URDANETA CITY–After a nine-year stint as mayor here, Amadeo Perez Jr. is now based in Taiwan as head of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO).

MECO is a private entity involved in promoting tourism and trade relations between the Philippines and Taiwan as well as overseeing the welfare of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Taiwan, numbering around 85,000.

It effectively serves as a consular office of the Philippines in Taiwan. Since the Philippines upholds the One China Policy, it can not open a regular consular office in Taiwan.

MECO, which has a counterpart in Manila called Taiwan Economic and Cultural 
Office (TECO), is also taking initiatives to convince Taiwanese businessmen to invest in the Philippines.

Perez, who also served in congress for three terms, said his office is now making arrangements with the Taiwanese government for a technology-transfer program on agri-fishery from experts in Taiwan to the Philippines.

As a private entity, MECO’s operational funding does not come from the government but from the visa fees collected from Taiwanese businessmen and tourists coming to the Philippines.–LM

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