26 Foreign Service Officers Complete Cadetship Course
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. (middle) leads the Department of Foreign Affairs in congratulating the 26 Foreign Service Officers, who completed the Foreign Service Officers’ Cadetship Course, in the closing ceremony held on 12 March 2020 at Carlos P. Romulo Library, DFA. Joining Secretary Locsin are Carlos P. Romulo School of Diplomacy Head Marichu C. Liwanag (4th from left), FSI Officer-in-Charge Celeste Vinzon-Balatbat (5th from left), and FSI Core Programs Section Head Arniel D. Estrella (5th from right). (DFA Photo by Maria Vanessa P. Ubac)
PASAY CITY 12 March 2020 - A total of 26 Foreign Service Officers (FSO) forms the latest batch of diplomats welcomed by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) during the FSO-Cadetship Course closing ceremony held today at the Carlos P. Romulo Library, DFA.
The said junior FSOs belong to Batch Liyab Laya, and they are the 27th batch of career diplomats in the long history of DFA’s FSO Cadetship program.
In his congratulatory remarks, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. highlighted that while the life of a diplomat is “not always as attractive as it seems,” a career in the Philippine Foreign Service “gives you a deeper sense of being a Filipino.”
Secretary Locsin likewise reminded the junior FSOs to be flexible, but not in matters of principle, to have the zest for continued learning, and to be a team player. “Persevere to be the best diplomats that this country has produced.”
The FSOs completed a six-month intensive Cadetship Course, which covered 17 modules specially designed and managed by the Foreign Service Institute (FSI).
FSI Officer-in-Charge Celeste Vinzon-Balatbat, in her welcome remarks, highlighted that the Cadetship Course intends to provide these FSOs of diverse backgrounds with a shared foundation before serving in the DFA.
“This group’s cadetship course had innovations,” OIC Balatbat likewise added. It included a module on data analytics, counter-terrorism discussions with experts, 120 hours of Mandarin language lessons, among others. Other modules included negotiations, treaties, diplomatic protocol, assistance-to-nationals, crisis management, consular affairs, national security, economic diplomacy, public diplomacy, and cultural diplomacy
Teri Adolf Bautista, one of the junior FSOs, responded on behalf of the batch thanking the FSI and its staff for shepherding them through the six-month program.
Explaining the batch’s name, Bautista said it represents the group’s “burning passion to serve the nation and the liberty that our forefathers fought for.”
Special awards were given to several FSOs during the ceremony. Lorenz Fernand Dantes received the best foreign policy paper award for his research paper entitled “Re-evaluating the Two-State Solution: a Philippine Perspective.” Diane Merce Bartolome and Crystal Gale Dampil tied for the second best policy paper for their papers on “From NAFTA to USMCA: Possible Implications to the Philippines” and “The Cure to Amnesia: Updating the Philippine Treaties Index and the Philippine Treaties Database and Other Proposed Policies on Knowledge Management in the Department of Foreign Affairs,” respectively. Sheryl Uy bagged the third best policy paper award for her paper entitled “Finding New Policy Direction toward the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.”
The best arts management project proposal went to the group of Cathe Ryne Denice Sarmiento, Angela Kristel Laurente, Maika Ros Fontelera, Mary Jaselle Din, and Rainelda Mendoza. Three FSOs were also awarded as the top-performing cadets in the Mandarin language lessons. They were Sarmiento (1st), Armand Louis Dulay (2nd), and Bartolome (3rd). Bartolome was likewise recognised for her near-perfect attendance.
The 26 junior diplomats will now be deployed to different offices of the DFA before they are posted to Philippine embassies, missions, and consulates general in different parts of the world. END