO), formerly known as the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO), was established in 1986, and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) was established in 1988. For consular services, Filipinos in Dubai and the Northern Emirates had to go to Abu Dhabi or wait for the Embassy’s consular outreach team to visit Dubai once a week.

The opening of the consulate became necessary with the significant increase in Filipinos in Dubai and the Northern Emirates during the late 1990s and early 2000s, which came alongside the rapid development of Dubai as a major tourist destination and a business and logistics hub.

The Philippine Consulate General in Dubai was established and officially opened by Consul General Generoso D.G. Calonge on 06 April 2004. Actual consular work began sometime in November of the same year, although operations became regularized only a few months after.

The Consulate was initially housed in POLO until it was transferred to its premises in the Hamriyah area in March 2005. It later transferred to the Al Qusais area in September 2006 and moved to its present location in Al Qusais 3 in September 2011.

Dubai PCG has consular jurisdiction over the emirates of Dubai, Sharjah, Ras al Khaimah Ajman, Umm al Quwain, and Fujairah.

Following are the officers who served as its head of mission:

Name	Period
Generoso D.G. Calonge	06 April 2004 to 15 October 2005
Antonio S. Curameng	28 January 2006 to 29 May 2007
Benito B. Valeriano	23 January 2008 to 29 September 2012
Frank R. Cimafranca	24 November 2012 to 24 April 2015
Paul Raymund P. Cortes	21 June 2015 to 31 October 2021
Renato N. Dueñas, Jr.	01 November 2021 to 14 February 2024
Marford M. Angeles	17 March 2024 - Present

To date, the consulate has received the following awards from the Department of Foreign Affairs:

• 2017 – Best Organization Award

• 2019 – Assistance-to-Nationals Award (Group Category) in recognition of the consulate’s exemplary performance of leading the mass repatriation of amnesty-seekers during the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Immigration Amnesty program and providing efficient, effective, and client-centered Consular and Assistance-to-Nationals (ATN) services to over 400,000 Overseas Filipinos under its jurisdiction

• 2019 – Best Performing Unit

• 2020 – Special Citation in recognition of the consulate’s exemplary contribution, commitment, and valuable assistance to the ongoing repatriation efforts of the Department in providing responsive, timely, and efficient repatriation efforts in light of the Covid-19 pandemic

• 2021 – Best Organization Award (Consular Section) for developing an automated online appointment system that enables end-to-end processing and document tracking, as well as an in-house Quick Response (QR) system that facilitates and ensures seamless entry and retrieval of clients to the Consulate

• 2022 – Assistance-to-Nationals Award (Group Category) in recognition of the ATN team’s successful implementation of the DFA-chartered repatriation flights from June to September 2021, bringing home 3,362 distressed Overseas Filipinos.