The Philippine Consulate General: A Brief History 

The Consulate General of the Philippines, Osaka-Kobe traces its beginning to the opening of the Consulate in Kobe on 28 August 1956 with the late Amb. Pelagio Llamas as its first Head of Post.

Located at Taiwa Building, 4F, 18-1 Akashimachi Chuo-ku, Kobe City in Hyogo, the Consulate was subsequently elevated to the status of a Consulate General in January 1960, with the late Amb. Delfin R. Garcia as its first Consul General.

For almost four decades, the Consulate General was in Kobe City until its transfer to Osaka.

Consul General Victor G. Garcia III was the Head of Post when the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake struck in 17 January 1995. The Kobe property was among those destroyed. A temporary office was held at 2F mansion Nobu, Kitano-cho Chuo-ku, Kobe City the following day.

With most of Kobe City still recovering from the destruction, it was decided to move the temporary office to Osaka City in February of 1995. Function Rooms at Rihga Royal Hotel, Osaka (2F 5-3-68 Nakanoshima Kita-ku Osaka City). Three months after, in May 1995, Marubeni Corporation offered the first three floors of its Advan City Uchiawaji Building, 2-3-7 Uchiwaji-Machi Chuo-ku, Osaka as the new location of the Consulate General.

In 26 November 2001, Consul General Antonio P. Villamayor led the transfer of the Consulate General to its current location at the MID Tower.

The Post is now officially named Philippine Consulate General Osaka.

This year marks the 65TH year of the mission’s presence in Western Japan. Since 1956, 17 Consuls General have held the leadership of the Post with the current Consul General being the 18th Head of Post.

Consuls General

         1956-1959          Pelagio Llamas
         1960-1964          Delfin R. Garcia
         1964-1971          Monico R. Vicente
         1971-1977          Victorino P. Paredes
         1977-1982          Belen S. Bautista
         1982-1983          Tomas R. Padilla
         1983-1984          Orestes D. Bello
         1984-1986          Tomas R. Padilla
         1986-1989          Rosario G, Janolo
         1989-1993          Jesus Alvaro
         1993-1996          Victor G. Garcia III
         1996-1999          Susan O. Castrence
         1991-2001          Pedro B. Firmalino
         2001-2005          Antonio P. Villamayor
         2005-2012          Maria Lourdes V. Ramiro
         2012-2017          Maria Teresa L. Taguiang
         2017-2021          Maria Aileen H. Bugarin
         2021                    Voltaire D. Mauricio

From the few hundreds or thousands in 1950s, the number of Filipinos under Post’s jurisdiction has increased tremendously. At the end of the last millennium, in 1998, 29, 509 Filipino nationals resided in 28 Prefectures of Western Japan. Ten years after, this number grew to almost threefold with 74,785. Combined with the figure under Tokyo’s jurisdiction, the Filipinos were fourth largest foreign community in Japan. As of December 2016, 101,049 Filipinos consider western Japan as their home with almost half as permanent migrants to the country.