Filipino-American students of the University of California, Berkeley protested the attendance of Philippine consulate personnel at a lecture on their campus on April 22. They denounced the Philippine consulate’s criminal negligence toward Filipinos detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), while giving away $7,000 to the UC Berkeley Institute for East Asian Studies.

Assistance to Nationals Section head Deputy Consul General Maria Paz Cortez, Consulate General Arnel Talisayon, Political Sector head Vice Consul Marc Benigno, public information section head Vice Consul Hannah Go, and Cultural and Community Section head Vice Consul Glaiza Quarteros, attended the lecture.

The League of Filipino Students-UCB, Gabriela Berkeley, Pilipinx Academic Student Services (PASS), Pilipinx American Alliance (PAA), and PCN launched the protest. They confronted consulate officials over their deliberate neglect of Filipino victims of detention. They said many personnel attended the lecture, but are nowhere to be found to face those seeking help from the consulate.

According to the groups, the funds should have benefitted ICE detention victims instead of being donated to an institution of one of the richest universities in the US. The money was used to fund a lecture about the Philippines inside the university.

The Philippine consulate in San Francisco also donated ₱1 million ($17,000 at that time) in September 2024 to UC Berkeley’s Southeast Asian Studies to fund a single lecture. The consulate donated ₱430,000 ($7,136) in January for a lecture by the Ayala Foundation. UC Berkeley is a public institution with sufficient funds, yet it still accepts money from foreign governments.

In contrast to squandering public funds on these lectures, the consulate continues to deny Filipino migrants the funds allocated for them. The consulate deliberately withholds funds to migrants in detention, those seeking help to return home, or victims of wage theft. Aid is insufficient, if any is given, according to the groups.

The Department of Foreign Affairs allocated ₱1.3 billion for Assistance to Nationals in 2024. Only 58% or ₱775 million was reportedly released to migrants.

The protesters also denounced the Philippine government’s negligence in addressing the economic crisis and the on-going Balikatan war exercises in the country. They said that instead of addressing the severe crisis and poverty faced by workers and peasants, the government allocated funds and fuel to useless military exercises that do nothing but provoke war against China.