TORONTO - The long wait is over. The new Philippine Consul General in Toronto has arrived.

Long wait because the previous Congen (Consul General) was becoming a butt of jokes for overstaying for months.

Minerva Jean A. Falcon, the new Congen, is unmistakably a veteran diplomat, an old hand with the confidence of decades of Foreign Service.

She was ambassador to Turkey (1994-1996), Germany (2003-2005) and Switzerland. She was a consul general to Hawaii, Hamburg and Vancouver. She was a junior officer in Australia, France and Spain.

Just before her Toronto assignment, she was American Affairs director of Foreign Service Institute.

Following are her other positions in the home office:

* Assistant Secretary, Office of American Affairs, 17 April 2001- 08 Sept. 2002

* Assistant Secretary, Office of Legal Affairs, 22 January 2001-15 April 2001

* Assistant Secretary, Office of Legal Affairs, 1994

* Special Assistant/Chief Coordinator, Office of the Secretary, 1992-1994

* Executive Director, Office of Personnel and Administrative Services, 1984

* Chief, Office of ASEAN Affairs, 1982-1983

* Principal Assistant, Office of United Nations & Other International Conferences, 1972-1973

‘Like a homecoming’

But more than the long bio-data that can be found in the search engines on the Internet, the new Congen sounded very articulate.

She said Toronto is “like a homecoming” for her and she was glad to be back in Canada. She said she served for only 14 months in Vancouver after which she was assigned to Switzerland.

She said she is one and half years before retirement and she had left some “loose ends” she “didn’t finish in Vancouver like caregivers” issues.

Asked about her major area of interest as Congen in Toronto, she said it’s the “tightening up of relations between the community and the Philippines.”

‘Assisting kababayans’

Just like any consular office, she said she will be concerned with visa and passport matters but more importantly in “assisting kababayans” and enhancing the commercial relations between the Philippines and her area of jurisdiction.

She also mentioned that in Vancouver there is a very active Filipino Canadian business council that sends trade delegations to the Philippines.

She said she has been reading a lot about Filipinos in Toronto. She observed that the profile of the Filipino overseas has changed a lot — there are more landed migrants and migrant workers.

Asked what she meant by “assisting nationals,” she said “caregivers need a lot of hand holding — we need to assist them.”

She talked about matching the caregivers and temporary workers with the employers and the fact that some were illegally recruited. Some cases need police action, she said. In Vancouver, she said, some of them “have fallen between the cracks.”

She mentioned that she had received a briefing from Labor Attache Frank Luna within 3 days of her arrival in Toronto.

The Philippine Reporter interviewed her over the phone on a Friday, Feb. 26. She arrived on Tuesday, Feb. 23, and has not settled down in her new place.

Asked when she was going to start work, she said she had already rolled up her sleeves and had started working.

She said she just has to do official calls, to present credentials to inform the Canadian government of her arrival and assumption into office. In her own words, “put up the tent, tell them I’m in town. Then I can officially start work.”

The impression from the very brief phone interview is that the new Congen will have proactive working style in dealing with the current situation in the community in regard to caregiver and foreign temporary workers issues and concerns.