Emil Guillermo: Inquirer.net Podcast—Philippine Consul General of San Francisco, Henry Bensurto, Jr.  --PART ONE

Listen to San Francisco’s “ConGen,” Henry Bensurto, Jr. on our Inquirer.net podcast.

Bensurto is the official voice of the Philippines for San Francisco and most of the West. He said of the nearly 5 million Filipinos in the U.S. about 1.5 million were in his jurisidiction.  

In the first part of a frank conversation, Bensurto talked about the importance of dual citizens, and how the last Philippine election saw an uptick bringing the number of his dual voters to 44,000.

But the more important number is the $24 billion in remittances that get sent back to the Philippines each year. That’s where the influence is. Nearly half of that $24 billion—roughly 44 percent—come from U.S. Filipinos, Bensurto said.

It means Filipinos abroad deserve their say in what happens in the Philippines, in Malacanang and in the Philippine Congress.

We also talked about the importance of the upcoming Philippine Independence Day celebration, with a gala concert at San Francisco’s Marines Memorial Theatre,  Fri. the 16th ; and an open event  on June 18th at noon at San Francisco’s Union Square.

Listen to Part One of the conversation with “Con Gen” Henry Bensurto, Jr.

Emil Guillermo is the host and producer of the Inquirer.net podcast.