Vingno to Succeed Princesa as PH Envoy in UAE
DUBAI: Constancio Vingno Jr will succeed Grace Princesa as the Philippine ambassador to the UAE as the latter finishes her term in the UAE by month end.
Vingno has served as ambassador to South Africa from December 2011 with concurrent jurisdiction over Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland and the Kingdom of Lesotho, reported Gulf News.
Vingno, an economics graduate who has also studied law, has served Philippine missions in Greece, Japan, Austria, and Germany. The UAE is his first post in the Middle East, the report said.
Princesa reportedly said the new ambassador’s arrival to the UAE has not yet been fixed but he is expected to join shortly after she leaves for Manila.
Having served the Filipino community in the UAE for six years, Princesa will now be working at the main office of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila, focusing on migration to development, which served as her advocacy during her tenure in the UAE, said the Dubai-based news portal.
Fondly called ‘Nanay Amba’ (Mother Ambassador) in the community, Princesa considers empowering Filipinos one of her major accomplishments, apart from mitigating issues of household workers and the protection and reintegration of distressed workers, it was pointed out.
“This includes rekindling the bayanihan spirit (collective cooperative heroism for a common cause), migration to development through Pinoy [colloquial for Filipino] Wise,” Princesa was quoted as saying by Gulf News.
Pinoy Wise is a movement that aims to train Filipinos to pay themselves first after getting their salaries by saving and investing for their future.
Princesa reportedly said Pinoy Wise has successfully trained and equipped 3,400 Filipinos in the UAE. She said she is confident that the new ambassador will continue what she has started.
“I’m appealing to our compatriots to continue the bayanihan spirit, whose causes include lessening our financial challenges. If you have enough money, you can create a livelihood in the Philippines which can give livelihood to our women back home so that they won’t have to leave the country to earn a living. That’s our big dream,” Princesa was quoted as saying in the Gulf News report.