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The editorial team at diplo.news dedicated an entire day to the Philippines. High-ranking representatives from the Philippine Embassy in Berlin visited the newsroom at the Federal Press Conference building to learn about the work of the international diplomacy media outlet and the system of government press conferences.

The delegation was led by Philippine Ambassador Maria Teresa T. Almojuela. She was accompanied by envoy Gerardo Abiog, Economic Counselor Mary Luck Hicarte, First Secretary and Consul Benjamin A. Celedio and Vice Consul Dana Michelle Del Rosario.

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The visit focused on the world-unique system of government press conferences held at the Federal Press Conference building, as well as the diverse activities of diplo media gmbh. Publisher Ewald König introduced the guests to the company's various formats – including diplo.news, the diplo.academy with its media workshops for press attachés, the TV talk show diplo.international, the diplo.salon and other projects that bridge diplomacy, media, and international dialogue.

During the meeting, Ewald König – who happens to be the same age as the diplomatic relations between Germany and the Philippines – also offered a glimpse into his journalistic archive and presented the delegation with his 45-year-old interview with Domingo L. Siazon, who was serving at the time as the Philippine Ambassador to Austria and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Siazon later became his country's Foreign Minister and Director-General of the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

The GDR era was also a topic of conversation during the visit. At that time, the Philippines played a special role among Southeast Asian countries. They were the first nation from the Western-aligned ASEAN group to establish diplomatic relations with an Eastern Bloc state. Aside from the Philippines, only a few countries in the region maintained embassies in East Berlin. The Philippine Embassy in the GDR was located on a floor of a prefabricated building at Otto-Grotewohl-Straße 3a (now Wilhelmstraße 66), which at the time still offered an unobstructed view of the Brandenburg Gate. Neighbors in the same building included the embassies of Afghanistan, Greece, Pakistan, Portugal, Sweden, Zimbabwe, and Zaire, while the Austrian Embassy was housed in the building next door. Today, the Philippine Embassy is located not far from there at Luisenstraße 16.  

The Philippines Day continued there in the evening. The editorial team at diplo.news was “Summer Party x Pinoy Music” invited to the event. Filipino hospitality and singing defined the evening, which was held in celebration of Buwan ng Wika – the Philippine National Language Month.

The Buwan ng Wika is celebrated every August and celebrates the linguistic and cultural diversity of the Philippines. The country is home to more than a hundred languages. The aim of Language Month is to promote these languages, as well as the country’s cultural heritage and national identity.

Ambassador Almojuela assumed her post in Berlin last March. Manila maintains a consulate general in Frankfurt am Main and honorary consulates in Pullach and Stuttgart.

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