19 August 2014 – The Philippine Consulate General in Guam welcomed Marciano R. De Borja as its new Consul General in Agana, Guam upon his arrival on August 6 at the Won Pat International Airport on board Philippine Airlines flight 111. Philippine Consul General De Borja succeeds Bayani V. Mangibin who already left Guam to assume his new assignment as Philippine Ambassador to Nairobi, Kenya.
As with his predecessor, Consul General De Borja will have concurrent jurisdiction over the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands of Saipan, Rota and Tinian, as well as consular jurisdiction over the Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia including the Pohnpei, Yap, Chuuk and Kosrae, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Before his assignment to Guam, Consul General De Borja served as Senior Special Assistant at the Office of the Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Concerns at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila.
From 2009 to 2011 he was assigned as Minister in the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in New York, where he represented the Philippines at the UN Security Council, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary Affairs) of the UN General Assembly and the ASEAN-New York Committee. He also served in diplomatic and consular positions at the Philippine embassies in Tokyo, Santiago, and Madrid.
Consul General De Borja is a career diplomat who joined the Philippine Foreign Service in September 1992 after having placed 5th in the 1991 Foreign Service Officers’ (FSO) examinations. He first served in the Department of Foreign Affairs as a principal assistant for the Central Europe Desk of the Office of European Affairs and was subsequently promoted to Acting Director in the same office. He also headed the United States Desk as Director at the Office of American Affairs.
Having earned two Bachelor of Arts degrees in History and European Languages (cum laude) from the University of the Philippines, Consul General De Borja then completed his Master of Arts in History and Geography from the University of Navarra in Spain with scholarships from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Fundación General Mediterránea, a private foundation in Madrid. He also studied International Politics at the University of Tokyo as a Monbusho (Japanese government) scholar.
Consul General De Borja has authored three books, namely, “FSO IV: Starting Career in the Philippine Foreign Service” (New Day Publishers, 1999), “Basques in the Philippines” (Nevada Press, 2005), and “The State Department Boys: Philippine Diplomacy and its American Heritage,” which was published last month in Washington, D.C. by New Academia Publishing.
He is also the recipient of various awards, such as the Outstanding Student in the Social Sciences, which he received in January 1990 at the University of the Philippines from the Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society and the Outstanding Pasigueño in Public Service Award, which he received in July 2001. The Nueva Vizcaya State University has also conferred on him the degree of Doctor and Humanities (Honoris Causa) in May 2007. Two years later, Consul General De Borja was also declared an “Adopted Son of Nueva Viacaya.”
For his outstanding performance in and dedication to the Philippine Foreign Service, President Benigno S. Aquino III bestowed on him the Gawad Mabini Dakilang Kasugo (Order of Mabini with Rank of Commander) in July 2013.
Consul General De Borja will be joined on Guam by his wife, Madam Esperanza A. De Borja, and daughter Agatha De Borja. They also have an older son, Marciano Aristotle, and older daughter, Esperanza Angela, who are in Manila pursuing their own careers. END