Ambassador Petronila P. Garcia called on His Excellency Raymond Benjamin, Secretary General of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and formally presented her letter of credentials as Philippine Permanent Representative to the ICAO at the ICAO Headquarters in the City of Montreal on 2 October 2014.

Ambassador Garcia was accompanied by Deputy Chief of Mission Uriel Norman R. Garibay, and Minister and Consul General Eric Gerardo E. Tamayo, as alternate Philippine representatives to the ICAO.

Ambassador Garcia also paid a courtesy call on Nancy Graham, Director of the Air Navigation Bureau (ANB) of the ICAO, and was also received by MichielVreedenBurgh, Chief of the Implementation Support and Development of the Safety Management and Monitoring Unit of the ANB.

With the help of the ICAO, the Philippines has made significant progress in in implementing the necessary reforms and measures in promoting safety in the Philippine aviation sector.

The Philippines is also on track to remove from circulation all non-machine readable passport circulating by November 2015, and is among early complaint countries that have rolled out not only machine-readable passports, and also among the early adopters of the enhanced and advanced electronic passports (e-passports) technology as well.

While 2013 was regarded as the safest year for global aviation, the Philippines joins its fellow ICAO members in addressing the gaps that have contributed to recent high profile accidents and incidents in the aviation industry this year.

The Philippines remains committed to improving and ensuring aviation safety,as well as the integrity and security of travel documents in compliance with ICAO standards and prescriptions, in facilitating the flow of goods, promoting tourism, and easing and securing travel overall.

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