Seven given Agoncillo Service Award at DFA’s 122nd Founding Anniversary
PASAY CITY 23 July 2020 — Scores of DFA officers and personnel were given recognition for exemplary service during the commemoration Thursday of the 122nd founding anniversary of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), which coincided with the birthday of Apolinario Mabini, the first Secretary of Foreign Affairs.
The honorees were led by seven senior career diplomats who were conferred the Felipe Agoncillo Lifetime Service Award in view of their substantial contribution to the advancement of Philippine interests in the global community. They are Undersecretary for International Economic Relations Lourdes Yparraguirre, former Permanent Representative to ASEAN Elizabeth Buensuceso, Assistant Secretary for Maritime Affairs Generoso Calonge, Consul General in Shanghai Wilfredo Cuyugan, Consul General in Manado Oscar Orcine, former Ambassador to Jordan Olivia Palala and Ambassador to Hungary Maria Fe Pangilinan.
“I salute the men and women of the DFA who have given more than was asked of them. While the pandemic is a misfortune for all, we take solace in the fact that we have colleagues whose achievements we fittingly celebrate on the same day as Mabini’s birthday. We are glad that it is with them we stand our ground to face this pandemic; others would have buckled to their knees,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr said in his message.
The program was a blended face-to-face and virtual event that brought together DFA personnel from the Home Office, the different consular offices and the Foreign Service Posts from different time zones around the world. It was live-streamed on YouTube.
Also given recognition were 15 Outstanding Employees, 11 Assistance-to-Nationals (ATN) awardees and five Best Organizations, namely the Office of Asia and Pacific Affairs, Office of Consular Affairs, Office of Policy Planning and Coordination, Office of Treaties and Legal Affairs, and the Philippine Embassy in Manama, Bahrain, as well as some 790 Loyalty awardees.
The DFA-Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs (OUMWA), which led the DFA’s repatriation efforts for overseas Filipinos, and the DFA COVID-19 Mega Swabbing Center team, who volunteered for the mass bar encoding of test results of over 25,000 repatriated OFWs at the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) Mega Swabbing Center at the Mall of Asia Arena from 12 May to 09 June 2020, were also recognized for their selfless and dedicated service.
The DFA, for the first time, also recognized 19 personnel who have made significant achievements outside their official DFA work, such as in the fields of culture and the arts, sports and athletics, social and community advocacies. Among the recipients were Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Administration J. Eduardo Malaya (law, history), Philippine Ambassador to Bangladesh Vicente Vivencio Bandillo (Cebuano literature), Maritime and Ocean Affairs Office Executive Director Emmanuel Fernandez (non-fiction), Technical Cooperation Council of the Philippines Chair-Alternate Head Jose Maria Carino (arts), First Secretary and Consul Catherine Rose Torres of the Philippine Embassy in Germany (literature), Consul General in Agana Guam Marciano De Borja (history) and Ms. Anna Gabriella Guinto (sports).
The program featured musical performances by personnel from the Consular Office in Tacloban, young officers belonging to FSO Batch XXVII, and an ensemble by officers based in Copenhagen, Geneva and Brunei, respectively. “The Organizing Committee included into the program some musical performances and a literary reading, to lift up our spirits at this most difficult of times. It also affirms that at DFA we have talented, well-rounded personalities,” said Undersecretary Malaya who led the preparation for the anniversary program. END
(Screen capture from DFA's Official YouTube)
(Screen capture from Google Meet)
