Ambassador Jaime Victor Ledda addresses guests at the Philippine Independence Day Reception, SS Rotterdam on June 28.

06 July 2017 – The Philippine Embassy in The Hague, The Netherlands highlighted Philippine-Dutch maritime cooperation in two events, namely the Seafarers’ Day organized by Maritiem Gezinskontakt on June 24 and the Philippine Independence Day Reception held at the SS Rotterdam on June 28.

Ambassador Jaime Victor B. Ledda highlighted the valuable role played by Filipino seafarers in both countries’ economic and social development. The Philippines is one of the biggest sources of seafarers in the Netherlands. Second Secretary and Consul Zoilo A. Velasco and Assistance-to-Nationals (ATN) Officer Edgar Adolfo V. Guibone also represented the Embassy during this event.

The celebration of Seafarers’ Day was followed by the Philippine Independence Day Reception at the SS Rotterdam, the former flagship of the Holland America Line and the largest passenger ship built in the Netherlands.

Baptized by Her Majesty Queen Juliana on 13 September 1958, the then new pride of the Dutch merchant fleet took its last transatlantic crossing from the Netherlands on 6 October 1971. Since then, the steamship was used for cruises, including several dozens of world tours. Since 2008, the foundation conservation Steamship Rotterdam started a rescue operation of the SS Rotterdam, which had been converted into a hotel with 250 rooms, a shop, two restaurants and bars on board. This was the venue of The Hague PE’s Philippine Independence Day Reception on 28 June, a fitting highlight of Philippines-Dutch maritime cooperation and of Filipino seafarers’ significant contribution to both countries’ growth and development.

Ambassador Ledda, during his remarks at the Reception, emphasized the maritime links between the Philippines and the Netherlands and expressed the hope for stronger people-to-people ties.

For more information, visit thehaguepe.dfa.gov.ph. END

  Ambassador Ledda with Filipino seafarers and Filipino community members in front of the village church in Oostvoorne in celebration of Seafarers’ Day, June 24, 2017.

 The Hague PE family at the Philippine Independence Day Reception, SS Rotterdam, 28 June 2017.
Front row: Ambassador Jaime Victor B. Ledda and Mrs Verenigda Ledda;
(to the left of Mrs Ledda) Second Secretary and Consul Ma. Theresa Alders, Rosalinda Balawag, Marijoy Elshof (local hire), Gina and Michiko Sales (wife and daughter of Manolo Sales), Paula Knack (local hire), and Norie Velasco (mother of Second Secretary and Consul Zoilo Velasco); (to the right of Ambassador Ledda) Maria Helen Operio, Mary Josephine Lawrence Platon, Jeremy Galabay (wife of Hy-noon Galabay), Maria Socorro Vink-Elevera (local hire), and Jenny Pelasol.
Back row: Edgar Guibone, Manolo Sales, Elias Balawag, Hy-noon and Timothy Galabay, Second Secretary and Consul Zoilo Velasco, Eric and Ava Alders (husband and daughter of Ma. Theresa Alders), Anacleto Diego, Jr., Redeem Tornilla, and Eliseo Rivera (local hire).