Enrique Manalo to leave top DFA post on June 30

After serving as the country's top diplomat under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Secretary Enrique Manalo will leave his post at the Department of Foreign Affairs, an agency confronting multiple international crises, on June 30.

Manalo, 72, bid farewell to at least three dozen members of the Philippine and international media at a luncheon Thursday and described his term as three meaningful years of "building peace and cooperation and fostering enduring friendships" with allies "and even China."

"Our foreign policy remains the same. We're firmly anchored on the values and principles of peace, democracy, human rights, fairness, and justice. And we will continue to do so, especially in terms of enhancing national security," Manalo said.

Manalo said he actively advocated for economic security, as well as the promotion of the rights and well-being of Filipinos abroad.

A seasoned career diplomat, Manalo was appointed by Marcos as DFA chief on July 1, 2022, replacing Teodoro Locsin Jr.

He became acting Foreign Secretary from March 9 to May 17, 2017, after Perfecto Yasay failed to get the confirmation of the bicameral Commission on Appointments as DFA Secretary.

Manalo, who retired from the Foreign Service in 2018, served as Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York under former President Rodrigo Duterte from 2020 to June 30, 2022.

It is expected that he will be reappointed to this role following his departure from the top DFA job.

Marcos accepted Manalo's courtesy resignation on June 23, as announced by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin in a televised news conference.

Marcos announced in June a major Cabinet revamp after his senatorial candidates won fewer seats than the administration hoped for in the May 12 midterm elections.

He asked all Cabinet members to submit their letters of resignation and had accepted several, including Manalo's.

Bersamin announced that Manalo would be replaced by DFA Undersecretary for Bilateral Relations and ASEAN Ma. Theresa Lazaro, whose remarkable career in the foreign service largely focused on crafting Philippine foreign policy.

Lawmakers confirmed her appointment as the next DFA chief on June 11.

A former ambassador to France and Australia, Lazaro also led negotiations and talks in the Association of Southeast Nations, including a proposed code of conduct agreement in the disputed South China Sea between the 10-member bloc and China.

In July, the DFA announced that China and the Philippines had forged a landmark provisional arrangement that ended increasingly violent confrontations in the Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal, the international name for Ayungin Shoal.

Lazaro, 66, led the negotiations with Chinese officials for that temporary agreement, which has allowed at least eight resupply and rotation of troop missions for Filipino forces aboard the BRP Sierra Madre ship without any violent clashes.

The international community feared that the worsening incidents could spark a major armed confrontation that could involve the United States, a defense treaty ally of the Philippines.

Lazaro also led talks between the Philippines and China about several confrontations in the West Philippine Sea, called the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism, or BCM.

In those meetings hosted alternately by the Philippines and China, Lazaro's delegation from different government agencies formally protested China's assertive actions in the resource-rich waters and underscored Marcos' policy of "not giving a single square inch" of Philippine territory and interests. — VBL, GMA Integrated News