(Eagle News) – President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., has chosen seasoned career diplomat Enrique Manalo as secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Manalo, 69, was appointed on Friday, July 1, replacing Teodoro Locsin Jr.
He had previously served as Acting Foreign Affairs Secretary from March 9 to May 17, 2017 during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte. This was when the Commission on Appointment rejected the ad interim appointment of Perfecto Yasay Jr. due to issues on his citizenship.
Before that, he served as Philippine Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2011 to 2016 and the undersecretary for Policy of the Department of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2020. He was also the country’s Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations from 2020 to 2022.
-Son of well-respected diplomats-
Manalo, the son of two well-respected diplomats, the late Ambassador Armando Manalo, a journalist and the former Philippine Ambassador to Belgium and political adviser of the Philippine Mission to the United Nations, and Ambassador Rosario Manalo, the first female career diplomat of the DFA who is the Special Representative of the Philippines to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights and had served as undersecretary of Foreign Affairs in charge of International Economic Relations from 1997 to 2001.
-Started career with the DFA in 1979-
The newly appointed DFA Secretary Manalo has been with the DFA since 1979, beginning his career in the foreign service as the Special Assistant to the Office of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1979 to 1981. He then completed his first tour of duty at the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland until 1986.
He was also the First Secretary and consul at the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C. from 1986 to 1989, and then served as the Special Assistant to the First Undersecretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs until 1992.
From 1992 to 1998, he was the Minister Counselor at the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in New York, and thereafter, as Assistant Secretary for European Affairs.
He was back at the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in New York from 2000 to 2003 serving as its Deputy Permanent Representative with the rank of Ambassador. He then served as the Permanent Representative of the Philippine Mission to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland from 2003 to 2007
From 2005 to 2007, Manalo served as the elected chairman of the 41st and 42nd session of the World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly.
He was appointed DFA Undersecretary for Policy in 2007 serving until 2010.
Before his appointment as the Undersecretary for Policy, Manalo previously served as the Philippine Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2011 to 2016; Non-Resident Philippine Ambassador to Ireland from 2013 to 2016; Philippine Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg, and Head of the Philippine Mission to the European Union from 2010 to 2011.
Manalo graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of the Philippines where he also completed his M.A. in Economics.
He is married to Madame Pamela Louise Hunt with whom he has two sons.
(Eagle News Service)