23 October 2017, Dubai, U.A.E. --- The Philippine Consulate General in Dubai and the Northern Emirates hosted a Town Hall Meeting with Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Jose Ruperto Martin M. Andanar on 22 October 2017 at the Rizal Hall, Philippine Consulate. Accompanying the Secretary was PCOO Assistant Secretary for Policy and Legislative Affairs Michel Kristian R. Ablan.

More than 200 Filipino Community leaders, members, and media practitioners attended the Consulate’s October Town Hall Meeting. The Secretary discussed the accomplishments of Duterte administration, the war on drugs, fake news, a proposal to include social media in school curriculum, housing assistance for Marawi residents, and the status of IDOLE program and the proposed OFW bank, among many others. Secretary Andanar also commended OFWs for their sacrifices being away from their families to be able to support them and how these transpired to increase in remittances.

Secretary Andanar and Assistant Secretary Ablan also visited the wards at Migrant Workers and other Overseas Filipinos Resource Center (MWOFRC) of POLO prior to the town hall meeting.

Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes expressed appreciation to the Filipino Community for their continued participation in its monthly town hall meeting. He emphasized that this is an avenue where overseas Filipinos could voice out their opinions, raise inquiries on policy, and be updated of current political, economic, and socio-cultural developments in the country, thereby strengthening stakeholder engagement and partnership between the Consulate and the community it serves. END